I recently perused my old notes from the classic book The Mis-Education of the Negro. Dr. Carter G. Woodson asserted that Black children in American schools are not actually taught but encouraged to accept inferiority. In doing so, Black children become reliant on a system designed to mentally enslave them, while simultaneously polarizing advancement. Essentially, American schools became the medium to indoctrinate students into thinking more ‘American’ and less ‘African.’ However, education is not the only area of limitations for Black Children.

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Here are four additional areas leading to the mis-education of Black children:

1) IMAGINATION: A study done in 1983 asserted that television programs such as Sesame Street were most effective following a “mediation” to support children in understanding and applying lessons from the series. Often times, we assume that children are learning while watching educational programs, when in actuality they are doing the opposite. True learning happens during the application phase, when children apply the known to the unknown – use prior knowledge to construct new information. The imagination is a bridge to travel from the unknown to the known. Developing the imagination of Black children allows for learning, advanced interpretation, and analysis. We cannot expect Black children to be innovative and creative without advancing their imaginations. Establishing the imagination provides a space for children to not only dream, but to execute. Limitations occur when the imagination is stunted. Feed the imagination by helping Black children to see what is unseen via the imagination.

 2) EXPOSURE: In concert with imagination, exposure is also one of the greatest forms of mis-education. People can only understand what is experienced. Do not believe me? Try explaining the cold to someone who has never experienced cold weather. Descriptions give way to emotions, but the actual feeling of the cold cannot be understood until one has been in the cold weather. Hence, the best teacher is the actual experience. Black children experience less, because their exposure is limited. Exposing children to the world outside of the ‘hood supports their ability to exercise their imaginations. As a child, my mother found opportunities to expose me to the world, despite living in the heart of the urban community. In doing so, she created a space for me to exercise my imagination, which allowed me to create methods for overcoming obstacles instead of developing roadblocks and excuses. Eliminate obstacles of exposure and allow children to imagine what is possible. Then, watch them achieve the impossible.

3) IDENTITY: Culture is important to the development of Black children. Knowledge provides that foundation, while culture creates the motives to execute.

Without the proper foundation of culture, there is NO execution. Not allowing Black children to be in a space where they comprehend the significance of being Black only inhibits their future development. The growth process requires one to understand self and heritage as a structure to determine purpose. We must teach Black children that they are on a path to excellence. And the journey begins with creating an advanced sense of identity.

4) COLLEGE: College-going aspirations are paramount to the development of Black children. However, we often put emphasis on going to college, as opposed to graduating from college. There is no purpose in starting a journey that one does not plan to finish. College will not solve the problems of Black children; but it does create a space to exercise imagination via exposure and educational attainment. Going to college alone will not bring about benefits of excellence. The struggle starts following college, when the power structure still renders one ineffective, despite the level of education possessed. Let us start educating our children about the purpose of college: it is an enhancement, not a cure. One must be sent to college with the expectation that I, too, possess greatness, as opposed to I am going to this place to become great.