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Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
It's TED Talks Daily. I'm your host, Elise Hugh. Sports, streets, and entertainment. Education innovator Larry Irvin says those three pathways are still where young Black men want to wind up as adults.
But in his talk at TED at BCG in 2021, he shares the powerful change we could encourage in order to keep more Black boys in school and onto wider, more expansive possibilities for their careers and lives. I had a chance to teach a summer program a few years back in my hometown of New Orleans. I had a group of 32 young men, age ranging from 9 to 14, all black boys.
I wanted to set a tone the first day of class. I wanted to compare and contrast the mindsets of the contemporary young folk in contrast to my constituents, how we aspire.
Chapter 2: What challenges do Black men face in the teaching profession?
So I asked them the old cliche question, what do you want to be when you grow up? Here were the responses. 29 said Kevin Durant. Three said LeBron James. Now, I had two thoughts. First was I was flabbergasted because obviously these young boys don't know basketball because LeBron is the man, if you ask me. But my second thought was the narrative still hasn't changed.
The scope of possibilities is still very limited. Sports, streets, entertainment. We don't see ourselves really outside of those arenas. Something has to change. But my mom was an educator. She laid a very positive foundation for myself and my sister Charlene in regards to education. But what she did most importantly was she made me a dreamer. She opened up that scope of possibilities.
And now I'm the CEO of an organization that recruits black male teachers. Being a teacher is one of the most impactful ways you can see your impact as a professional. Being a black male teacher is a game changer. Being a black male teacher is becoming a superhero. So let's talk about it. Let's take a look at the landscape currently in the United States. Less than 3% of all teachers are black men.
For my liberal arts majors, that's three out of 100. Now, black men are in classrooms as disciplinarians, as janitors, as intervention specialists, and definitely as athletic coaches. In front of the classroom, leading from an intellectual capacity? Not so much. But I want to take the first step and juxtapose it to that of another.
Just one black male teacher in third, fourth, or fifth grade for a low-income black boy substantially reduces his chances of dropping out of high school by almost 40%. Let that sink in. Just imagine if he had two. And that's what I do. Kids are what they see. They need that affirmation. So I provide the mirror. We provide the mirror at Brothers in Power to teach. We recruit black male teachers.
So how do we do what we do? Attachment. We offer a three-year undergraduate fellowship to college-age black men. Our criteria is simple. You got to have a 2.5, be enrolled at least half-time in college, and obviously be a black male teacher. The first year of the program is just an observation year. We like to take a gradual, slow approach to teaching.
We have an old saying in New Orleans, you can't microwave gumball. You got to slow cook it. And that's the approach we take with teachers. Year one is simple observation. You may lead homework activities, recreational activities for 10 to 12 hours a week. Year two and three are your lab development years where you learn the pedagogy.
classroom management, shadowing teachers, lesson plan, things of that nature. It all culminates in placement into the classroom, but the really special source of our program is our internal personal and professional development, the Cypher Series. The Cypher Series is where our young men get a chance to break down and dissect, sort of recalibrate their competencies, if you will,
in regards to being a black man in this world today, but also being a black man in education. Our topics of discourse range from masculinity, resumes, networking, relationships, you name it. See, what we're trying to do is really push this envelope in regards to attachment. We take a holistic approach to education. We develop good people, and then in turn, they manifest into great educators.
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