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Home › Blogs & Talk › Jaih McReynolds's Personal Blog › Basic Before Complex: What One Small...

Basic Before Complex: What One Small in Education Change Can Do

Fri, Oct 01, 2010 at 11:45:48pm   ►by Jaih McReynolds   ►

Coming from a different background and culture, then most people I’m surrounded with in this sexuality program, has taught me great deal about myself, and the world outside of my normal culture. I am able to witness how people, from the outside of my community, view my culture looking in. So far, I have been able to hear, see and learn many things that I have never been exposed to anywhere else throughout my life. But there has been one thing that has stuck out to me while being in this program, NO ONE has any real idea the struggles my community face, in sexual health or in education. I have heard many of talks about the effects of oppression on the Black community, the lack of medical services, and the lack of sex education in schools (all the complex problems), but I’m not sure that people understand that the lack of basic educations (I’m talking elementary school, middle school and high school if your lucky) is the true problem and one of the major reasons why the Black community suffers from so many sexual health issues.

 

In the Black communities, the truth is, basic education is not a right, it’s a privilege, and if are lucky enough to have that privilege (which usually comes from having some type of constant advocate) then you can think about life opportunities. And if you have the pleasure to think about life opportunities then most of the time you are more conscious about your sexual health, and delaying pregnancy. But many people from my community are not so lucky. The, poorly ran and poorly funded, public school system has created this structure (the three tier system) that sets my community up to fail.  Creating this idea that if I can’t be successful in school, then I will do something I can be successful at (and trust me these thoughts leads to risky behaviors and I’m speaking from personal experiences).

 

Honestly, I have been very lucky to have an advocate on my side throughout my schooling and that is one of the reasons why I am here today. I have seen people fall through the cracks of the system, and I have witness and had teachers tell me, as well as others, that we would never be anything in life or make it out of our neighborhoods, and that is what made me strive hard to get out and give back to my community. Currently, I’m working with a group of teens (my mom has a teen program) that have suffered from many issues, that have been given up on, put into continuation school, told they would never go any where in life and/or put into remedial classes (even when they are not suppose to be in those classes). Some of these teenagers were ready to give up on school and on life, and I have been totally amazed of how, when given the chance and opportunity, they are super ambitious, with so many goals, including being sexuality healthy and continuing on with higher education.

 

I’m saying all this to say, I know that many people who are studying certain areas, are not always from the population they are studying and may not know why a population is having a issue or behaving in a certain way, but as researchers, before jumping into and trying to solve, large complex issues we should look at the basic ones first. I’m sure by fixing the educational system we can solve many health problems and by changing the policies we can solve those educational structure issues, in the Black community.

 

Check out the Harlem Children’s  Zone to see how basic education can change a community: http://www.hcz.org/

 

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Comments

Color Lines

I'm excited that you put this issue out there Jaih. I too have noticed a lack of the "color" experience in our program, and it does indeed make me question my role in an institution as a queer man of color who has struggled to reign in a equal and comprehensive educational experience. Education is problematic for many marginalized communities, preventing youth form maximizing their fullest potential and limiting their access to knowledge and self-fulfillment. I agree, that we must first start with more simple social issues, such as education, before we can effectively begin to investigate more microscopic issues. Reflecting on the role education plays in the lives of our communities, neighbors, friends, and participants, will help inform us of the accuracy and effectiveness of social justice issues within our own research interests. Thinking about research in ways that can enhance education, particularly for youth of color, can be an effective strategy for integrating education with social justice issues for marginalized youth of color. Thank you for sharing this personal experience, it reminds others of our unique individuality and dynamic perspectives that are often taken for granted.

Anthony Acosta on Oct 04, 2010 09:45am

Hi Jaih

I fixed the html intro for your blog, so let me know if you continue having trouble with it.

Richard C Garcia on Oct 04, 2010 11:43am

Love it!

Jaih I am in love with this post, would it be okay for me to forward it? Reading this seriously made me want to jump out of my seat and clap. You touch on so many important points. The entire system of education seems to be set up in a way to keep people of color from having any mobility. A friend of mine (a product of Oakland public schools) told me that the teachers were there mostly to somehow pay off student loans with a teaching grant and that they had very little invested in their students and were, in fact, so separated from the community that the needs they thought they could touch were in fact not met. Like Anthony, I have been thinking a lot about privilege and race especially being in this program, especially when I examine myself. As a young woman of color I feel that race is something I take home with me all the time. It's not a cap I can put on and take off when it's convenient for me to talk about, but rather it's a constant existence and world view. THAT BEING SAID, how do I negotiate the power that I come in with, being a Latina who can easily pass as white? Being a woman of color who is in grad school. Being a Latina who is fluent in English. In other words, how can I advocate for my community while still recognizing the privilege I now have simply from having the ability to access higher education? Stepping down from my soap box, what I loved about this post is that it is so straight forward. There can be discussion or recognition that people of color are marginalized when it comes to sex education and sexual health but how can we even begin to discuss these details when even basic education is held back from these communities? Furthermore, how can we begin to teach sexual health and desire without realizing that the institutions that are set up to educate these populations are often controlled and taught by communities they can't identify with? It's a very sticky situation. Anyway, LOVE LOVE LOVE the post! great points!

Vanessa Torres on Oct 04, 2010 12:20pm

Thanks for the Comments!!

Thank you Both Anthony and Vanessa for your comments, You can definitely re-post my blog Vanessa. I really though I was talking to myself. I'm really glad that you both could related to my feelings, because sometimes I feel like no one else understands. I love the questions you asked, Vanessa, because I think that is a struggle we all face as minorities in the academic world.

Jaih McReynolds on Oct 04, 2010 06:52pm

Unjust inequalitites

I appreciate what you shared Jaih. It's so unAmerican what we are doing to Americans. I'm ashamed that this is the truth we are faced with and it must be changed. I wonder if the movie Waiting for Superman brings up these issues and how it is handled. (It's playing at the theatre in the Westfield Center, we should check it out after class)

Jennifer Olsen on Oct 06, 2010 10:10pm

courage

thanks for this. I think it takes courage to say what you did: "But there has been one thing that has stuck out to me while being in this program, NO ONE has any real idea the struggles my community face, in sexual health or in education. I have heard many of talks about the effects of oppression on the Black community, the lack of medical services, and the lack of sex education in schools..." It is easy to talk abstractly in an academic way about oppression but lived experience is another. I don't pretend to know per se but I can empathize esp working in Oakland public schools As someone who is white, male I have been fairly privilege. I am left to imagine what life is like is for others that haven't shared my privilege. The other side of the oppression is that part of being privilege is not having to look at how other ppl are living. I grew up in the suburbs of chicago and money was not too much of a concern for me or my family. But in thinking about inequality and its connection to racism and how to heal that divide I have had to think more about how other ppl live their lives more to better define the terrain of struggles as an educator. I may not know your background or lived it but I am hear with an open mind, heart, and with you in the struggles against systems of oppression...esp how that plays out in public schools. As for Waiting for Superman, that's a whopper that need a whole blog onto itself. It's a procharter school/anti-teacher/anti-union film from what I hear. The marketing of film is also backed by 2 million dollars of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (bill gates is in movie) Here's a great Nation article about it: http://www.thenation.com/article/154986/grading-waiting-superman The just of education reform IMHO is that all schools need to equally funded. And teachers need to supported not punished for student performances on standardized tests... Linda Darling-Hammond has some great thoughts (and a new book) on school reform: <http://www.thenation.com/article/restoring-our-schools> (heh. and yes I do subscribe to the Nation like a good lefty) Oh a counterpoint to Waiting for Superman that has a more grassroots distribution going on is Race to Nowhere: <http://www.thenation.com/article/restoring-our-schools>

Erik Olsen on Oct 12, 2010 03:01pm

Thanks for Sharing

I am glad you shared this post. I know that I sometimes forget how much a solid basic education is a privilege. You hit on a key point that I am encouraged to think more about. How can we expect any population that is underprivileged, under-served, and systematically discriminated against to make "appropriate" decisions about their sexual health (the appropriate behaviors are continually defined by those with privilege and power)? I think there are definitely lots of problematic issues with the public school system and other institutions in general. How do we address issues of sexual rights and pleasure without neglected the other institutional inequalities that limit those rights?

Robin Darling on Oct 18, 2010 03:36pm