Today’s New York Times features an article, found here, which details how little today’s schools teach about the history of the Civil Rights movement and how little today’s students know about basic civil rights history. Julian Bond, the former civil rights activist who began teaching the history of the civil rights movement twenty years ago, speaks of having students [...]
Today's New York Times Magazine includes a very interesting article, found here, about how the heads of a Manhattan private school and a national charter school program are working to help their students develop good character traits as well as good study habits. The private school head feared that his school's focus on testing at every juncture and encouraging [...]
Now that our sons are back in school, it’s time for parents to focus on our Back to School To Do List. Here are a few things you can do to help your son start the school year well: •Review your son’s schedule. Find out what you can about the teachers from your son, other parents and whatever adult [...]
Cyberbullying is a huge issue for children and parents in this digital age. Common Sense Media, a non profit organization devoted to helping families navigate the world of media and technology, has developed a "Cyberbullying Tool Kit" to help educators and parents deal with this problem. The toolkit, which can be found here, includes parent tip sheets on cyberbullying [...]
A generation ago, when I was a kid being bused into a predominantly white school in Brooklyn, I faced daily taunting and intimidation on the school bus from other Black students, who accused me of “acting white,” and “thinking I was cute” for the crime of being the only Black kid picked to be in the class for high [...]
Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Director of Harvard's W.E.B. DuBois Institute for African and African American Research, and Gaston Caperton, President of the College Board, have written an essay in today's Huffington Post and theRoot.com calling for national focus on educating young Black men. You can read it here. Gates and Caperton co-hosted a webcast discussion of this topic today [...]
With the post college job market looking pretty weak these days, college students need all the help they can get to make themselves as marketable as possible. GCP talked to two senior executives who regularly hire college graduates and asked them what resume items resonate with employers. Parents would be well advised to pass on this information to sons [...]
BlackStudents.com offers an extensive list of scholarships of interest to minority high school and/or college students. Some are specifically designed for minority applicants, others are open to the general public. A list well worth checking out! See the list here.
Despite what you may have read in recent parenting articles, “Tiger Moms” are not the only ones who are focused on ensuring that their kids excel. As a Black mother with a daughter and two sons, I too have great expectations that my children will work hard and do well in school, and carry on our family’s legacy of [...]