Someone emailed me about an initiative that I will be discussing more about in the future. What are the factors that contribute to young black males dropping out of school in Baltimore City? Does anyone have any personal insight/light to shed on the issue? I have ideas, since I teach a diverse population of developmental college reading students, but I am curious to hear others’ input.
Where do problems lie? Family structure? Disconnect between curriculum/educators/school system and student? Negative influences in the community? Something else?
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Comments on: "Reasons for High Drop-Out Rate of Young Black Males in Baltimore?" (3)
I think the issue lies in the family structure. If you live in a single parent home and your mother is struggling, dropping out of school and getting a job (traditional or drug trade) makes sense to you. Also if you don’t feel a connection to the school and administrators, dropping out isn’t a big deal. If education isn’t valued as much in your household and community, there is no incentive to continue which you’re the age to make that decision.
I am looking at achievement gap data – that is despite overall progress in Balto there is still a persistant gap in performance of black and white students. Even if the MSA is not the best tetst – it’s a pretty big clue. The gap gets bigger as kids hit middle school. Sobering BUT there are schools in Baltimore where kids in the city are outperforming state white kids!
There isn’t any single problem here… there are many different issues that contribute. If the boy’s father was a dropout, if he doesn’t even know who his father is, if he’s forced to read The Crucible (which in no way applies to his generation), if he has to ride public transit alongside drug addicts to and from school, or if he has to dodge members of the Latin Kings on his way home… then maybe, JUST MAYBE, school isn’t a positive thing from his perspective. Perhaps the only positive part about school might be that the school lunch could possibly be the best meal he gets all day long – but that’s not enough to keep him interested in going.