Poll: Change How Black History Month Is Observed in West County/Hercules Schools?

It's Black History Month again, a time when schools celebrate African-American contributions and heroes. This year, however, the superintendent of the West Contra Costa Unified School district, Bruce Harter, has issued a thought-provoking challenge to the traditional approach.

We'd like your vote in our poll at the bottom of this article on Black History Month education.

"Because we designate one month of the year as Black or African American History month," Harter says in his message, "we highlight and learn about contributions of African Americans – what some call the "heroes and holidays" approach to diversity in our society." (The superintendent's message is on the district Web site and is attached to this article.)

"Teaching about ‘heroes and holidays’ does not ensure any discussion of oppression, social inequity, and struggles with racism and poverty," he continues. "Some writers on multi- cultural education assert that the contributions approach tends to reinforce the American bootstrap myth: 'If you work hard enough you can make it.' The implication is that if you don’t ‘make it’ you must not be trying hard enough."

Harter says, for example, that the author of Critical Race Theory, Richard Delgado, contends that the focus on contributions takes individuals out of their cultural and historical context and casts them as success stories as defined by the standards of the dominant culture. "Delgado maintains that this approach leads to the reinforcement and perpetuation of the stereotypes by presenting a superficial and trivial understanding of the culture and experience of African Americans," Harter says.

Harter recommends that Black History Month observances in schools be expanded to what James Banks called a "decision-making and social action" approach. In such a curriculum, "students develop and implement strategies to eradicate racism, or any other form of oppression in their schools, communities, and personal lives," he says.

"Students could build upon their knowledge of African American history to explore how racism, stereotypes, and detrimental policies continue to operate in our society and in their own environments by using self-reports, interviews, and other data to provide multiple perspectives on the topic. Then students could analyze their own values and beliefs, apply their new knowledge, identify alternative courses of action and decide what, if any, steps they will take to address these issues in their school or community."

"The major goal of this approach is to teach students thinking and decision making skills, to help them acquire a sense of efficacy," Harter says.

Please cast your vote in our reader poll below, and we'd welcome your reason in the comments section.