By: Ara Musheghyan Eths 2040

 The reason I decided to do research around this topic is because education is very important to me, and it is important to me, as a future social worker that everyone is getting a fair chance to get the best education they can.

 Article 1:  We need to address achievement gaps in our education system. Compared to 85% of Whites with high school diplomas, blacks only had a 72% graduation rate.  We need to do a better job in helping black students achieve better success and be more aware on what is going on in our public schools.  Article 2:  Essentially doing well in school and doing well in your studies means that you are “acting white”  In order to make sure kids are having success we need to get rid of the notion that it’s cool to not do school work, or if you’re trying hard it means you’re acting white or have sold out.  Article 3:  Instead of pointing fingers and seeing why the success of black males in school is so low, we must work together and use the students’ strengths to a achieve success  We must stop making excuses and work together towards one common goal. Which is to improve and develop programs that can best assist students with their educational needs.

 Make it a program that students will want to participate in.  Bring in teachers and educators that can relate to the students, and provide counselors and advisors that can work with students towards their goals.  Create a school curriculum that best suits the students and works with their capabilities and build off of that. It is important that the student feels that their needs are being met and understands what they are being taught.  The goal would be to raise the graduation rates, degree rates and overall success rate of the African American community  All funds would be raised through taxes, just as we do for public schools, but we would focus on educating the minority population.

 Because it would be a new program, I’m sure we will meet resistance from the community, students, and from a political standpoint.  Because most people don’t like change I think that’s where the resistance will come from, but with educating everyone on the importance of the issue we can work something out.  We can show how well programs like Harlem school zone, and other charter schools have shown success and that can be the goal we can strive for.

 I think we would encounter support from a lot of students, teachers, community organizers who will see that this is being done for the good of the students.  I haven’t interviewed anybody regarding the issue, but I have spoken to many of my friends and most think that it could be a good idea to encourage better academic results in our communities.

 The main impact I would like to see from the intervention would be to make a positive difference, whether big or small.  Because at this time our educational systems are broken, any help I think would be encourage to help and fix that.  I would like to see higher high school graduation rates and higher college graduation rates.

 Blacks: Education Issues  McWhorter, John. "'Acting White' Remains a Barrier for Black Education." Reason.com. N.p., 08 Oct Web. 11 May  Noguera, Pedro. "The Trouble with Black Boys." The Trouble with Black Boys - - by Pedro A. Noguera / Education Rights / In Motion Magazine. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 May 2015.