How does a young black girl and boy reach beyond the disruptive school to which their circumstances have assigned them? As the New York Times reports today, that disruption is disproportionate for blacks:
Some 15 percent of the nation’s black students in grades K-12 are suspended at least briefly each year, compared with 4.8 percent of white students, according to federal data from 2006, the latest available. Expulsions are meted out to one in 200 black students versus one in 1,000 white students.
Certainly the expulsions reflect unruly school situations that affect every student, not just those who get suspended. Here at Handschooling.com, the hunger of black students for intellectual fare has been described, and several articles about the inherent equality of mobile posted. Handschooling avoids many school difficulties: Interacting with the internet using an individual mobile browser moves its owner through the gateway into the global commons.
And lo, the mobile escape by black students turns out to be quite real!
A report based on S. Craig Watkins’ book The Young & the Digital explains the mobile gap that favors young African Americans:
[Watkins said:] “Young blacks and Latinos are migrating decisively towards mobile media, using the phone as their main access point or gateway to the Internet.”
In fact, something of a “mobile gap” has arisen, in which young African Americans access the web for gaming, watching videos and other social activities for 1.5 hours per day, compared with 30 minutes per day for white youth, Watkins finds.
“There is always this impression that black and Latino youth, particularly those who live in deprivation and attend less-high performing schools, have a lag in their use of technology and their engagement with it,” Watkins says. “But, in some ways, they are even more assertive in their desire to be part of the tech world. Young African Americans are the early adopters of the mobile web.”
So, let’s respond to the black youngsters’ reach through the gateway by getting the global knowledge commons more findable, and putting the testing and certification there. The hands in the image here are those of Vernon Mason, suspended from school and working on his GED. Can he earn that GED using the mobile already in his hands? If not, let’s make it happen.
Antoine RJ Wright says:
I don’t know. I see what’s written, but I don’t know. There’s definitely an opportunity there, but its got to be more than just addressing the race piece. I know from experience in teaching that all races – but not all economic demographics – can get addressed in this manner. It definitely requires some out of the box thinking and acting.
I’m kind of ready to go try teaching again just to see what’s changed and what’s not.
19th March 2010 at 6:46 pm
Judy Breck says:
In my view, it is NOT about race. The reason black kids are turning to mobile is because more of them are stuck in failing schools — and the mobile internet browser gives them contact with the larger world. Note that the article I quote says it is BOTH black and Hispanic youth who are opening up this gap to where they are using mobile to connect online.
The key, I think, if you are mulling returning to teaching: don’t try to fix the schools. Instead work with individual students to show them what is available online to learn.
19th March 2010 at 9:27 am