Pedagogy, Equality of Opportunity, and the Education of Blacks in the U.S.: Creating a New discourse--PEOEBUS

Abstract

In this paper the authors, an assistant professor and a doctoral student both in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction in the College of Education, discuss the instructional development processes invoked and their own thought processes when creating a new university graduate level course, "Pedagogy, Equality of Opportunity, and the Education of Blacks in the U.S. (PEOEBUS)." We came to this development process after discovering what we viewed as a gap in our own graduate programs of study. While the college and the department could boast of strong historical and philosophical foundations curricula, the courses lacked the particular focus that we felt was important to our intellectual and academic growth. More often than not, courses dealing with the history of education in the United States do so in a broad sense with perhaps a section dealing with the education of African Americans. By the same token, courses dealing with various theories, such as Critical Theory or Feminist Theory, that allow for the analyses of the U.S. educational systems do so in a broad sense. Many times there is no focus specifically on how this history or how these theories affected African Americans and their experience in the United States.

When faced with the question from our administration concerning which courses we would like to teach, the answer hinged upon which courses we would like to have taken when moving through our own programs of study. While we value this strong broad based knowledge obtained from the available curricula, we want to take this knowledge and infuse it throughout with a focus on the history and the education of Black Americans. The development of PEOEBUS came out of this perceived need and the desire to meet it.

Introduction

The chief reason why so many give such little attention to the background of the Negro is the belief that this study is unimportant. ... To educate the Negro we must find out exactly what his background is, what he is today, what his possibilities are, and how to begin with him as he is and make him a better individual of the kind that he is. Instead of cramming in the Negro's mind with what others have shown that they can do, we should develop his latent powers that he may perform in society a part of which others are not capable (Woodson, [1933] 1999, pp. 190, 151).

In this paper the authors discuss the instructional development processes invoked and their own thought processes when creating a new university graduate level course, "Pedagogy, Equality of Opportunity and the Education of Blacks in the U. S. (PEOEBUS)." We came to this development process after discovering what we viewed as a gap in our own graduate programs of study. While the college and the department could boast of strong historical and philosophical foundations curricula, the courses lacked the particular focus that we felt was important to our intellectual and academic growth. More often than not, courses dealing with the history of education in the United States do so in a broad sense with perhaps a section dealing with the education of African Americans. By the same token, courses dealing with various theories, such as Critical Theory or Feminist Theory, that allow for the analyses of the U.S. educational systems do so in a broad sense. Many times there is no focus specifically on how this history or how these theories affected African Americans and their experience in the United States. When faced with the question from our administration concerning which courses we would like to teach, the answer hinged upon which courses we would like to have taken when moving through our own programs of study. While we value this strong broad based knowledge obtained from the available curricula, we want to take this knowledge and infuse it throughout with a focus on the history and the education of Black Americans. The development of PEOEBUS came out of this perceived need and the desire to meet it.

Beginning Conceptualizations

We began with a list of events, people, issues, and themes that we identified as important to cover in the new course, shown in Table 1. Here we discuss briefly, selected components and why we view them as foundational to PEOEBUS.

Table 1. Beginning Conceptualization for Course Content

Throughout U. S. educational history an ongoing debate exists between traditionalists and progressivists, a debate that intensifies at the turn of the nineteenth century. The controversies center on pertinent questions such as, how should we teach; should we be authoritarian teachers or should we be more student-centered; should education be used to transmit the culture and values of a society, or could education be used to change or transform society? PEOEBUS' focus is on how educators' philosophical stance on either side of the traditional/progressivist debate affects how Blacks are educated in America. If how we teach and what we teach is connected to our philosophy of education, then how has our philosophy affected the education of African Americans throughout U.S. history?

John Dewey receives considerable attention in undergraduate and graduate education courses. He often is portrayed as the "father of progressivism" and as one who had a tremendous impact on twentieth century education. However, Dewey appears to be less well known for his involvement in various social issues and his role in the establishment of the NAACP. PEOEBUS examines how Dewey and other mainstream social activists affected the treatment and the education of Blacks in America.

Initially there was a particular interest in examining Critical Theory, a theory base dealing with dominant and subordinate groups, and the education and educational environments that critical theorists support. Of course, there was also an interest in race theory, however no particular theories, i.e. Critical Race Theory, had been identified at this point.

When discussing the industrial age and the efficiency movement within the context of American education, emphasis often is placed on the purpose of school and the role of school during that time. Considering how African Americans were viewed and treated in the early 1900s, we want to examine how Black education fared during the height of the industrial revolution and the efficiency movement in the U.S.

Of course, the history of litigation, particularly cases surrounding the "separate but equal" issue, is crucial in tracing Black education and struggles for equal educational opportunities. PEOEBUS examines in detail the development of the famed Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court case of 1954. Simple Justice, a book detailing this development, serves as a central resource for this analysis.

The authors discussed these and the remaining concepts found in Table 1 and began refining, combining, and categorizing the events, issues, and key personalities into a course outline. The first draft of the course outline shown in Table 2 was created by categorizing the events and issues from the initial list for course content into five major headings.

Table 2: First Draft of Course Outline

Examining philosophies and theories

In PEOEBUS we examine four philosophies or theories of education, perennialism, essentialism, progressivism, reconstructionism, and ask how educators' espousal of these philosophies are likely to influence how they educate Black Americans. Our initial plan was to parallel McKeon's (Owen and McKeon, 1994) modes of thought, assimilation, construction, discrimination, and resolution, with theories of education. After giving more thought to this model and its framework, we determined that focusing on Black philosophers most resonates with the course and that McKeon's model may provide both additional insight and contrast. PEOEBUS includes other philosophical background views. For example, Cotton Mather dates back to the 1600s and discusses how the Bible was used as rationale and justification for maintaining the inferiority of Blacks from the beginning of time. Another example is demonstrated in the following quotation from the American Unitarian Association (1905):

The African is not regarded in his own rights, and for his own sake, but merely with reference to the effect which his presence and activity produce upon the dominant Aryan. He is merely a co-efficient which is not detachable from the quantity whose value it may increase or diminish. The black object is always projected against a white background. (p. 7)

The whole scheme of the subjugation and oppression of the African by the Aryan is based upon the theory that the Negro represents an inferior order of creation, and therefore his needs are secondary to, and derivable from those of his white lord and master. The ordinary attributes and susceptibilities of the human race were denied him. When it was first proposed to furnish means for the development of the nobler side of the Negro race, those who possessed the wisdom of their day and generation entertained the proposition either with a sneer or with a smile. Ridicule and contempt have characterized the habitual attitude of the American mind toward the Negro's higher strivings. The African was brought to this country for the purpose of performing manual and menial labor. His bodily powers alone were required to accomplish this industrial mission. No more account was taken of his higher susceptibilities than of the mental and moral faculties of the lower animals. The white man, as has been said, saw in the Negro's mind only what was apparent in his face--'darkness there and nothing more.' His usefulness in the world is still measured by physical faculties rather than by qualities of mind and soul. (p. 8)

Using "theory as lens"

Critical Race Theory (CRT) developed in the 1970s and evolved from critical thought or Critical Theory, and Black Feminist Thought, as delineated by Patricia Hill Collins, are two theory bases that complement each other well. Theorists of both utilize a more qualitative approach, incorporating narratives and existentialist perspectives in their research analyses and writings. The fact that CRT evolved from the legal profession is one of the primary reasons for using CRT as a theoretical lens in PEOEBUS. A great deal of history surrounding the education of Blacks in this country is steeped in litigation, law cases, and legal documents. One lucid and compelling example is found in the Constitution of the United States and the concept of property rights, designed to protect the dominant, slave-holding, White ruling class, i.e., our "founding fathers." The laws that were enacted making it illegal for slaves to learn to read and write provide another provocative example.

The purpose and role of education

In PEOEBUS we explore how some have viewed and indeed used education as a tool for social control, to maintain class distinctions and the status quo. Social efficiency is related to social control in that education is used to track certain people into certain levels of society. Social efficiency advocates, for example, may provide certain groups with access only to vocational education thereby tracking them into lower strands of our society. At the same time, other groups deemed worthy and capable are allowed to partake of liberal arts education and therefore are given access to higher layers of society whose entry requires a liberal arts education. One aspect of this is exemplified through the words of Horace Mann Bond (1972):

Early Negro scholars, then, were derived overwhelmingly from what one can identify as a Negro 'upper class' -- even among slaves. The free colored population in the United States numbered 488,070 in 1860, or 10 per cent of what came to be identified as the 'Negro' population. The scholars were largely derived from this class and from the favored slaves. Such favored slaves were frequently related to the white master by kinship and by occupation, and thus more likely than the Negro field hand to receive elementary instruction, to observe and imitate and absorb the standard culture and to receive material assistance in obtaining both a sound economic base and an education from their masters before or their ex-masters after the Civil War. (p. 22)

The concept of using education to affect social mobility easily comes into focus using Black Feminist Thought as a lens. Collins (1991) reveals how Black female educators used education for racial uplift and points out that this use of education was an important part of their activism as represented in the following quotation:

In describing the purpose of the education offered at the Institute for Colored Youth, a school founded to educate the children of emancipated African Americans, principal Fanny Jackson Coppin was "not interested in producing 'mere scholars' at the Institute, but rather students who would be committed to race 'uplift' " (Perkins 1982, 190). Like their anonymous slave foremothers, these women saw the activist potential of education and skillfully used this Black female sphere of influence to foster a definition of education as a cornerstone of Black community development. (p. 147)

From the time of Black slave emancipation until well into the twentieth century, many churches, as well as other religious organizations, were involved intensively in and accepted major responsibility for the education of American Blacks. Exploration of this connection between religion and spirituality and the education of Black Americans is an integral focus for PEOEBUS participants.

We examine the purpose and role of education as seen by Black educators and leaders. The fact that this is not a monolithic view is exemplified by the divergent perspectives of Du Bois and Washington: Du Bois advocated the availability of a liberal arts education for all whereas Washington concentrated his efforts into advancing vocational education for the Black population. It is likely that Washington promoted vocational education because he felt that this was the only venue that the dominate White society would allow for Black Americans. If so, this factor is compounded by the lack of access that Blacks had to certain jobs even when they did secure a liberal arts education. Both Washington's and Du Bois' motivations are understood better after exploring their respective views on the role and purpose of education for the African American citizen.

It is a peculiar sensation, this double consciousness, this sense of always looking at one's self through the eyes of others, of measuring one's souls by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity.

One ever feels this twoness as an American, a Black, two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings, two warring ideals in one dark body, whose strength keeps it from being torn asunder (Du Bois as cited in Battle, Robinson, and Battle, 1998).

We analyze the efficiency movement prevalent at the turn of the twentieth century and the permeation of Frederick Taylor's (1911) efficiency work and cost effectiveness in all aspects of American society, including the school systems. If the efficiency expert viewed African Americans as intellectually inferior, he likely ascertained that the provision of education for these citizens was a waste of money, or at least an inefficient use of the system's resources. The emergence of intelligence/IQ testing and eugenics during this time as a result of the works of Francis Galton, Edward L. Thorndike, Lewis M. Terman, and Lewis M. Yerkes provide additional analytical frameworks. We explore other phenomena and broad issues particular to the industrial age and their impact on the African American citizenry.

Education, politics, and the law

There are numerous examples where litigation and cases of law surround education, again proving CRT as a viable lens and theory base from which to view and approach this aspect of history. As mentioned earlier, Kluger's (1997) work, both in book and video formats, is used as a central resource that documents the NAACP legal defense team's successful efforts in building the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court case that ultimately struck down the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson, "separate but equal," case.

Orfield et al (1996) in Dismantling Segregation: The Quiet Reversal of Brown v. Board of Education, illustrate the tendency for schools that were desegregated or racially integrated in order to conform to legal mandates to return to their segregated conditions.

PEOEBUS participants analyze the fluid and ever changing political and legal issues concerning affirmative action in educational settings. We further examine the fascinating history of the right to vote for both Black men and women and the connection to their educations.

Education and economics

The topic of economics in education, particularly the education of Black Americans, involves far more than the social economic status of the citizenry. PEOEBUS covers the history of discrimination in the job market, the history of discrimination in housing that led to residential segregation, and how both interacted to create segregated and inferior schooling for Blacks in America.

Instructional Design Models

After several brainstorming sessions, the authors began considering which instructional design model was most appropriate in the development of PEOEBUS. Because we each felt a strong affinity to two different design models, we ultimately decided to simultaneously use both the Chaos Theory (You, 1994) design model and the Recursive, Reflexive, Design, and Develop (R2D2) (Willis, 1995) model.

Chaos theorists claim that things that look chaotic on the surface, as if they have no meaning, actually have a great deal of meaning and these patterns of meanings can be discovered if you go beyond the surface. (You, 1994) As educators we can relate to this phenomenon because much learning can take place in a classroom that may seem chaotic to an outside observer who is only privy to the surface view. Unlike traditional instructional design models, chaos theory does not require the designer to pass through a linear and hierarchical process. Rather, chaos theory sees "design as dialogue." This concept resonated with us in our work together as a development team, dialoguing in a participatory, democratic environment. Furthermore, chaos theory inspired us to dialogue, through the mechanism of focus group interviews, to carry out our needs assessment. Traditional models of instructional design typically use more quantitative tools, such as surveys, to obtain needs assessment data.

R2D2 (Willis, 1995) is participatory with the designer interacting a great deal with the end users or stakeholders. It is a recursive, reflexive design and development process. The recursion and reflection is of a progressive/regressive nature wherein specific steps may be revisited several times during the design process. The nonlinear, participatory nature of both models made them compatible and presented no problem in the use of both in the development of PEOEBUS.

Integral to the purpose and intent of the course design is our plan to co-teach the course. We bring complimentary strengths to the course through our life experiences, research, and the growth that we experienced as a result of this independent study and course design undertaken together.

Initial Processes

The authors initiated literature and media searches for print and digital books, videos, and Internet resources that might be used to build the course content or as supplements to the course. Resource and material identification remains ongoing as we continue to refine PEOEBUS.

We conducted a Web search on the Internet of African American Studies programs in an effort to determine if any offered courses similar to PEOEBUS. We examined well over 125 sites, which included some education and sociology programs as well, and discovered no courses existing at the time that were similar to PEOEBUS in terms of focus and content. This reinforced our view that a gap existed in our education and a course such as PEOEBUS would be a welcome addition to other programs. On the other hand, had we found courses similar in emphasis, content, and approach, we would have solicited input to aid in the design and development of PEOEBUS for our college and department.

Critical Race Theory

After we adopted our design models and began working through the first draft of the course outline, we realized that we need not handle the course content in a linear fashion. We need not begin in the 1850s and examine year by year or century by century the educational experiences of African Americans. We considered that the focus would be better served if we designed this course to look at issues through the lens of CRT or the lens of Black Feminist Thought. PEOEBUS participants will not necessarily take on or accept these theories as their own, but they will look through the lens of these theories and determine how they explain the impact of events on the educational experiences of African Americans.

Figure 1: Emergence of Critical Race Theory

Figure 1 depicts CRT's evolvement from Critical Theory and Critical Legal Studies and its relationship to Feminist Theory and Black Feminist Thought. Black Feminist Thought overlaps and intersects with both Critical Theory and CRT. As mentioned earlier, because they both rely heavily on experiences and narratives, CRT and Black Feminist Thought parallel and complement each other. White Feminist Thought, on the other hand, has failed to address issues that are historically relevant to the experiences of African American women. Historically, White feminists excluded and took advantage of Black women, with White feminism generating from a point of privilege as a form of racism and oppression (Alexander, 1991; Gordon and Thomas, 1997; Hill-Collins, 1991; Jones, 1995; Lerner, 1972; Sterling, 1984). In fact there were instances, e.g. in the quest for suffrage, wherein White feminists undermined African American women in order to advance their agendas. (Higginbotham, 1997)

Central principles and basic insights

...racism is normal, not aberrant, in American society. Because racism is an ingrained feature of our landscape, it looks ordinary and natural to persons in the culture. Formal equal opportunity--rules and laws that insist on treating blacks and whites (for example) alike--can thus remedy only the more extreme and shocking sorts of injustice, the ones that do stand out. Formal equality can do little about the business-as-usual forms of racism that people of color confront every day and that account for much misery, alienation, and despair. (Delgado, 1995, p. xiv; see also Tate, 1997)

There are three central principals or basic insights of CRT. The first one is that racism in this country is normal and is no longer considered outrageous. Racism is a part of everyday life and unless something especially blatant and obvious happens, an apparent injustice or wrongdoing, it is basically ignored. In addition, the mentality of colorblindness seems to have contributed even more to the normalcy of racism in the U.S.

Critical Race Theory's challenge to racial oppression and the status quo sometimes takes the form of storytelling, in which writers analyze the myths, presuppositions, and received wisdoms that make up the common culture about race and that invariably render blacks and other minorities one-down. Starting from the premise that a culture constructs social reality in ways that promote its own self-interest (or that of elite groups), these scholars set out to construct a different reality. Our social world, with its rules, practices, and assignments of prestige and power, is not fixed; rather we construct it with words, stories, and silence. But we need not acquiesce in arrangements that are unfair and one-sided. By writing and speaking against them, we may hope to contribute to a better, fairer world. (Delgado, 1995, p. xiv; see also Tate, 1997)

The third premise underlying much of Critical Race Theory is interest-convergence. Developed by Derrick Bell, this idea holds that white elites will tolerate or encourage racial advances for blacks only when they also promote white self-interest. Other Criticalists question whether civil rights law is designed to benefit blacks, and even suggest that it is really a homeostatic mechanism that ensures that racial progress occurs at just the right pace: change that is too rapid would be unsettling to society at large; change that is too slow could prove destabilizing. Many question whether white judges are likely to propel racial change, raising the possibility that nonjudicial avenues may prove more promising. A number of writers employ Critical tools to address such classic civil rights issues as federal law, remedies for racist speech and hate-motivated crime, and women's reproductive liberty. (Delgado, 1995, p. xiv; see also Tate, 1997)

The Continuing Development Process

Discussions, readings, and focus groups

The authors began this process with office meetings and discussions. After working through the initial conceptualizations, the first course outline, and the design model selections, we began to expand our exposure to pertinent literature, particularly Critical Race Theory writings. The meetings then consisted of sharing our analyses of the readings and ideas concerning their relevance to PEOEBUS. We truly implemented the "design as dialogue" concept both in our meetings and discussions and in, what was to us the highlight of the process, the focus group interviews.

We approached graduate students in the College of Education because we wanted to elicit their ideas and determine their preferences concerning course content. Eight students agreed to participate in the first focus group interview. The second focus group consisted of four African American Studies program faculty. The same guiding questions found in Table 3 were used in both focus groups with one exception. The African American Studies faculty were asked if they would consider recommending the course to their students. To this question they provided an enthusiastic and positive response. Both of the focus groups were extremely supportive and encouraging. We received tremendous input and a wealth of ideas for content and resources in terms of books, projects, activities, assessment, and evaluation. In particular, the graduate students' responses to being asked for their input into course content was met with overwhelming enthusiasm. We will use the focus group data extensively when developing the final course syllabus.

Ongoing Thoughts

In the African American Studies focus group meeting, two of the faculty members arrived earlier and they asked, "oh, is this what they do over in education when they develop a course?" When the third faculty member arrived he asked the same question, almost verbatim. These faculty members were not familiar with this qualitative approach to needs assessment and course development but rightfully assumed that it was commonly employed by education faculty. Of course, we advised them that, as far as we could surmise, this was a new approach for both our college and department and one we adopted because it was compatible with the way we do our work. We both found the process of developing PEOEBUS and the fact that we may have initiated a new approach to course development at our institution exciting and fulfilling.

We were successful in obtaining course approval through the proper university committees and channels and PEOEBUS is now a new course offering and is crossed listed in the Curriculum and Instruction and the African American Studies departments.

Nevertheless, our work is not yet complete. We continue to identify potential resources for PEOEBUS. Our dialogue continues. We invite and expect our students to provide us with additional valuable insight and suggestions for the course while we learn from and with them. Many times, when we talk about issues of education, race, and serious social problems, we are asked, "well isn't that a depressing thing to study?" When responding we are reminded of the work of Matsuda (1995) and Bell (1992). In "Looking to the Bottom", Matsuda discusses how many times a Black artist will take a standard piece and make it into something so magical and so different. She uses jazz artist, John Coltrane, as an example of this phenomenon in his transformation of the musical piece, "My Favorite Things." Ironically this piece, for different reasons, has been a favorite for both of us. We also discussed the irony of the words of this musical piece when faced with the question, "well isn't that a depressing thing to study?"--"I simply remember my favorite things, and then I don't feel so bad." There is always hope when you are able to discuss social issues and problems and gain deeper understandings and insights. There is hope when the work you are doing is the work that you love and one of your favorite things. There also is a vast support system, of action-oriented academia with long histories of commitment to social justice. And, as Derrick Bell (1992) states in Faces at the Bottom of the Well, you don't measure success by the progress you've made and ultimately states, '...satisfaction is in the struggle itself' (p. 98). We feel truly satisfied with our efforts in developing PEOEBUS.

References

Alexander, A. L. (1991). Ambiguous lives. Free women of color in rural Georgia, 1789-1879. Fayetteville: The University of Arkansas Press.

American Unitarian Association. (1905). From servitude to service: Being the old south lectures on the history and work of southern institutions for the education of the Negro. Boston: American Unitarian Association.

Battle, P. C., Robinson, D. C., Battle, K. P. (1998). "A comparative study of Blacks in the United States, South Africa, Trinidad and Tobago." Psychological type and culture East and West. Presented at the Third Multicultural Research Conference, Honolulu, Hawaii, January 9-11, 1998.

Bell, D. A. (1980). Brown and the interest-convergence dilemma. In D. Bell (Ed.), Shades of brown: New perspectives on school desegregation. (pp. 90-106). New York, NY: Teachers College Press.

Bell, D. (1987). And we are not saved: The elusive quest for racial justice. New York, NY: BasicBooks.

Bell, D. (1992). Faces at the bottom of the well: The permanence of racism. New York, NY: BasicBooks.

Bond, Horace Mann. (1972). Black American scholars: A study of their beginnings. Detroit: Balamp Publishing.

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Gordon, A. D. and Thomas, B. C. (Eds). (1997). African American women and the vote, 1837-1965. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press.

Higginbotham. E. B. (1997). Clubwomen and electoral politics in the 1920s. In Gordon and Thomas (Eds.), African American women and the vote, 1837-1965, pp. 134-155. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press.

Jones, J. (1995). Labor of love, labor of sorrow. Black women, work and the family, from slavery to the present. New York: Vintage Books.

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Lerner, G. (1972). Black women in white America. New York: Vintage Books.

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Orfield, G., Eaton, S. E. & The Harvard Project on School Desegregation. (1996). Dismantling Desegregation: The quiet reversal of Brown v. Board of Educaion. New York, NY: The New Press.

Owen, D. B. (Ed.) and McKeon, Z. K. (1994). On knowing the natural sciences: Richard McKeon. Chicago: The University of Chicago press.

Rogers, Carl and Freiberg, H. Jerome. (1994). Freedom to Learn. 3rd ed. New York: Merrill.

Sterling, D. (Ed.). We are your sisters. Black women in the nineteenth century. New York: W. W. Norton and Company.

Tate IV, W. F. (1997). Critical race theory and education: History, theory, and implications, in Review of Research in Education, pp. 195-247.

Taylor, Frederick. (1911). The principles of scientific management. New York: Harper & Brothers.

Willis, J. (1995). Recursive, reflective instructional design model based on constructivist-interpretivist theory. Educational Technology , 35(6), pp. 5-23.

Woodson, C. G. (1933, 1999). The mis-education of the Negro. Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press, Inc.

You, Y. (1994). What can we learn from chaos theory? An alternative approach to instructional design. Educational Technology Research and Development, 41(3), pp. 17-32.

Academic Exchange Extra invites reader responses to any writings in this issue--especially articles advancing the scholarly debate of issues raised.

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