Why Every Black Youth Must Learn a Trade
Our young boys must learn to do something with their hands besides scroll through Instagram and play video games. Let the men of the community who have mastered these trades create Saturday schools where young people are taught drywall, landscaping, carpentry, etc. This is key to our survival.
I am not saying that college does not have its place. Certain fields, such as accounting, law and medicine require college degrees. If you get a college degree make sure it is one you can use.
My advice is to do both. Even if you have a degree you should still pick up a trade. It will give you something to fall back on when things don’t seem to be adding up.
Let us, as a community, do a better job at educating our youth about trade opportunities, entrepreneurship and ownership. Encourage them to master a skill and bet on themselves. An economic storm is coming. It is our responsibility to make sure our youth are prepared.
To Save Black Boys We Must Teach Them How to Read
by Dr. Jawanza Kunjufu
Only 12% of Black males are proficient in reading by 8th grade. If this was the case for White males, the media would categorize this as an epidemic and a national security risk. If a Black male is not proficient in reading by the 4th grade, they only have a 20% chance of graduating from high school on grade level. America is not doing very well teaching Black boys how to read in the primary grades. They are atrocious in the upper grades. I never imagined when I wrote Countering the Conspiracy to Destroy Black Boys, that governors were going to use my fourth grade research to build more prisons.
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