Despite the apparently set-in-stone achievement gap between black and white students, a little common sense at home can go a long way.
A few years ago, NAACP president Kweisi Mfume insisted that there should be more blacks on TV. Too few colored folks on the idiot box hurts black kids’ self-esteem.
Reasonable people, myself included, thought the man was out of his mind. Children of all colors should be watching less or no TV, not more, especially when a persisting achievement gap leaves black kids, on average, four years behind their white peers by the time they graduate from high school.
Except for the liberal use of the term “African-American,” Derrick Z. Jackson’s latest column is very important for several reasons. First, he’s a black liberal, and other liberals are more willing to listen to him than to someone like me. Second, he suggests that blacks organize marches for something worthwhile, like education, instead of the usual tripe that gets national coverage, like the “Millions More” movement, led by a man who should seriously consider therapy. (The therapy part is my idea). Third, he lays out the numbers:
According to Nielsen Media Research, the television is on in the typical African-American home 11 hours, 10 minutes a day, compared with 7:34 in white homes. Nielsen translates that to 79 hours a week of TV in black homes compared with 52 hours a week of TV in white homes.
On average, black children watch nearly two hours more television a day than white students, which translates to 14 more hours a week that black students could be reading or doing homework. In addition, different studies indicate that the percentage of black children who watch six or more hours of television a day, about 40 percent, is as much as triple that of white children. Virtually every study concludes that when you watch that much television, you will be a poor student in every subject.
Much has been and will continue to be written about why black children lag behind their peers academically. Is the “acting white” syndrome to blame? Perhaps it’s family structure, or rather the lack of family structure. While too many people prefer to blame government for their ills, most of our troubles begin at home.
Stephan and Abigail Thernstrom have done tons of research on the academic achievement gap. Their No Excuses program has boasted positive results. In their book by the same name, they tackle controversial issues head on. The Thernstroms say that lack of discipline in the home is a big culprit. Children from low-income/inner-city homes lack it in a greater amount than other children.
Fortunately, being from a low-income home doesn’t necessarily mean a child will perform worse than other students. The problem I see is in our perception of “poor.” For the last forty years, thanks to socialist government programs, inner-city welfare dependents are what we think of when we hear the word “poor.” But that wasn’t always the case. There are hard-working poor people, but by definition, a welfare-dependent person is not “hard-working.”
I believe welfare dependency is inherently undignified; that’s not to say a particular individual on welfare lacks dignity. But a life lived on government “income” robs people of the will to achieve, to work hard, and to create rather than take. No one will ever convince me otherwise. I know people on welfare, and I’ve perceived it with my own eyes and ears and heard it from others.
Back to education. I’d wager that most black kids with low academic achievement are “low-income,” and the nature of that income is a government subsidy. If black kids are disproportionately without a solid family structure, I’m certain education is one of the least important issues in such households, generally speaking.
Back to Jackson. Read his column. Send it to your friends. Turn off the idiot box and stock your homes with books. For your children’s sake.
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Oh, boy, this is my *worst* bad habit. We have the TV on day and night. My wife dreads the hours of 6:30am to 7:30am and 6:00pm to 7:00pm where I argue out loud with anyone (liberal or conservative) I don’t agree with on the morning news shows or Special Report with Brit Hume.
We end up watching lots of NFL and college football and basketball…
The other bad habit I have is coffee! Mmmmmmmmmm…coffee!
Comment by Tom Blogical — 11.02.05 @ 9:45 am
Here in Wisconsin, the school districts don’t schedule anything on Wednesday nights as it is a church night. For decades this has been the case here. My family and I now attend church events, youth group, choir practice etc. on Wed. nights and then we read, as a family. We come home by 7 pm or so and spend the remainder of the night reading a book. I think this has helped my boys to become excellent students.
Maybe we could push this on a local level, as I am sure other States have a similar policy regarding one night a week free from school activites. Make it a church/reading night, turn off the TV for one night a week and read!
I don’t know. Too simple I guess.
Comment by jeff east — 11.02.05 @ 10:04 am
Great post La Shawn…very informative and well reasoned. I am all for turning off the hellivision for everone.
Comment by Randy — 11.02.05 @ 11:06 am
You would be appalled at how early into the morning kids watch TV and then come to school all dopey and without having attempted to crack a book. In our area, the libs have been pushing to start school later to accommodate kids who just “can’t get started” at 9 am.
Another point of interest is that every public school keeps stats on how many of its children come from single parent homes, are on welfare, qualify for various public service programs. This is mandated by Federal law. When you examine these numbers and then examine the census data of the school neighborhood, you will often find that they are greatly out of sync. Why? Because many sincere parents will do whatever it takes to get their kids into a strong school and away from the kids who are just riding “big yellow” and socializing for the day.
Our private schools troll for kids with poverty background who want to succeed. It helps the kid, the school and their public relations.
As my grandmother told me: being poor isn’t bad, its just inconvenient. But, she always added that poverty of spirit is the worst kind of poverty and it is something you can usually do something about.
Comment by Heliotrope — 11.02.05 @ 11:43 am
Amen. We haven’t had network tv for…8 years and don’t miss it one bit. No cable or satellite either for about 3 years now and it’s also not missed. We have some video tapes and dvd’s, and that’s enough. I think the thing we appreciate the most is the truly wonderful lack of commercials which makes shopping with the kids a breeze because they’re not constantly begging for every “as seen on tv” item. Not that they don’t ask for things they see, but it’s way easier for them to accept “no” when they haven’t been programmed by commercials to “need” whatever toy or trinket it is.
Comment by FL Mom — 11.02.05 @ 11:52 am
“A few years ago, NAACP president Kweisi Mfume insisted that there should be more blacks on TV. Too few colored folks on the idiot box was hurting black kids’ self-esteem.”
I’d be in trouble if my self-esteem was based on what I saw on television.
I used to watch the Brady Bunch. I thought it was cool that everytime the kids did something wrong, the parents would talk it out with them. After I saw that, I did something wrong and my parents gave me a wallop on the buttocks. From that moment on, I knew tv had no basis in reality.
Comment by Philip — 11.02.05 @ 1:01 pm
Thank You, Derrick Z. Jackson
Then take LaShawn’s suggestion and copy the Jackson column far and wide.
Trackback by Tapscott's Copy Desk — 11.02.05 @ 1:08 pm
I completely agree with the Thernstroms about no excuses. If students are sufficiently motivated, they will learn and learn well, in spite of devastating odds.
A case in point is Students Rising Above, a local non-profit organization dedicated to “providing educational resources to high school students who are overcoming staggering obstacles to pursue their education and their dreams for a better life.”
There you will read stories about students who have gone through everything “bad” that life could throw at them that are today attending major colleges and universities and doing well there.
Comment by Heather — 11.02.05 @ 1:43 pm
I shut down the cable in my house.It is not of any use for the kids.Also the filth on it is not worth my kids having anything to do with it.
Comment by Idiongo Udoh — 11.02.05 @ 3:48 pm
La Shawn,
I’d love to hear more about your thoughts on the term “African American.” Have you posted on this?
Blessings to you my friend.
Comment by Christy-Lynn — 11.02.05 @ 5:57 pm
Hi Christy-Lynn - I’m certain I’ve blogged about it more than once, but here’s one link:
http://lashawnbarber.com/archives/2005/03/02/let-2/
Also see the “About” page.
Comment by La Shawn — 11.02.05 @ 6:02 pm
La Shawn Barber of the epyomonous Corner notes that: According to Nielsen Media Research, the television is on in the typical African-American home 11 hours, 10 minutes a day, compared with 7:34 in white homes. Nielsen translates that to 79 hours a week of TV in black homes compared with 52 hours a week of TV in white homes. Well if Western Civilization falls, we’ll know why. We were slain by the effing boob tube.
Pingback by Pseudo-Polymath — 11.03.05 @ 6:59 am
How much of our hard earned dollars go toward the debauchery that is cable today? The hours and money add up, the waist lines fill out, and our souls gently slip away…
Two suggestions.
1. Set up a mirror in close proximity to your television. Close enough to be able to view your own reflection or the reflection of another as we sit and “veg out.”
2. For believers, use the litmus test of the presence of our Heavenly Father. Who are we glorifying through our tube time???
Comment by David — 11.03.05 @ 2:45 pm
Race, Education, and Society
I got some interesting commentary on my Race LASIK article. To recap briefly, the argument is that our society isn’t color-blind, that racism still exists, and that as a result efforts to remedy racial discrimination and disparities need to be color-…
Trackback by The Debate Link — 11.03.05 @ 6:02 pm
I went away to college in 1988 without a TV. I haven’t had one since. My five children have never watched TV, and we really don’t have time for it. We’re too busy with real life: home school, chores, making our clothes, baking our bread, playing games, reading books, discussing things we’re thinking/reading/hearing about outside of our family and striving to grow in godliness. I guess some people have time for an hour a day in front of the tube, but I don’t have anything I would want to give up for it.
It seems a great shame for children to waste away watching someone else’s imaginary life rather than live their own. What do we expect when we turn over the training of our children to an industry that only cares for them as a marketing demographic?
Comment by Jenney — 11.03.05 @ 6:54 pm
Great post La Shawn — I like your edgy style and authentic insights. Your style of keeping things real is refreshing, keep it up!
About the TV thing, my wife and I chucked our TV when it died about a year ago.. that had many benefits: more time talking instead of being zombified and more time reading. Reading not only for us but for our kids too! We’re reading the chronicles of Narnia almost every night, and at first we thought their attention span couldn’t handle it, but surprisingly they are able to follow and understand.
i challenge other young families to try this out!
Comment by Patrick — 11.04.05 @ 2:46 am
LaShawn - I don’t see eye-to-eye with you on most things. But I think this was a fantastic posting!
White and black youths alike would do far better to have the idiot box turned off, no matter who is on TV.
My family went without TV starting 2 years ago. At the time, I have to admit to feeling some trepidation - I mean, it seemed like such a “radical” move to ban the box from our home. But once you do it, you realize how little you miss it, and that life without the box is what is really “normal”.
Before, we used to just watch the tube no matter what was on - it was just a habit. Now, my family and I have so much more time, both together as a family and for our own private time. A major source of mind pollution has been shut down. I would encourage everyone to take the plunge - and for Mr Mfume to get a clue!
Comment by Aaron — 11.04.05 @ 1:41 pm
When my children were young we broke the TV habit — didn’t have one for nine years. When we got one again we did not have cable and our kids were very limited in how much they could watch. As a result, we did a lot of reading. My kids — now grown — have expressed appreciation for the reading habits they developed. All four of them are well-read and well-spoken. Today, my wife and I watch very little TV — still won’t have cable.
Comment by Mike — 11.04.05 @ 6:01 pm
I’m so glad to see that a lot of people are ditching the tv! Besides saving a bundle on cost of cable, their family lives are so much better.
Aaron - “Mind pollution” is exactly what tv is. The language, the twisted values, the commercials, the “edgy” (read: lawless) concepts…it’s all just junk that no one neeeeeds to see. I may just have to borrow that term from you in regular conversation.
Comment by FL Mom — 11.05.05 @ 10:34 am
Out of Sex, Excercise, Drinking coffee, TV is something most people cannot give up:
http://news.yahoo.com/snapshots/;_ylt=Al7xb_FZ1voOhYCjKUEM._qs0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA2NXBxOGxzBHNlYwNkZg–
Comment by Patrick — 11.05.05 @ 5:10 pm