A Message from the President
Frank Whelan Smith
The W. E. B. Du Bois Imperative:
Education for Social Justice
IF WE MUST DIE
If we must die, let it not be
like hogs
Hunted and penned in an inglorious spot,
While round us bark the mad and hungry dogs,
Making their mock at our accursed lot.
If we must die, O let us nobly die,
So that our precious blood may not be shed
In vain; then even the monsters we defy
Shall be constrained to honor us though dead!
O kinsmen we must meet the common foe!
Though far outnumbered let us show us brave,
And for their thousand blows deal one deathblow!
What though before us lies the open grave?
Like men we'll face the murderous, cowardly pack,
Pressed to the wall, dying, but fighting back!
Claude McKay
What has happened to the spirit engendered by Claude McKay's poem? What has happened to the strength of purpose stimulated by the mere reading of this poem? In the year 2003 people of color are still "pressed to the wall, dying". Who could argue otherwise? But, are we fighting back? Are we challenging the system? Are our young people continuing to play powerful roles in mounting the awesome struggle required to achieve freedom, justice and equality? Are our young people engaged in activities designed to move our nation toward that desired goal? Do our young people understand the tradition established by a long line of freedom fighters including Sojourner Truth, Angelina and Sarah Grimke, Caesar Chavez, Frederick Douglass, Nat Turner, John Brown, William Still, Henry Highland
Garnet, Viola Liuzzo, Ella Baker and Martin Luther King? The answer to these questions is an emphatic No!!
After the massive civil rights struggles of the 1960s, why, in the 21st century, are young people not assuming responsibility for the continued improvement of the condition of their people in America? Why is it that our students know almost nothing about Malcolm X, for example? In fact, many students awkwardly ask, "Who is Malcolm the Tenth?” Our youth are not involved because they have not been educated about the history of the society-changing struggle for freedom, justice and equality in America that
took place in the 1960s.
Our children are experiencing educational homicide. They are suffering from a self-destructive malaise tinged with a paralyzing cynicism. Why is this the case? It is the case because they do not know their history. This raises questions and concerns about what true education is and about how our children are being educated.
Education may be defined as the development of dormant qualities that are within. Education brings out those qualities so that the world may see what was within and honor and respect those attributes. Education is to the mind as water is to a seed. Water does not change the character of the seed; it simply allows for the development of what is already there. A good education is one that develops and makes manifest in human beings what is already present though dormant.
Education has a purpose. That purpose is to transmit from one generation to the next the collected and tangible wisdom and knowledge of the society, and to prepare the younger generation for its full and active participation in the maintenance of that society. Formal education in America reinforces the social and political ethics existing in this country and prepares young people for their place in society. The question we must ask is: What does this country perceive as the place of our young people? Does the education they receive empower, enliven, and embolden them? Clearly it does not. Thus the present educational system has failed our children. Unless there are educational alternatives, our young people will continue to be sucked into an abyss of overwhelming ignorance. We must see that they are provided with an educational experience that will affirm their worth as human beings. We must see that they are provided with an educational experience that does not work to reduce their humanity by training them for societal roles predetermined by would-be social and educational engineers.
That is why we are establishing the W. E. B. Du Bois Academy Charter School which will be located in southeast Queens. The creation of the W. E. B. Du Bois Academy is not a luxury but an absolute imperative. The Academy is designed to be a school that will prepare our youth to take their rightful place in a free and just society.
Transformation through education is the philosophy of the W.E.B Du Bois Academy Charter School for Social Justice. We understand the broad theme of transformation as transformation of self, transformation of the community, transformation of our nation, and transformation of the world. Transformative learning requires a curriculum that is connected to the personal lives of students, to the communities in which they live, and to the larger city, state, nation, and world of which they are also part. Such a curriculum requires students and teachers to engage in authentic learning experiences which build concepts, skills, and values that have purpose and meaning in the lives of the students and in the wider community. Students of the W.E.B Du Bois Academy Charter School will be equipped with the ability to see beyond their immediate environment as they gain knowledge and skills that can be used to effect change in their own lives and in their communities.
As members of a charter school faculty, teachers will be held strictly accountable for preparing students to meet New York State learning standards and the test requirements of the New York State Board of Regents. Therefore, it is important for our students to learn the content and test-taking skills needed for success when undergoing these types of academic scrutiny. However, the W.E.B. Du Bois Academy Charter School curriculum views the state standards as the starting point for curriculum planning, not the end point. What is more crucial in this perspective is fostering a life-long love of learning and an on-going engagement with both the local community and the wider world. We will meet this goal through an inquiry-oriented curriculum that builds skills and develops a disposition to ask questions and seek answers, rather than simply to accept the status quo. Rote memorization will be held to a minimum and will be required only in connection with curriculum areas in which it heightens academic efficiency, such as, for example, in certain areas in mathematics and science.
We will teach students the skills, content, concepts and values needed to negotiate an increasingly complex world. We will prepare them to be active citizens in a democracy. To this end, our curriculum will have a strong focus on understanding multiple viewpoints and on an awareness of the full range of human diversity. With our theme of transformation, our goal is to help students discover and develop their abilities and use their knowledge and skills to activate positive change in their lives. Our goal is to graduate students who, at the end of the eighth grade, understand that the world is in a process of constant change and that they, along with families, friends, neighbors, and fellow citizens, can work collectively for positive social outcomes.
Our curriculum is built around issues of social justice. This will help students understand that throughout the history of humankind, people have united to create and sustain better lives for themselves and their communities. It places issues of social justice at the center and builds thematic connections across social studies, science, language arts, mathematics, technology and the arts. In this way, both content and skills instruction are integrated into approximately 15 social justice themes across the 6th, 7th and 8th grade years.
The building of the W. E. B. Du Bois Academy is a movement and mission -not a monument. We need your help. Do you want to see the skills of our youth significantly improved? Do you want to see our children moving through the community, nation and world with courage, poise, and self assurance? Do you want to see them following the tradition of warriors for social justice, such as Martin and Malcolm, Sojourner and Harriet? Do you want our children to understand the concept of redemptive struggle, and realize, in the words of the immortal Frederick Douglass, that "If there is no struggle, there is no progress."? If so, we ask you to join our effort to change the educational landscape in New York City.
Listed below are some of the ways in which you can assist:
· We need supporters with fund raising expertise who are willing to help us plan and carry out fund raising activities.
· We need supporters who can make a tax-deductible contribution of $1,000 or more in support of our school. Such supporters will be designated as founding contributors.
· We need supporters with expertise in curriculum development to
assist us in creating a curriculum that is infused with the concept of social justice.
· We need supporters who are willing to share with us their
suggestions in regard to strategies, procedures and approaches that will help to make the W. E. B. Du Bois Academy Charter School a success.
· We need supporters who are spiritually based and willing to offer their prayers for the success of our school.
If you can provide support in any of the aforementioned ways or if you can offer support in a way not mentioned above, please let us know. You can contact us as indicated below:
Write to us at:
The Friends of the W. E. B. Du Bois Academy Charter School
244 Fifth Avenue, Suite L236
New York, New York 10001-7604
Call us at: (212) 591-0544.
E-mail us at: info@WEBDuBoisAcademy.org
Visit our website at: webduboisacademy.org
We urge you to join us in this significant movement for educational reform, and trust that we can count on you to help support the W. E. B. Du Bois Academy Charter School.
We look forward to hearing from you.
Frank Whelan Smith, President
The Friends of the W. E. B. Du Bois Academy Charter School 244 Fifth Avenue, Suite L236
New York, New York 10001-7604