It can be difficult for African American kids to attend schools where they regularly face racism and stereotyping. Black people in the United States increasingly have to school their kids at home so that their children can avoid racism from whites in schools.
According to the National Home Education Research Institute, around 220,000 African American children are being homeschooled, making them one of the fastest-growing homeschooling demographics in the United States.
Too often, Black children run into problems with white children who are brought up to disrespect African Americans. School reports indicate that white children commit violence against black children at schools.
When schools repeatedly fail to curb this violence, Black parents have no choice but to protect their defenseless children and remove them from schools with hurtful white children.
For example, at one school’s playground in San Diego, California, a white student poured handfuls of sand filled with ants on a black kindergartner, Marvell Robinson. Marvell was the only black student in his kindergarten and first grade classes, while his San Diego elementary school only had a few black students out of hundreds.
After the incident was reported to teachers and school administration, Marvell’s school did not do its job to protect him against the brutal actions of white kindergartners. Instead of punishing the unruly white kid who tormented Marvell, the school instead labeled Marvell a “troublemaker” and insisted that he must have done something to invite bullying.
This environment where young Black children are blamed for the negativity and violence that erupts from white students is not conducive for students like Marvell, which is why homeschooling is on the rise in Black communities.
Whites in America often homeschool for religions reasons, to co-mingle religious education with the school curriculum. Black families, however, homeschool due to racial antagonism their children face–they are pushed out of public schools because they are trying to avoid school-related racism and discrimination.
Black families become frustrated due to their lack of faith that American school systems, their teachers, and administrators actually want to solve issues of violence against Black children.
Especially when Black children are the minority in white schools, they face an inordinate amount of racial bullying from white students.
Black students also experience discrimination from white teachers.
In America, rarely do Black boys have a Black male teacher in grade school. Of all classroom teachers nationwide in America, less than 2 percent are African American males, according to the Department of Education.
White teachers underrate Black students’ intelligence, having lower expectations for them and favoring white children over them, despite Black children’s excellent performance on classroom assignments.
Both white female and male teachers are especially biased against Black boys, prompting African American parents to opt for a schooling option that will offer their children the optimal conditions for learning and success.
It is becoming increasingly apparent that white schools in America are unable to meet the needs of African American students.
The National Black Home Educator group, the first organization for Black homeschoolers, has grown exponentially due to the rise in Black homeschoolers over the past decade.
The next push will be for these Black homeschoolers to unite and form Black schools in the US. Like Black homeschoolers, Black schools would unite African culture with African American education.
In white schools, white teachers conduct lessons about world history from a Eurocentric perspective and discourage Black Americans from learning about their cultural history by removing all elements of African history from the curriculum.
A heritage-focused African curriculum for Black Americans would start beyond the horrors of transatlantic slavery and instead teach Black Americans about their proud history on the African continent, including the achievements of the world’s most earliest and advanced ancient African civilizations.
Ultimately, the formation of Black schools will allow African Americans to learn in an environment free of racism. It will also cultivate a growing appreciation for African culture and life in Black communities in the US.
This is horrible! And this same US goes around preaching about human rights and civil rights in other countries?
They don’t come preaching with human rights! They come preaching with guns and bombs.
Unacceptable. That’s all I can say. But I have to add that perhaps the US can begin cleaning house before they go about condemning others.
Hopefully this would translate into Black people in American building their own schools and institutions separate from white America and its hypocrisy.