Article by: Caren Floyd, Ph.D.
Diving into Resilience: Closing the Educational Gap
Today is urgent times for families to help their children to the utmost of their abilities. Therefore, the following article was written to share concrete information and data regarding how to help your child succeed in school and life.
First, we must dispel some current myths. Regardless of the families educational background, income and/or education, your child/ren can succeed in school and life. The secret is in the pure desire to make it happen for your child/ren. We must believe, and then act upon that belief to assist our child/ren in the successful educational process.
Second, the attainment of a good education must consider cultural myths and then expel them. For example, Black and Brown students must develop the attitude of our Asian counterparts. When a group of Asian students were asked, “What is the lowest grade you may receive in school, and take home to your parents? The Asian high school students responded, “An A-.” When Black and Brown high school students were asked the same question, they responed, “A C-.” This is not acceptable. The work required to receive a C- is just not comparable to the effort and learning involved with receiving an A-. Again, Black and Brown students are behind when accepting the C- challenge. Parents must raise the bar.
If we are to turn this gap around, if we want to close the academic gap, we must change our thinking and actions. Black and Brown students must know from birth that they can achieve and will do so with the help of numerous persons. Parents are the first teachers, and then the public school teacher. Children must obey their parents and then the school teacher. Frankly, our children must respect all adult authority that is in place to assist them in the attainment of education for school and life successes.
Parents must instill into their child/ren, at the young age of birth, the need to communicate effectively. How is this done? Parents will share messages everyday with their children through reading and singing. Read to your children everyday. Share poems, nursery rhymes and riddles. Don’t worry about your reading level just read what you are capable of reading. Do this everyday for at this 30 minutes. If you only have 5 or 10 minutes at a time then read two or three times during the day and evening.
Children must come to school with the discipline of listening and following direction skills. This is accomplished with parents reading to their children, requiring them to be still and engaged with language. Many of the early books tell the importance of following parental instructions such as don’t cross the street alone.
Books will open up the understanding to letters, words, sentences, paragraphs, pages in books and finally books. Books will expose our children to colors and numbers that must be used at the beginning of school days. Gone are the days of entering Kindergarten without knowledge of writing, reading and math. Thus, it behooves parents to begin early and make the process of learning natural and fun. It can and must be done, if we are to close the academic gap and meet the challenges of school and life achievement.
November 2009
Dear Concerned Parents:
Today is my first step in reaching out to families with the sole purpose of educating, inspiring and moving parents into action for their children’s academic success. This article will focus on Educational Myths, and hopefully eliminate these from your mind.
1) A family’s education and/or income will determine their child‘s success in school and life. True or False ?
False, the greatest influence upon a child’s academic success is the parents’ determination for the child‘s achievement. Parents who are determined to see their child succeed in school and life make sure that these children are in school everyday, on time, completing their homework, and submitting it to the teacher.
2) African American and Latino students must develop the attitude of their Asian counterparts by parents teaching them the importance of school and grades. True or False?
True, if we are to close the achievement gap, African American and Latino families must change their thinking and expectations for children. Black and Brown students must know from birth that they can and will achieve academically. Also, parents need to understand that they are their children’s first teachers. Parents, teach your children to listen to the teacher, to obey the teacher and complete class work. Frankly, parents teach children to obey and respect all adult authority who are working to benefit their education.
3) Parents should instill in their young children the need to effectively listen, communicate, follow directions and allow teachers to do their job. True or False?
True, children who enter school understanding the importance of listening, communicating and following directions receive much more learning within the school day than children who struggle to understand these concepts. Also, parents who taught these skills to their children prior to Kindergarten hear more from the teacher about what their child/ren learned academically rather than the need to enforce social skills.
4) Parents who instill a love of books in their children create a better understanding of letters, sounds, words, sentences, paragraphs, pages and books. True or False?
True, parents promote early reading by their children when they read to them, provide stories on
tape, and other educational tools such as blocks and word games. The more children hear the
sound of the English language the better speakers and readers they will become at an early age.
How did you do on your test? Please, review the questions and answers. Feel free to email me with any questions you may have regarding this article, “Myths of Educating our African American and Latino Children.”
Caren Floyd, Ph.D.
P.S.
Parents, please read many stories of being thankful to your children during the month of November. Remember, the stories can be on tape.
