Abstract
If we want black males to achieve at academics, we must encourage and support those yearnings as much as we do their athletic aspirations.
We all must think more deeply about how societal perceptions of black males as “natural” athletes rather than intelligent students, adversely influences how educators view black males academically.
Twenty-nine black male students from Sherman High School (a pseudonym) in Atlanta pose for pictures toting baseball caps that have college insignia. Parents and other relatives sit alongside them at the press table. Local and regional newspapers provide full-page spreads of these students and the record-breaking number from this predominantly black high school to be offered college football scholarships.
Although the students had already decided where they planned to attend college, they had yet to publicly acknowledge it. They relished the moment by shifting multiple baseball caps on the table. Eventually, each player selects a college by putting the respective baseball cap on his head to the applause of parents, relatives, coaches, teachers, and the media. This ritual — National Signing Day — takes place annually on the first Wednesday in February in almost every city and town in the United States. It is the first day that high school football players can sign national letters of intent to play at a university.
Another black male student who attended a different high school in the same public school district also was recruited to play college football. This student earned a 3.9 GPA, graduated in the top 5% of his class, and was a Governor's Honors and Georgia Merit Scholar. Rather than discussing his future as a college athlete, he highlights the contradictory messages that black male students receive about athletics and education:
There are no rewards for academics. If you get an athletic scholarship, on signing day they have a ceremony and all the media showup. But if you get an academic scholarship, nobody knows about it except the people you tell. Every kid wants encouragement for whatever they do. But you get it more with sports than with academics (Naddra, 2011).
This student recognizes that black males' athletic success, and not their academic success, is what the media, schools, and U.S. society at large promote and value. His parents were appalled that only two of the numerous universities that recruited their son inquired about his academic goals — Harvard University and Florida International University.
Policy makers, educators, and administrators must think more deeply about how societal perceptions of black males as “natural” athletes, rather than intelligent students, adversely influences how educators view black males academically. This athletic/academic paradox plays out every day in classrooms, schools, communities, and U.S. society. This paradox is rooted deeply in American history and remains an integral aspect of U.S. culture and society's perceptions of and expectations for black males. This paradox, springing from the perceived lack of opportunities that poor black families and communities face in traditional or academic careers, undermines the academic achievement of black male students by inflating athletic careers as a viable future.
But the athletic/academic paradox can be instructive in developing new models for black male academic excellence. Society and the educational community should cultivate black male students' academic talents as vigorously as they prepare black males to become athletes. But this requires thinking in new and creative ways about how we envision, expect, and cultivate academic excellence among all black male K-12 students. Our approach emanates from our roles as researchers who have spent years thinking about and investigating black students' educational experiences in U.S. society
The authors are researchers and former high school and college football players. Similar to many of the young black males whose plight has become the focus of countless newspaper and journal articles, reports, symposia, and conferences, we also found ourselves trying to understand the conflicting messages about black males, students, and athletes. We believe our experiences have been extremely informative in shaping our understanding of this issue.
Roots of the paradox
Society holds greater expectations for black males' athletic talents than their academic abilities. This paradox begins in early childhood and continues beyond high school. The athletic/academic paradox has its origins in the notion that one can either be intelligent or athletic, but not both. This kind of thinking permeated Western society historically, particularly when Europeans encountered African people who they viewed as subhuman and more suited for physical labor. Such thinking persisted during slavery and into the early 20th century. Jack Johnson, the iconic heavyweight boxing champion in the early 20th century personified this view of black males. Tall and muscular, Johnson was celebrated and scorned because of his physical prowess as a boxer. But there were others who did not fit these perceptions of black males.
The athletic/academic paradox does not begin in high school or college; it's woven into U.S. culture and imagery of black people, permeates schools and other institutions, and is reinforced and perpetuated by families and communities.
Paul Robeson, for example, graduated at the top of his class at Rutgers University and earned 15 letters in athletics, including baseball, basketball, track and field, and football. He was twice named an All-American football player. Robeson earned a law degree from Columbia University, practiced law while playing professional football, spoke more than 12 languages fluently, and performed leading roles in Othello and The Emperor Jones. (Robeson turned to acting after discrimination kept him from getting rewarding work as a lawyer.) Later in his career, he fought valiantly on behalf of blacks and others oppressed throughout the world as a civil and human rights activist. Unfortunately, many people have never heard of Paul Robeson.
Too often, young black males envision athletics as the only pathway to success. Black males disproportionately underperform in U.S. public schools, but are overwhelmingly represented in college and professional spectator and revenue-generating sports such as basketball and football. For example, black males represent about 6% of the total U.S. population, but comprise over 66% of professional football players and 82% of professional basketball players (Lapchick, Jitnurse, & Moss, 2010; Lapchick, Kaiser, Russell, & Welch, 2010). Conversely, black males represent only 3% of physicians and surgeons and 2% of attorneys (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2010).
This imbalance between black males' achievements in athletics versus academics is structural. Black males often do well in male doorway sports such as basketball and football for four distinct reasons: broad access and opportunities in the sports; high societal expectations; black males' self-confidence; and the development of black males as athletes as opposed to outstanding students. The unfortunate side to this paradox is that too often developing black males' academic identity is neglected (Beaman, 2009; Dawkins, Braddock, & Celaya, 2008; Edwards, 2000). The athletic/academic paradox doesn't begin in high school or college; it is woven into U.S. culture and imagery of black people, permeates schools and other institutions, and is reinforced and perpetuated by families and communities.
Learning from athletics
The same degree of expectation, preparation, and meticulousness that it takes to prepare black male students athletically should also be applied to their academic success. Anyone participating in organized sports knows that, in order to earn a college scholarship and play at the professional level, training must begin in grade school and continue throughout. Resources, opportunities to develop talent, competent and supportive coaches, and the child's belief that his or her efforts will pay off in tangible ways must exist. A prospective athlete must put in the necessary time to hone his or her skill. As former high school and college athletes, coaches held high expectations of us as players; they prepared us to compete at a high level. They reminded us that our success depended on our effort. We attended summer camps to develop our skills further.
Bolstering the academic development of young black males requires the same devotion. Educators, parents, and policy makers — the adults charged with the social and educational development of children — can use a clear set of strategies to move toward a system that supports academics for black males as much as it currently supports athletics.
Raise resources for academic support — not just athletic support
Successful athletic programs rely on monetary and other support from parents, alumni, communities, and businesses. Consider the following notice at one of the high schools where our research study is based regarding the importance for parents and the community to support the football team:
The (Thomas County Central) High School football program is offering an opportunity for you to support the program to help us defray some of the costs associated with building and maintaining a great program. The football program is funded up to a certain point by our own county, but it falls short of what our players require to maintain a program as successful as Thomas's has been year in and year out. Our players count on important things like upgraded helmets for safety, additional shoulder pads and other protective gear, pregame meals and nutrition, and a 9th-grade football team. We provide additional paid assistant coaches over and above what we are funded, as well, to ensure the players who participate are getting the quality coaching, guidance, and leadership required to maintain an elite program. In addition, there are expenses the Booster Club absorbs for the Team Camps that enhance the players' and the team's development. Lastly, we invest a significant amount into videotaping and recruiting to give our players' the best exposure to colleges/universities to ensure that those who can play at the next level, get the opportunity.
We ask the question: How often do we see comparable advertisements for academics? Thomas High School (a pseudonym), a racially diverse school, has a superb athletic program. Every year, Thomas is a leading contender for state championships in football and basketball — fielding teams made up of more than 95% black males. The school also boasts a very good academic reputation, but black male students, on average, perform significantly below other racial groups and girls in key academic measures. This is the case throughout the school district, not just at Thomas High School.
Given the severity of black male students' academic underachievement, there is a serious need for academic booster clubs that support academic development — just as athletic programs have booster clubs. Most of these black male students will never play professional sports, which makes preparing black male students for college and/or to become professionals in other arenas much more important. An Academic Booster Club in high schools would inform black male students and their parents about the role of college in achieving their professional aspirations. It would prepare them for admissions tests, encourage them to take college prep courses, monitor their grades, provide tutoring, encourage recruiters to come see black male students in action, not on the field or the courts, but in their classrooms. Most importantly, the Academic Booster Club would cheer them on to victory!
Provide summer enrichment
The path toward becoming an elite athlete requires building on skills developed during the school year. In sports, this usually occurs during the summer and sometimes includes current or former professional athletes as instructors. Likewise, the path toward college or other professional careers must include opportunities for students to build their skills throughout the year. Esteemed professionals and academics would teach at an academic summer camp. Family income and background should not be barriers to participation. For example, when a young black male student is viewed as a potential athletic star, his parents rarely worry about who pays for additional skills development.
Promote and publicize scholarly achievements
Part and parcel of the solution to rectifying black male underachievement stems from society's expectations and the infrequency with which black males' academic accomplishments are acknowledged. Similar to a National Signing Day for students who received college athletic scholarships, there should be a recognition program for students who received academic scholarships — their own National Scholars Day to recognize students who receive academic awards and scholarships. This kind of recognition is essential for all students and particularly important for black male students as way to counter negative statistics and stereotypes about their academic and intellectual abilities.
Player to coach ratio = small class sizes
Researchers have shown the value of small class sizes for students, particularly low-income and minority students (Krueger & Whitmore, 2001; Whitehurst & Chingos, 2011). Small class sizes can be beneficial to black male students, as is the case in sports in which athletes receive one-on-one attention and immediate feedback from their instructors (i.e. coaches). For example, Sherman High School, which sent 29 black males from one graduating class to college on football scholarships, had 85 players on its roster and 14 coaches. This school's coach-to-player ratio is about one to six, which significantly enhances the chances that players will achieve mastery of their positions. Those who aren't as skilled receive extra attention and opportunities to develop their abilities before, during, or after practice. By comparison, the average public school teacher in this district has a classroom enrollment of 20 or more students. No matter how talented a coach, he would never be expected to develop a winning program without sufficient assistance.
THE EDUCATION OF BLACK MALES | BY THE NUMBERS
How often are black males dropping out of high school?
In 2008, black males were nearly twice as likely as white males to drop out of high school — 9% of black males, compared with 5% of white males.
Embrace and champion black males' identities
Most young black males are being reared in single-parent homes in which fathers and male figures are glaringly absent (U.S. Census Bureau, 2009). A myriad of factors, including poverty, unemployment, and parental neglect contribute to the prevalence of black children being raised by one parent, usually their mothers. However, black males who grow up with a father are least likely to drop out of school, engage in risky behaviors such as drugs,
sexual activities, gangs, and commit, or become the victims of violent crimes (Dittus, Jaccard, & Gordon, 1997; Salem, Zimmerman, & Notaro, 1998). For some children, other adult males, whether mentors, teachers, or coaches, fill this void. We have first-hand experience mentoring young black males, almost all of whom were being raised by single mothers who wanted their sons to have “a positive black male” in their lives. While there were larger societal forces at play, we felt that our efforts as mentors could change the lives of our mentees by countering negative societal images of black males. We sought to reframe black males' identities beyond that of athletes, entertainers, criminals, etc., by teaching and offering models of black males as leaders, intellectuals, and business and civic leaders.
Too often, however, traditional public schools constrain the display of black male identities. The few times in which black male identities are acknowledged in schools are during athletic events, which should not be the case. Schools and districts must take steps to ensure that there is a positive black male presence in schools through mentoring programs, immersion schools, and other initiatives. Additionally, black male students need teachers who have an expressed interest in teaching black male students who will affirm their identities as black males and prepare them to navigate the social and political messages regarding black people in general and black males in particular.
Concluding thoughts
What we have proposed is a way of thinking about the educational preparation of black male students, which must occur with the same intensity involved in preparing black male students for athletic success. By focusing on the academic side of this paradox, teachers, schools, and school district leaders can glean concrete strategies to better prepare black male students academically, thus allowing them to develop the necessary skills to excel in college and various professional fields outside of athletics.
Whether as educators, researchers, policy makers, or parents, we must be courageous if we are to seriously address the academic underachievement of black male students. More than two decades ago, a number of educators, activists, and community members tried to respond to what was then termed the “black male crisis” by creating black male academies and rites of passage and mentoring programs. Many of these programs foundered after a few years due to the lack of political and economic support and concerns that these programs only targeted black boys. We must not allow another two decades to pass before we recognize that something must be done. The social and educational crisis facing black males is as great today as it was 20 years ago. Yes, students from other racial, ethnic, and gender groups also face challenges in schools. Yes, some of what we propose is good for all students. However, in comparison to black males, other students' life chances are not as dismal, incarceration levels are not as high, underachievement is not as horrific, and imagery as outstanding athletes instead of outstanding students is not as pervasive.