Learning While Black

A heartfelt and forthright assessment of the all-too-often daunting task facing parents of black students. Hale parallels the racial profiling of law enforcement with current educational assumptions that put black children at a decided disadvantage, facing educators' low expectations and indifference. Educational reform efforts that focus on parental involvement are doomed to failure when so many parents of children attending public schools lack the education, time, energy, and resources to effectively monitor the school and advocate on behalf of their children. Hale relates her own frustrating experiences with her son's private school and not being part of the 'club' that knows the ins and outs and how to get around the rules. Hale offers a detailed strategy that focuses on the classroom and advocates coordinated community-support services and enhanced leadership roles for principals. An innovative and important book for parents and educators concerned about educating black children.

In a wide but welcome swing of the pendulum, Hale... fixes her gaze directly upon schools—the teachers and the children. Here is a fresh and feisty look at the miseducation of African-American children,... a 'call for action directed to the organizations controlled by middle-class African Americans, not to beleaguered individuals themselves'... Hale offers a solution that recognizes the school as the impetus for inner-city African-American children to achieve upward mobility, relying on help from parents, churches, community volunteers and teachers. Her model attends to those differences between 'Afro cultural' themes and 'mainstream' ones, which influence the varying academic achievement of African-American children compared with white children's achievement.'.