Black Teachers on Teaching. - book reviews

Does American society want to educate all of its children? An optimist would respond that of course it does, but it just can't seem to provide equity in its distribution of resources and educational outcomes. Others would argue that social, political and economic forces create hurdles which slow or completely retard the flow of positive educational goods and benefits into certain communities.

But such forecasters sit on the periphery of actual classrooms and schools and hurl their ideas, theories and statistical models. The end result is often a neatly packaged and publicly distributed report that blames the victims for their own educational demise.

On the other hand, how would that initial question be answered by the infantry who monitor the front lines of the educational landscape, who wage war in classrooms and communities against overwhelming odds, and who seek to mold the lives, hopes and dreams of generations of Black youth?

Their answers are contained in Michele Foster's book, Black Teachers on Teaching, which serves as a narrative scorecard of America's educational success with children of color. Foster, a professor of education and a consultant, has gathered life-history interviews from twenty teachers who are drawn from a diverse pool. They vary in age, in background, in years of teaching, in type of school, in disciplines taught, and in other demographic characteristics. They were selected through a "community nomination" process which identified them as some of the most committed and effective instructors.

The interviews are categorized according to the length of teaching experience of the speakers. Ranging from elders and veterans to novices, their words span more than fifty years of tireless dedication. Black teachers are part of a long tradition with a definite mission and nowhere is this more evident than through the pages of this book of narratives The book's purpose is quite evident: It is to serve as a testimony and realistic guide to one of America's most demanding jobs - teaching Black youth within an educational and social system that is unforgiving and unprepared to meet the needs of these kids.

At times, the different stories are permeated with the various ways that Black teachers handle conflict and contradiction with the students, with the administration, and within themselves. One novice teacher, Leonard Collins, tries to cope with the fact that schools are meant to socialize kids into many things with which Black teachers don't agree. He can't, for example, introduce an Afrocentric curriculum because it conflicts with the existing Eurocentric one. Thus he is forced to be creative but not disruptive.

Several teachers discuss the self-examination they experience as they are shifted from segregated, all-Black schools to desegregated ones. They wonder aloud at the price that has been paid by Black children who lose pride and self-esteem when they are psychologically beaten down in desegregated schools.

Elder teacher, Everett Dawson speaks to this outcome when he says, "The biggest difference is that we were able to do more with the Black students in all-Black schools." He later adds, "I got disillusioned with integration because I could not get to my people and tell them all the things they need to know."

It would be quite easy to assume that across twenty separate life-history interviews, disparities would outweigh the consistencies. Yet nothing is further from the truth. Across the decades of committed teaching and generations of student success, consistent themes mark the parameter of each story.

Each elder, veteran, and novice voices a strong, almost rabid, desire to create a community of learners. They approach student learning as a two-way process: As they teach, they simultaneously motivate students to be actively involved in the learning process.

And how do they accomplish this?

First, they are able to communicate both with the student at the interpersonal level, and to the student at the level of academic content. With any subject, they are able to introduce experiential relevancy to convert sometimes boring content into a lesson about life. Among the processes that they emphasize in the classroom are those that enhance group cohesiveness. They convince many students to trade in individual and narcissistic tendencies for those which promote community responsibility. They demand that students assert themselves and take individual responsibility for their actions and the outcomes in their life.

But all is not well in the social drama which involves the education of children of color, especially the Black Child. A number of teachers, both Black and White, are not challenging the myths and misperceptions attributed to Black culture and its children. Other teachers - those who adopt a mantle of neutrality - are not speaking on behalf of disparaged youth. No one disputes that many children, especially those from tough urban areas, come to school daily with a myriad of problems.

Each speaker offers a different perspective on why these problems exist. Eider teacher Madge Scott says the students are victims of too much permissiveness in their lives. On the other hand, elder Etta Joan Marks blames teachers who do not care as the primary source.

And what will be the price if we don't address the issues, concerns and problems that are emblazoned across the educational battlefront?

Teacher Edouard Plummet summarizes eloquently: "This is what I want to impart to young people. If you are a learned man, you are a dangerous man, but if you are an ignorant man, you are no threat at all. Not only will you be a slave to [W]hite people, but a slave to any type of voices that come along."

Michele Foster has sought to capture the voices of Black teachers who withstand blighted classrooms, mounds of administrative red-tape, uncooperative parents, and students who haven't learned to dream. Her interviews awaken the reader to their successes and disappointments, their fervor and frailties, and their visions and nightmares. Her book can serve as the educational guidepost for those who seek to transform and renew a system that, decades ago, lost its direction. Yet, our hope is sustained by the dignity, passion and commitment of Black teachers who care.

Dr. James Anderson is the dean of undergraduate studies at North Carolina State University.

COPYRIGHT 1997 Cox, Matthews & Associates
COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group