Being an African American student taking all Honor and Advanced Placement classes can be alienating at times, as my physical appearance doesn’t scream that of the stereotypical AP/Honor student. Few teachers would initially regard me as a student with great intellect, as I feel the academic expectations a school faculty may initially have for me would be average or below average because of statistics that reflect wide education disparities between white students and non-Asian minority students. Walking into an enrichment class, I know I have to work twice as hard to get that acceptance that my white or Asian counterparts would otherwise get from simply signing up. From the start I have something to prove, as there’s this pressure instilled in me from day one that I must prove my worthiness to not only my teachers but my peers. What contributes to this urgent sense to prove myself is that I don’t want to just be another stereotype. I don’t want to fit the societal narrative of how the average black student performs; instead I strive to rewrite this narrative by being one of innumerable examples of black excellence. As a result, my academic performance often leaves teachers and other staff members baffled, leading them to seek me out for a magic answer to this issue.

      My grandmother once told me of a 6th grader she met during her career as a middle school teacher in Austin, a suburb on the West Side of Chicago. Because of the high poverty rate in the location, human beings are struggling to meet basic necessities, thus developing this incentive for “quick, easy money to put food on the table,” my grandmother said. This leads to the drug dealing phenomenon. The young black boy eventually comes to the resolution that the short-term benefits of drug dealing is more worthwhile than the long-term benefits of pursuing an education, which is precisely why this very student decides to drop out of school at the age of 12. At the age of 12, a young black boy makes the conscious decision to drop out, because he’s fixed in an environment where easy money is more desirable than maintaining values of hard work demonstrated through the pursuit of higher education.

      One day, my grandmother showed up to school discovering that the child has been missing for quite a few days, which garnered intense worry within her. Immediately, she left the school campus and went searching for the boy, only to discover that he was on a block dealing drugs with a couple of other neighborhood drug dealers. My grandmother then went on to discover that this way of life was generational for the child, and although my grandmother reached out a helping hand, she knew her degree of influence only stretched so far as a school teacher. My grandmother had come to the harsh realization that although she wanted him to obtain a proper education, he had to have the same goals in mind for himself as well. As a teacher, this was a heart-wrenching reality for her.

        Some students are often born into a cycle in which higher education is often not pursued. Therefore they maintain this stigma that if my mother and father couldn’t do it, I can’t. If my uncles and aunties couldn’t do it, I can’t. I can’t, I can’t, I can’t. Although the situation explained often isn’t applicable in a suburban setting, the mindset of the 12 year old in my Grandmother’s experience is still a recurring reality for many black students, that there’s a lack of agency within some of these student’s lives.

            That 6th grader lacked the supportive foundation at home to supplement him with the encouragement to pursue an education. My father was raised in similar conditions, yet his upbringing uplifted him out of the perpetuation of a rather systematic cycle that deprives African Americans of socioeconomic mobility. Poverty-stricken and raised in a broken family, my father defied the odds bestowed on him as a black boy raised on the West Side of Chicago. With a strong maternal influence, my father demonstrated fortitude in the midst of adversity by lifting himself out of the grueling cycle of poverty by demonstrating principles of hard-work in order to bring about upward socioeconomic mobility. He ended up working full-time as a full-time student in order to pay for his Associate’s Degree in Computer Science. By doing so, he broke this generational cycle of poverty that severely stagnated his family members before him, and what also continues to stagnate many African-Americans today.

I was raised in contrasting conditions. Raised in a loving, stable home, my mother fostered my early cognitive development by urging me to read books, solve puzzles, and practice my handwriting and spelling As a result, I did not need to attend Pre-K, and by the time I was in kindergarten, I was capable of reading children’s books and writing my full name. I’ve always been a student that placed extremely high importance on my academic performance. I obtained straight A’s all through elementary school, nearly obtained straight A’s in middle school with the exception of one B, and persistently strive to obtain high grades in high school. Certainly it is a school staff’s job to provide me the support and the tools to succeed; however, very little is accomplished without the strong inner drive within myself to push for success. Personally, my motivation to succeed is deeply rooted in the desire to dismantle stereotypes that hold my people down in the first place, specifically the commonly held conception that we African-Americans inherently perform academically substandard to our peers. I aspire to pose as a rebuttal to such negative perceptions, and it certainly starts with taking on academic challenges, such as taking AP/Honor classes.

In the end, the reality in discussing the racial academic achievement gap present in education is that there’s a broad range of contexts to be considered that incurs great complexity to the issue. There’s affluent black students that attend top-notch private schools, well-to-do black students in the suburbs, and urban black students from low-income inner-cities. Some of the recurring problems that face low-income black students particularly include large classroom sizes, inadequate and low capacity of teachers and school officials, and a less demanding curriculum. As a suburban black student, I and many of my peers often take a school such as Glenbard North for granted. An ample amount of resources is provided at Glenbard North to enrich our education, yet the opportunities provided often go to waste.

          Taking into account that there’s many contexts to consider, the discussion of  diversity arises. Within a school, diversity isn’t merely a pool of ethnic groups, religions, sexual orientations, etc, but we must understand that there’s diversity in the thoughts and behaviors within ethnic groups, within religions, within those who identify under the same sexual orientations. Black students all fall under the same race, yet it is important to take into account that no black student thinks the same, nor behaves the same. These behaviors are shaped as a result of our environment: whether we were raised in a affluent neighborhood, the suburbs, or the inner-city. Ultimately, all black students are still compiled into a man-made social caste that comes with unique experiences that strings all of us together under a similar historical narrative in America surrounded by marginalization that is crucial to be understood in order for there to be any progress in the relationship between a school’s faculty and their black students. Black students are tied together under a common history of institutional racism, that often continues to plague the black race until this very day. Therefore, in order to even begin to dissect this issue of the achievement gap, teachers and staff must truly understand race relations in the past, and how these past relations continue to affect African Americans today socially, economically, and most importantly psychologically. True support to black students cannot be extended unless a school’s faculty attempt to truly understand the black experience in America.

       This is precisely why regardless of a student’s socioeconomic status, it is important to consider what continues to psychologically deplete a black student’s sense of agency in their education, and how this development of personal efficacy can be fostered in a black student’s school.

          I often ponder what discourages my fellow black students at Glenbard North from taking enrichment classes, and what hinders our black students from narrowing the Academic Achievement gap. Especially considering the fact that we have tools that many other black students across the country might not have to succeed. After inquisition, I gathered the universally held conception that college preparatory classes such as Advanced Placement and honor classes are viewed as too intimidating, appearing to be equally insurmountable and overwhelming to black students. Which makes me question the extent to which the staff at Glenbard North provide enough academic support to non-Asian students in truly equipping them with the foundational skills needed to succeed.

Essentially students are all climbing an invisible ladder to success; however, as some students are ushered into the realm of academic excellence, some students-black students in this case-are instead being kicked down this invisible ladder. Allow me to begin by utilizing an example. An African American student in regular World History may find great interest in the subject, however with a C+ grade, their teacher may discourage them from taking an AP class. Although AP classes are open access, this recommendation from that of a higher authority is enough to convince the African American student to not take the AP course. While the student otherwise had the drive to commit to a rigorous course, the student will heavily take into account the teacher’s perspective, as the student believes the teacher simply wants what’s best for them. A little encouragement can go a long way, as I have often seen that my black counterparts are more heavily encouraged to partake in extracurricular activities such as sports rather than undergo a rigorous class. Ideally, this support would have to begin with a rigorous curriculum in elementary school and middle school to help prepare us black students for the advanced work in high school. Essentially, our academic journey traces back to kindergarten, and it is in part our teacher’s job to help us develop the building blocks needed to succeed academically.

          What tools must teachers implement in order to equip black students with the fundamental building blocks to succeed in the realm of their education? Teachers must analyze what factors inspires agency and efficacy within a student.

       To inspire agency and efficacy, a teacher has to provide a student with a sense of belonging in their environment- the inadequacy in this sector tremendously discourages black students from taking enrichment classes. This can be exercised through culturally sustaining pedagogy, in which according to Django Paris of Stanford University, schools “perpetuate and foster—to sustain—linguistic, literary, and cultural pluralism as part of the democratic project of schooling”. This principle can be manifested in the introduction of non-traditional texts and authors such as James Baldwin and Toni Morrison. Culturally sustaining pedagogy reflects the maintenance and support for the growing multi-ethnic society, which thus resonates a sense of belonging within black students.

          Even more importantly, a teacher must help their students develop a sense of personal efficacy through the active promotion of a growth mindset. By teaching black students that intelligence is malleable, and not determined by our socioeconomic status nor race but our effort and perseverance, a sense of agency will  also be incited within the student, with the realization that their capacity of life achievement is limitless, and not subscribed to predestined boundaries because of individual circumstances.

          Now that the student experiences a surge of agency, how does the student enable this agency? Black students can enable agency by administering values and practices that allow for conscientiousness, which can be exercised through the encouragement of planning and organization, such as requiring students to bring binders and a planner for organization. Although simply requiring students to purchase binders and planners and bringing them to school isn’t enough alone, teachers must enforce behaviors that allow for a growing sense of conscientiousness in order to be the utmost effective.

        This brings about the expression of agency as a final stage. Black students must recognize their free will, their ability to control of their own destiny. Too often does a determinist approach to life leave people with a diminished sense of control and power, which leads to hopelessness and poor behavior. Which once again brings about the importance of allowing black students to realize that intelligence is malleable, and no one is transfixed from birth with a predestined intellectual capacity. What often discourages black students from partaking in enrichment classes is this sense that they’re not smart enough, that the classes are too intimidating.

          Therefore, teachers, principals, superintendents, school deans, school guidance counselors, and lastly parents to allow for progress in narrowing the achievement gap between your black students and their peers, you all must take a step into the mind of a black student. Plunge through the intertwined cobwebs of doubts, fears, and anger crowding our minds, beset by countless external factors such as stereotypes, statistics, family background, etc. What must be conveyed to students is that no matter the race, everyone’s life is governed by the choices they make in the midst of their individual circumstances. We are all different, yet so much alike. Doubts, fears, and anger crowds all of our minds: My Grandmother’s 6th grader’s mind, my father’s mind, my mind, and even yours. Everyone must acknowledge, however, that in the midst of this adversity there is two directions to steer, not one. Despite my grandmother’s efforts, the 6th grader truly had no significant figure in his life to point him in the other direction.

          It is important to get black students to realize that their future matters. It matters not just for the sake of themselves, but for the sake of their community, their state, and possibly their country. In politics, voters often have voter apathy due to the belief that their one vote doesn’t have much weight on the outcome of an election. Unfortunately, school apathy is very much a reality for certain black students, as these students often don’t realize the profound impact they can have on others through pursuing adequate education, whether it’s a more small-scale communal impact or even a large-scale national impact. It’s the realization that having immense knowledge that can be acquired throughout high school brings about personal efficacy, a great power to ignite major change. Some of the world’s greatest black leaders were eloquent, intelligent individuals who had the agency and efficacy to inspire the change in humanity that they desired. Our black students of the 21st century are our future doctors, lawyers, and engineers. Our black students of the 21st century are also our future architects, authors, and musicians. No matter the student’s career choice, narrowing the achievement gap between black students and their counterparts is the stepping stone towards a brighter future, a brighter future with courageous, inspiring leaders, all with unique experiences as black people in America that will definitely bring about new approaches and perspectives to a diverse pool of issues that stagnate and even plague this nation.

      Being an African American student taking all Honor and Advanced Placement classes can be alienating at times, as my physical appearance doesn’t scream that of the stereotypical AP/Honor student. Few teachers would initially regard me as a student with great intellect, as I feel the academic expectations a school faculty may initially have for me would be average or below average because of statistics that reflect wide education disparities between white students and non-Asian minority students. Walking into an enrichment class, I know I have to work twice as hard to get that acceptance that my white or Asian counterparts would otherwise get from simply signing up. From the start I have something to prove, as there’s this pressure instilled in me from day one that I must prove my worthiness to not only my teachers but my peers. What contributes to this urgent sense to prove myself is that I don’t want to just be another stereotype. I don’t want to fit the societal narrative of how the average black student performs; instead I strive to rewrite this narrative by being one of innumerable examples of black excellence. As a result, my academic performance often leaves teachers and other staff members baffled, leading them to seek me out for a magic answer to this issue.

      My grandmother once told me of a 6th grader she met during her career as a middle school teacher in Austin, a suburb on the West Side of Chicago. Because of the high poverty rate in the location, human beings are struggling to meet basic necessities, thus developing this incentive for “quick, easy money to put food on the table,” my grandmother said. This leads to the drug dealing phenomenon. The young black boy eventually comes to the resolution that the short-term benefits of drug dealing is more worthwhile than the long-term benefits of pursuing an education, which is precisely why this very student decides to drop out of school at the age of 12. At the age of 12, a young black boy makes the conscious decision to drop out, because he’s fixed in an environment where easy money is more desirable than maintaining values of hard work demonstrated through the pursuit of higher education.

      One day, my grandmother showed up to school discovering that the child has been missing for quite a few days, which garnered intense worry within her. Immediately, she left the school campus and went searching for the boy, only to discover that he was on a block dealing drugs with a couple of other neighborhood drug dealers. My grandmother then went on to discover that this way of life was generational for the child, and although my grandmother reached out a helping hand, she knew her degree of influence only stretched so far as a school teacher. My grandmother had come to the harsh realization that although she wanted him to obtain a proper education, he had to have the same goals in mind for himself as well. As a teacher, this was a heart-wrenching reality for her.

        Some students are often born into a cycle in which higher education is often not pursued. Therefore they maintain this stigma that if my mother and father couldn’t do it, I can’t. If my uncles and aunties couldn’t do it, I can’t. I can’t, I can’t, I can’t. Although the situation explained often isn’t applicable in a suburban setting, the mindset of the 12 year old in my Grandmother’s experience is still a recurring reality for many black students, that there’s a lack of agency within some of these student’s lives.

            That 6th grader lacked the supportive foundation at home to supplement him with the encouragement to pursue an education. My father was raised in similar conditions, yet his upbringing uplifted him out of the perpetuation of a rather systematic cycle that deprives African Americans of socioeconomic mobility. Poverty-stricken and raised in a broken family, my father defied the odds bestowed on him as a black boy raised on the West Side of Chicago. With a strong maternal influence, my father demonstrated fortitude in the midst of adversity by lifting himself out of the grueling cycle of poverty by demonstrating principles of hard-work in order to bring about upward socioeconomic mobility. He ended up working full-time as a full-time student in order to pay for his Associate’s Degree in Computer Science. By doing so, he broke this generational cycle of poverty that severely stagnated his family members before him, and what also continues to stagnate many African-Americans today.

I was raised in contrasting conditions. Raised in a loving, stable home, my mother fostered my early cognitive development by urging me to read books, solve puzzles, and practice my handwriting and spelling As a result, I did not need to attend Pre-K, and by the time I was in kindergarten, I was capable of reading children’s books and writing my full name. I’ve always been a student that placed extremely high importance on my academic performance. I obtained straight A’s all through elementary school, nearly obtained straight A’s in middle school with the exception of one B, and persistently strive to obtain high grades in high school. Certainly it is a school staff’s job to provide me the support and the tools to succeed; however, very little is accomplished without the strong inner drive within myself to push for success. Personally, my motivation to succeed is deeply rooted in the desire to dismantle stereotypes that hold my people down in the first place, specifically the commonly held conception that we African-Americans inherently perform academically substandard to our peers. I aspire to pose as a rebuttal to such negative perceptions, and it certainly starts with taking on academic challenges, such as taking AP/Honor classes.

In the end, the reality in discussing the racial academic achievement gap present in education is that there’s a broad range of contexts to be considered that incurs great complexity to the issue. There’s affluent black students that attend top-notch private schools, well-to-do black students in the suburbs, and urban black students from low-income inner-cities. Some of the recurring problems that face low-income black students particularly include large classroom sizes, inadequate and low capacity of teachers and school officials, and a less demanding curriculum. As a suburban black student, I and many of my peers often take a school such as Glenbard North for granted. An ample amount of resources is provided at Glenbard North to enrich our education, yet the opportunities provided often go to waste.

          Taking into account that there’s many contexts to consider, the discussion of  diversity arises. Within a school, diversity isn’t merely a pool of ethnic groups, religions, sexual orientations, etc, but we must understand that there’s diversity in the thoughts and behaviors within ethnic groups, within religions, within those who identify under the same sexual orientations. Black students all fall under the same race, yet it is important to take into account that no black student thinks the same, nor behaves the same. These behaviors are shaped as a result of our environment: whether we were raised in a affluent neighborhood, the suburbs, or the inner-city. Ultimately, all black students are still compiled into a man-made social caste that comes with unique experiences that strings all of us together under a similar historical narrative in America surrounded by marginalization that is crucial to be understood in order for there to be any progress in the relationship between a school’s faculty and their black students. Black students are tied together under a common history of institutional racism, that often continues to plague the black race until this very day. Therefore, in order to even begin to dissect this issue of the achievement gap, teachers and staff must truly understand race relations in the past, and how these past relations continue to affect African Americans today socially, economically, and most importantly psychologically. True support to black students cannot be extended unless a school’s faculty attempt to truly understand the black experience in America.

       This is precisely why regardless of a student’s socioeconomic status, it is important to consider what continues to psychologically deplete a black student’s sense of agency in their education, and how this development of personal efficacy can be fostered in a black student’s school.

          I often ponder what discourages my fellow black students at Glenbard North from taking enrichment classes, and what hinders our black students from narrowing the Academic Achievement gap. Especially considering the fact that we have tools that many other black students across the country might not have to succeed. After inquisition, I gathered the universally held conception that college preparatory classes such as Advanced Placement and honor classes are viewed as too intimidating, appearing to be equally insurmountable and overwhelming to black students. Which makes me question the extent to which the staff at Glenbard North provide enough academic support to non-Asian students in truly equipping them with the foundational skills needed to succeed.

Essentially students are all climbing an invisible ladder to success; however, as some students are ushered into the realm of academic excellence, some students-black students in this case-are instead being kicked down this invisible ladder. Allow me to begin by utilizing an example. An African American student in regular World History may find great interest in the subject, however with a C+ grade, their teacher may discourage them from taking an AP class. Although AP classes are open access, this recommendation from that of a higher authority is enough to convince the African American student to not take the AP course. While the student otherwise had the drive to commit to a rigorous course, the student will heavily take into account the teacher’s perspective, as the student believes the teacher simply wants what’s best for them. A little encouragement can go a long way, as I have often seen that my black counterparts are more heavily encouraged to partake in extracurricular activities such as sports rather than undergo a rigorous class. Ideally, this support would have to begin with a rigorous curriculum in elementary school and middle school to help prepare us black students for the advanced work in high school. Essentially, our academic journey traces back to kindergarten, and it is in part our teacher’s job to help us develop the building blocks needed to succeed academically.

          What tools must teachers implement in order to equip black students with the fundamental building blocks to succeed in the realm of their education? Teachers must analyze what factors inspires agency and efficacy within a student.

       To inspire agency and efficacy, a teacher has to provide a student with a sense of belonging in their environment- the inadequacy in this sector tremendously discourages black students from taking enrichment classes. This can be exercised through culturally sustaining pedagogy, in which according to Django Paris of Stanford University, schools “perpetuate and foster—to sustain—linguistic, literary, and cultural pluralism as part of the democratic project of schooling”. This principle can be manifested in the introduction of non-traditional texts and authors such as James Baldwin and Toni Morrison. Culturally sustaining pedagogy reflects the maintenance and support for the growing multi-ethnic society, which thus resonates a sense of belonging within black students.

          Even more importantly, a teacher must help their students develop a sense of personal efficacy through the active promotion of a growth mindset. By teaching black students that intelligence is malleable, and not determined by our socioeconomic status nor race but our effort and perseverance, a sense of agency will  also be incited within the student, with the realization that their capacity of life achievement is limitless, and not subscribed to predestined boundaries because of individual circumstances.

          Now that the student experiences a surge of agency, how does the student enable this agency? Black students can enable agency by administering values and practices that allow for conscientiousness, which can be exercised through the encouragement of planning and organization, such as requiring students to bring binders and a planner for organization. Although simply requiring students to purchase binders and planners and bringing them to school isn’t enough alone, teachers must enforce behaviors that allow for a growing sense of conscientiousness in order to be the utmost effective.

        This brings about the expression of agency as a final stage. Black students must recognize their free will, their ability to control of their own destiny. Too often does a determinist approach to life leave people with a diminished sense of control and power, which leads to hopelessness and poor behavior. Which once again brings about the importance of allowing black students to realize that intelligence is malleable, and no one is transfixed from birth with a predestined intellectual capacity. What often discourages black students from partaking in enrichment classes is this sense that they’re not smart enough, that the classes are too intimidating.

          Therefore, teachers, principals, superintendents, school deans, school guidance counselors, and lastly parents to allow for progress in narrowing the achievement gap between your black students and their peers, you all must take a step into the mind of a black student. Plunge through the intertwined cobwebs of doubts, fears, and anger crowding our minds, beset by countless external factors such as stereotypes, statistics, family background, etc. What must be conveyed to students is that no matter the race, everyone’s life is governed by the choices they make in the midst of their individual circumstances. We are all different, yet so much alike. Doubts, fears, and anger crowds all of our minds: My Grandmother’s 6th grader’s mind, my father’s mind, my mind, and even yours. Everyone must acknowledge, however, that in the midst of this adversity there is two directions to steer, not one. Despite my grandmother’s efforts, the 6th grader truly had no significant figure in his life to point him in the other direction.

          It is important to get black students to realize that their future matters. It matters not just for the sake of themselves, but for the sake of their community, their state, and possibly their country. In politics, voters often have voter apathy due to the belief that their one vote doesn’t have much weight on the outcome of an election. Unfortunately, school apathy is very much a reality for certain black students, as these students often don’t realize the profound impact they can have on others through pursuing adequate education, whether it’s a more small-scale communal impact or even a large-scale national impact. It’s the realization that having immense knowledge that can be acquired throughout high school brings about personal efficacy, a great power to ignite major change. Some of the world’s greatest black leaders were eloquent, intelligent individuals who had the agency and efficacy to inspire the change in humanity that they desired. Our black students of the 21st century are our future doctors, lawyers, and engineers. Our black students of the 21st century are also our future architects, authors, and musicians. No matter the student’s career choice, narrowing the achievement gap between black students and their counterparts is the stepping stone towards a brighter future, a brighter future with courageous, inspiring leaders, all with unique experiences as black people in America that will definitely bring about new approaches and perspectives to a diverse pool of issues that stagnate and even plague this nation.