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Why we need black-African oriented schools

According to an article in a popular London newspaper 'The Metro' 'a controversial race relations campaigner (referring to Lee Jasper) has called for the creation of 'black schools', claiming they would improve education standards and cut gang violence'. This is rarely one of the few occasions where I would agree with ‘race relations campaigners’ like Jasper. Seeing the statement I nodded my head in total agreement as this is what I believe is a major problem for ‘black’ families and their children in Britain 'a lack of a curriculum that positively includes African history and achievements'.

Fine, we live in a multi cultural society and should respect this as this is a place where all cultures come together. However when you see the education statistics showing young black boys at the bottom of the list when it comes to GCSE passes year after year then a black mother or father or anyone of interest must stop and think ‘wait a minute something is wrong’. You should also know that there is even a bigger problem when you hear or see on the news that another teenager has been stabbed or shot to death you automatically think ok he/she is black or whoever did it is black. Then it does turn out that the murder victim is black and likewise the perpetrators. When you automatically think that this is the way it is supposed to be, then I must say we are in dire need of help when it comes to a people and how we are being perceived by others in a multicultural society and even ourselves at times. Therefore when I see such statement in the media about how we need black schools then I couldn’t agree more.

As in schools black children are being taught European domination, they will begin to think, how do we fit in? When they are being bombarded that they fit in by picking cotton and getting the sugar cane ready these black children will not feel any sense of worth for themselves. They will not take interest and will look for the role models they know who are successful. Often times the black role models we see are the ones on MTV in Hip Hop videos glorifying drugs and guns like a bunch of Hyenas in the wild. They will try and emulate these people, knowing nothing else ad they are not being taught about positive role models such as the ones who ruled Egypt and around Africa and even places in Europe and other parts around the world. As they are not being taught about the many black Africans who made positive change in this world then they will feel worthless and aimless trying to be something, in essence that they are not made to be and that is; criminals, drug dealers and gang bangers. This is how most of us see life, (whether to take part in it or not) not knowing that there are other alternatives to make a success of one’s self without even contemplating the guns, drugs, gang route.

What I believe or better yet, what I know is that we need are African Oriented schools that teaches African history the way it is, both the successes of Africans and the failures, not just the failures, as telling your black children that they were always subordinate to everyone else is a lie and is not conducive to their self esteem. The reason why I went all out and say yes we need black Afro centric schools is that I do not see an African studies in the national curriculum for every child not just black children, so they can all understand how the world changes from one civilisation to another the first being built and maintained by Africans and how it influenced Greek Civilisation and the Roman civilisation etc. I do not see ‘them’ teaching this in the schools therefore Afro centric Black schools for Black children is indeed a good idea in my opinion. The current school system is failing black African children terribly so there must be another solution.

If you go to Africa or the Caribbean where the schools are mainly black Africans, once they get the tools and are taught properly then they often excel at higher levels than their contemporaries here in Britain or the US. Whether the African children are being taught under a tree or in less than uncluttered classrooms, given the opportunity, the right tools and information African children often tend to turn out to be some of the smartest learned children. In Britain this is rare, if a black child gets all A’s then they are just genius’ and indeed they are. Lee Jasper also stated that great black leaders such as; Dr Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela attended all-black schools and universities.

I often say that the parents of these children should teach their black children at home their history and give them the knowledge and self esteem plus all the other factors they need to help them cope in a multicultural society, which tries to look at everyone equally. This is easier said than done as 99% of these parents do not know anything about Black-African history apart from slavery, so it is safe to say that these parents cannot even pass down some positive knowledge down to their children. The fact is that, parents are also sufferers of this same system from generation to generation produce poor performing black children, who in many cases grow up to be less than model adults whom their children can look up to as someone they can be proud of. So it seems our only hope or indeed the best solution to combat this ‘lack of knowledge of self’ for these black children is to have a strategic plan to teach black children about themselves. After this, they can come to an understanding of how Africans relate to the wider society and how they actually fit in a multicultural society and feel proud to be a model black person. Should we have black schools anyone? Well in case you did not know there are indeed Jewish and Muslim schools, the national schools which are based on a European curriculum so it is arguable to say these are in essence ‘white’ schools. These schools turn out model students for their prospective students and evidence shows that black students do not equally fit into these educational institutions.

We should all realise that the parents are very important when it comes to teaching their children and there are several other factors that contributes to the failure of young black children in these national schools. All these other factors such as lack of father figures and lack of extra activities for youngsters are also hurdles that black families have to get over to create harmonious environments in the home so these children can be well prepared for school. I believe black Afro centric schools can help to combat and solve these problems of educating black-African children in Britain.

Please read this BBC Article about Black schools

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