The Black Archives of Mid-America hosted a "Crisis in Black Education" forum.
It was a conversation about what and how black children are taught in America and ways that education can be improved. The forum was hosted at The Black Archives of Mid-America located at 1722 E. 17th Terrace in Kansas City, Missouri.
The featured speaker was Dr. Derald Davis, an assistant superintendent with the Kansas City Public School District. He told attendees that history of black people has to be taught on a week in and week out basis.
And that black history did not begin with the institution of slavery.
Davis said the crisis in black education is caused by several factors:
- 40 percent mobility rate
- trauma
- poor attendance
- poor graduation rates
- high suspension rate
"Zero tolerance suspension policies just don't work. The high suspension rates of the 80's and 90's where it was believed that if you just have a tough enough consequence, the students won't cut up. Well that doesn't change behavior," said Davis.
Davis added that the greatest crisis is that kids don't know their history. A problem he hopes to help change in the Kansas City Public School District.
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Lisa Benson can be reached at lisa.benson@kshb.com.
