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Cal U. panel examines black community

3 min read
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CALIFORNIA – Educational gaps are among the biggest problems facing black America, a panel of experts concluded Tuesday during a discussion hosted by the Frederick Douglass scholar at California University of Pennsylvania.

The problem was blamed on schools that are not prepared to deal with the black culture and the structure of families today, where it’s almost normal for black children to have one parent in their homes, the panelists said.

“Education is important, but it has to start within,” said Marisa Bartley, executive director of the PNC YMCA in Pittsburgh.

Rueben Brock, the Douglass scholar and an assistant psychology professor at Cal U., said he decided to organize the panel discussion as a way for people to add to a Facebook conversation he had about whether or not there is “such a thing as a black community” today.

“People of color often live in the same area. They’re connected by proximity rather than common ideas,” Brock said.

D. Watkins, a professor at Coppin State University in Baltimore, Md., replied by saying there are many communities within the black community, such as churches, gangs and drugs.

“That can become chaotic,” Watkins said.

Brock later pointed to a report this year by the University of Pittsburgh that showed 59 percent of black students in Pittsburgh public schools are not proficient in math, while 73 percent of black students in 11th grade are performing poorly in reading.

“White kids are going to private schools at much higher rates,” Brock said. “How does this happen?”

Bartley said teachers in public schools with large minority enrollments spend the majority of their time dealing with discipline problems.

She said teachers have difficulty communicating with black children and the students “feel like they are in prison all day.”

“Moms and dads need to get books in the house,” Watkins added. “That’s one thing that is missing.”

Washington School District Superintendent Roberta P. DiLorenzo, who was in the audience, agreed with Watkins, saying, “the value of an education begins in the home.”

She said Washington schools have a high population of minority students and many of them are economically disadvantaged.

The district invests in resources to better communicate with black students, and offers them flexible schedules to get an education, DiLorenzo said.

“We go into the community, look for mentors, ask for assistance and try to give them the hope that they need,” she said.

Yet the district still sees a trend where black students make it to their senior year and then drop out of school, she said.

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