The Way Blacks R Taught Is No Way To Teach Anybody

There are several myths surrounding the teaching of black boys. Primary among them is that teachers have to be "tough, tough, tough" on them. But he's found that the female teachers in his school who exude warmth tend to have more success than those teachers who practice strict disciplinary procedures.

Indeed, Kafele emphasized that the skin color or gender of their teachers doesn't really matter to the kids. All they want to know is that the teacher cares about them. If you can convince a black male student that "you're in this thing for the long haul; you're not going to give up on him; you're not going to quit on him; your expectations for him are sky-high; and you're going to maintain those expectations no matter what the challenges are," that student is going to embrace you, regardless of whether or not you're African-American. The concern that you can't "walk in his shoes" is an adult hang-up, Kafele insisted.

Vilson attested that his own teachers were either Jewish or Irish-Catholic and that, indeed, it hadn't mattered to him as long as they were authentically themselves. They hadn't tried to participate in "street talk." They hadn't pretended to know "the code." They weren't living life in the same way he did, but they did care and that was what counted most.