Mentorship- Directing and Guiding For a Purpose.

I remember when i was a young kid growing up I used to look up to some of the older guys around (Mom did not know) who did not so good things except for the progression of themselves. At the time I did not know you needed to do for others more than yourself, I only saw that they had new clothes and the nicest ride at the time and I wanted those things as well to show off to people.  As I grew older and a bit more wiser, i understood that if you want to look up to someone, it should be someone of substance, someone of positive virtues that only wants others to see the right way to do things. My father was a great role model and still is, his advice has never been wrong and he also allowed me to grow into the man I was meant to be, not the one he wanted me to be.  My father also help with other young men in molding them, not because he had to but because he knew he was needed and he also wanted to. When I was an undergraduate in college I met a man who was in an administrative position for the campus I was attending at the time.  He was everything a young brother should want to strive to be, the young ladies adored him, he dressed professionally, and he had a position of importance.  What I appreciate about this individual is he saw something in me enough to take time and help with molding me into the man I am today, so I will always owe he a debt which I will pay by doing the same thing for another young man growing up needing a role model.  I have a young son, but that is not enough on my part to just mold him, he is my responsibility so that molding to me does not count, I will always mold and train my son in the ways of a young man that needs to be a driving force in society and make his mark. It is my job as a man to impart what knowledge I have to another young man who may be lost or needing the same guidance in order to progress.

 We live in a selfish world, were need for self out weighs the need to help others, we have turned being competitive into a way of life, and we need to get away from some of that thinking. It takes nothing to take some of your time and help another young man who is lost and needing a mentor who is about something guide them  to the path of success and make the way they live a good one.  I can not say I have not been blessed to receive such instruction because I have and in turn I need to give that instruction back to whoever so needs it or seeks it.  I see how young men follow older men who do negative things and do not care about the people who look up to them.  From rappers to some athletes they feel like they owe no one nothing, and to a point they do not, but again that falls back into selfish thinking, which is something society need to review and revise, this contributes to the problems of declining education and behavior issues, lack of positive mentorship.  Please leave your comments or opinions.

The Mis-Educated Young Black Male

       As an educator I am privy to observe several areas of education, from the implementation of certain curriculum designs to the actually execution and results of those designs.  One thing that remains constant in my time as an educator is the decline of black males wanting to advance beyond high school, if they accomplish that. It is are deeply embedded and thus difficult to remove the rationale some of the young black males have on life and how they will survive it as they get older. The basic things I hear range from being an athlete to being something in entertainment, I have even heard of some wanting to start their own business (and that is where the conversation stops).  The disservice comes in the form of not telling these young men that they have to take certain steps beyond running fast, making a good rap from memory, and just saying you want a “business”, we have to help them go beyond the juvenile thinking and not help flourish such notions of fantasy without accurate and precise plans of action attached to the back of them. I recall a book a read several years ago called The Mis-Education of the Negro. It is a book originally published in 1933 by Dr. Carter G. Woodson which hit a lot of points we still see today. If you control a person’s thinking you will not have to worry about them being a threat at all, if you tell them this is all they can and will be, then sooner or later they will have the programming to do whatever direction you point them in.  To me this is sad, as parents and people that claim to want to see these young black men progress further that their current station we need to help them by not sugar-coating everything we tell them or become content when they fine a remedial job and waste their talents for years. We need to take education and the concept of role modeling back to the point where we expected nothing but excellence in their academics and career choices.

 

        I usually have my students make fun of me for wearing suits, I also have colleagues that ask me why do I wear suits in the school environment, and for me it is very simple, if I want change I must be that agent of change and make the first steps, no matter how small, towards making an impression on our youth. When it is all said and done we are professionals in education and should carry ourselves as such and be the role models for the one who need it the most.  I enjoy being an educated, proper speaking, well dressed, and driven black male, there is nothing wrong with that.  I do not promote ignorance of stupidity, I cannot and will not tolerate it, and I just cannot. Even though I have heard several times in my life from teenagers as well as adults that it seems I want to engross myself into “white” culture, this is not the case but sad and disrespectful to me and other black males in my position.  It is not about talking “black” or being a certain way that will make others believe I am a black male, I WAS BORN A BLACK MALE! The education, the use of dictation, and the characteristics that make up me are just supplemental and to hear such nonsense from other black individuals really bothers me to a point.  Some may say I am taking this a bit over the top or whatever the case, but I am not, we need to make better decisions beyond watching reality television that promotes the negative aspects of our culture for ratings.  I remember seeing The Cobsy Show and A Different World, shows that showed the positive side of the black experience, but today you hear people say, “That is not real life.” Well I beg to differ, that can be real life because it is based off of real life experiences just like shows that depict drug dealers, gangsters, athletes, and convicts, it is just not glamorous enough.

       The U.S. Department of Education states that the national college graduation rate for black men is 33.1 percent compared with 44.8 percent for black women, with the total graduation rate at 57.3 percent for all students across the country, which begs the question why is that?  The reasoning is quite simple we allow our young black males to become programmed that getting a basic job is all they will need to do and they will be fine.  You will see more parents reward a black male student clothes, shoes, video games, and money just to show they are a cool parent or on some level boost the ego of the young black male because they are not doing well in school and are becoming behavior problems in class. Instead of rewarding them for bad behavior we need to instead train them for positive behavior, they are a reflection of us so they should reflect good things, not things that involve looking like the hardest person to walk around. I never can understand why some parents will allow their teenager to get tattoos across their necks, arms, and etc, but when it comes down to talking about them doing better academically and behavior wise they will blame the school system for not doing their job. The job starts at home! If you want a young black male to have the best education or opportunities for advancement in life, regulate how they carry themselves in public, help them to understand the academics and help them to be the young, educated, driven black males they were destined to be, the time for correctly educating black males is right now it is needed.  Feel free to leave comments or remarks.

 

Investing in DRIPs: Starting from somewhere instead of nowhere!

A DRIP, or Dividend Reinvestment Plan, is a pretty simple and good way to break into the investing world without having a whole lot of know how or expertise. With DRIPs you can learn how to invest while making a small portion of money, which if done correctly will grow over time.  Companies offer people with direct opportunities for current and new investors to join their programs with a small or even no initial investment at all, which is great for the novice investor want to get their feet wet. This is also a way to invest without paying brokerage fees for each transaction you make, when I first starting researching a big hindrance for me was the paying additional money to an outside source on my money.  With patience, and time, one just has to read up and learn how to invest in DRIPs in order to secure a more stable future for themselves and loved ones.

I was at the barber shop awhile back and heard a few young men talking about how they felt their master plan for saving money was going to keep them rich in the long run. From what I heard they were going to basically save up ten thousand dollars, buy a safe, then go to a backyard of a house they would have and dig a big hole.  In this hole they would place the safe in and then mix some concrete and pour it over the safe (security reasons) and let it harden. They would then come back in ten years and dig up ten thousand dollars, thus remaining rich for that cycle of their lives. Now being the person that I am I had to respond by telling them that the scenario they just described was the dumbest thing I have heard of, for that day. Of course we all laughed and about the story, but when I when I followed through with follow up questions, I began to realize these young men were serious, and what scared me the most was that they were in their mid-twenties with children! I bring up this story to say that we need to get into different realms and modes of thinking that are realistic and hold substantial value. We can all have a plan as the one I just described, but in the long run how effective is that plan? While they may have ten thousand dollars that was placed away and buried for ten years, there is another person who would have the same ten thousand dollars and actually plan for smart investing and within that same ten years’ time turned that into one hundred thousand dollars.  If these young men just simply planned and actually did some research into thing like DRIPs, they would understand that would secure a better future for themselves and their families.

We all have to learn to research the companies that interest use when investing or trying to invest on our own. It's always a practice to research about the business of the company that caught your interest, this also including reviewing the companies past performance with its stacks as well as looking at its future forecast. You always want to invest soundly and wisely in order to increase your money and keep a diversified portfolio. There are many websites you can research in order to see what best fits your personal situation, one website that I like is http://directinvesting.com/ , they give you everything you may be looking for as well as definitions to terms you may not be familiar with. It is time to seize opportunities for growth and prosperity, if you so desire to! Please feel free to leave comments or questions and I will be happy to respond!

 

The Visible Father, The Observant Son, and The Obstacles.

Many discussions have been produced on this topic.  I am a proponent for fathers being in the lives of young males.  My son, knows I love him, will support him, will guide and instruct him.  I am the visible father, I don't say this for accolades or recognition, I say this because this is my duty as a male who had strong males in my life. I have an observant son, he views and absorbs information in order to process and grow from his current position. In me knowing this I have to keep diligent in my role to make sure that the things observed are things that make him a productive person and well adjusted individual. In my position of being the father to my son he once told me he wanted to be smart as me, this simple statement carried so much weight, it allowed me just a small glimpse of how I am perceived by my own flesh and blood. I was placed on a pedal stool as a superhero in the eyes of a great kid, which brings me to the other side of spectrum of this conversation, which is the obstacles. Obstacles such as ignorance, deceitful nature of others, and sorting out through lies and truth, this is the most challenging aspect of developing a young man. We as fathers, true fathers, have to bear such weights and remain stable but also transparent for our sons in order to allow them to have something to hold steadfast to and get the prepared for life. I understand that life has to teach us all, but it is always good to give them a hand in the right direction.

Complacency or growth?

As an educator I often ask this very question to my students. The responses have varied over the years but I have come to find that most people are complacent out of some perfectly structured fear and the need to have constants in their life.  I get it, I really do, whether If an individual has adopted this concept because of commitments , obligations, or perhaps feeling as if they have reach the goals set out, I often wonder wat makes a person sty in that mode. I for one never have been a complacent person, I consider myself driven no motivated by just wanting to evolve beyond my current situation and station in life, that I why I keep myself abreast in my areas of education, research, and things that will improve my life so in turn I can improve others around me.  This way of thinking has at times placed me in the perception of others as either "cocky" or arrogant. But I can say that I am not the least bit ashamed for making a conscious decision and taking the necessary steps to keep moving in a direction that is one of enrichment and fulfillment.  I love learning and getting into other pursuits that make me better, if not then those who know me by my nickname of " Mr. B." really don't know me.  At times while others sleep I am up researching, reviewing, and strategizing plns for future goals, this could lead into why I get very little sleep. I like to attribute the little sleep I do get to that of me not wanting to miss out on a learning opportunity, because even though learning opportunities are not rare,    One still has to sort out the more meaningful ones in order to commence the application of of the learned experience.

I think growth is essential and something everyone should strive for. At times it breaks my spirit to see individuals, so full of talent and promise, leave themselves in one mode simply because they have "mastered" that particular mode, so in a sense they come across as a person well versed on that subject. I would rather venture out beyond what I know so I can process all the gleaned knowledge I have accumulated in my time on earth.  I was once told my a person I considered a mentor that life is a process, and with that simple yet complex phrase I have carried myself into realm of growth that will only linearly progress in a positive direction.  

Great Educator

Social influences are in fact the great educators of our current generation of students who imitate everything they see on television; from their style of dress to the way they behave one must realize that that school is indeed only a secondary agency that is desperately fighting to keep the children of America abreast with the rest of the world.  The educational problems and possibilities that are presented to teachers by cultural contexts such as media, family, and neighborhoods is basically influence. With more and more parents working longer hours, some taking a back seat to their children’s education in favor of settling their financial situations, most children are not reinforced about the importance of education. It is also generational, some of the parents today are young parents who may have not finished their education and may have valid reasons to not trust the educational system in America, so what happens is that these parents instruct their children on how to not trust the system as well and the cycle of not wanting to learn is then established. With a child’s neighborhood, it can be difficult; depending on the area to get some children out of a life of negativity if that is all they have seen growing up. It is easy for a person in a better standing to give advice and tell children in a  not so good situation that it is ok to want to learn and move up, but if they hear from people in their own environment that it is not then they will tend to listen to the people they can best relate to  rather than someone considered and outsider. With the media, the real war is getting them to help with the problems of education rather than trying to make money off of the young masses, it has become so economically driven that the media will show more advertisements and ridiculous shows telling you had to think and act, that the children of America do not stand a chance of making proper choices if all they have to go on is the media. Media could have so much more purpose in getting out more educational shows and showing children that it is ok to want to learn and be smart. We see on the kids shows that try to say they are kid friendly how they make fun of the smart kid while showing the student who is considered not as smart getting all of the perks of having a lacking education.

A difference that teachers can and should make for their learners if schools are deemed secondary to the wider society in regards to influence is to become a better voice, teachers too have somewhat throw in the towel when trying to deal with a more challenging individual in their class due to lack of support and funding to get the services that child may need.  I do not want to sound like I am against teachers, they do a fine job of helping the majority of children succeed as best they can in the world they currently live and function in, but there needs to be a bigger voice from this group of people and the voice should not go through a type of retaliation from their district if they say something that may not align with that districts steps in helping children. And we cannot blame just poor neighborhoods for the problem, most affluent and middle class neighborhoods are to blame for the fact that they want to exclude the poor students from receiving a good education as well, we need to find solutions together because this is an all-around problem not isolation to some parts of the country.

Blog 4: Hidden curriculum and the role of schools in cultural hegemony

Before one delves into the relationship between the meaning of hidden curriculum and the role of schools in cultural hegemony, one must understand what they mean first. For defining cultural hegemony, it simply states that a certain class of people believing the theory that a society that is considered diverse can be ruled by a dominating social class who is not above using tricks and maneuvers the achieve the level of rule they want for their type of inner circle.  When defining hidden curriculum, it basically is the teaching of lessons that are not out in the open but more implied and learned from perceptions and actions not forwardly outlined. Now in understanding what each of these statements mean the relationship between the two can be seen by anyone. Basically a certain group may feel superior or above others and without trying to come out and saying it, they instead imply and make hidden or secret steps in the direction of advancing their own class of people. Cultural hegemony does cause surprising effects on the inter-workings and what happens in public school classrooms. Some teachers are even performing this act without even knowing it sometimes. From having advanced courses to remedial courses, teachers are putting out the perception that smarter kids get better course  and chances to achieve while the kids label challenged get the minimal when it comes to education. This may not have been the intention, but on some level this is the case. You even get the sense from the teachers who only want to have advance classes over remedial that teaching a certain class of student can place you in a certain social class as well.

Understanding the concepts like cultural pluralism and assimilation can help to impact how we think about education and marginalized groups within it in contemporary society, by simply allowing these types of groups need to exist in order to help build acceptance of unique cultural identities that can in fact assimilate into our already large blended culture without being an elitist culture. In regards to applying this reasoning to education, you want to have a diverse background in your education, keeping instruction on the thinking of just having an unsaid way of handling choosing what students learn or which people learn what is not the true definition of a unified nation.  I can see from debates about education for its own sake versus education for a particular role in society being played out on the political trail and in other sectors. While some will agree the need to somehow govern the who and the way education is being carried out in today’s educational environment, others will debate that it should be for all and made equitable. We can see how some political figures do not want illegal immigrants to have basic education, while some are fighting to have this as a reality. In all honesty there should not even be a concern with having everyone receive education and get the most benefits , it should not be a selective group of individuals who have hidden agendas with education and learning, that is so ridiculous on so many levels, but yet in still we are having discussions on why such occurrences are happening and why the general population seems to either want to ignore the matter or simply leave the system the way it is for fear of making too many waves and cause some type of  upheaval.