MISSION
STATEMENT
“We struggle to learn
to learn to struggle.”
Frederick Douglass
The National Black Education Agenda's Mission Statement is
grounded in those principles that insist that Education is a Human Right. The most salient of these principles
include(s):
"The human right to education guarantees every child access to quality schools and services without
discrimination, including quality teachers and curricula, and safe and welcoming school environments that respect human dignity.
Education must be aimed at each child to participate in society and do work that is rewarding." (nesri.org)
The Human Right to Education is strengthened by Government's obligations to:
·
"Ensure that education meets the basic learning needs of all students so that they can develop their full capacities,
live and work in dignity, and participate fully in society;
· Guarantee equity and non-discrimination in
education so that there are no communities that have inferior opportunities or outcomes based on class, race, gender, sexual
orientation, language, immigration status, disability or other factors;
· Guarantee the effective participation
of parents, students and broader civil society in decision making processes related to the educational system."
(nesri.org)
Given the above, The Mission of The National Black Education Agenda is:
To
provide leadership for the accurate teaching of all academic disciplines that enhance the development of the whole child (and)
which benefit[s] all students, educators, parents, and communities.
· Accountable student centered partnerships
among educators, students, parents and communities,
· Recognition and determination to overturn the negative
impact of inaccurate history and education that have damaged all people,
· Recognition that education is
both subjective and objective: academic, vocational, technical and environmental disciplines which include social/life skills
education
that respects the humanity of all people,
· Development of character and morality,
· To Mandate that K-12 Education prepare students for higher education and for vocational and technical careers,
· To use archival and library documentation and positive cultural attributes of peoples of the world,
· To Require pedagogy which motivates, challenges, and develops logical/analytical/critical thinking skills.
The foundation of this pedagogy must be based
on:
a) Expectations for high levels of student achievement, and
b) Teachers' commitment and belief that
they can help students reach those goals,
· To Empower students to become
Social – Change agents,
· Central to educating students
in the United States is an acknowledgement and respect for the humanity of all peoples of the world. Human history and the
origin of humanity began in Africa, and almost all of the disciplines taught in American schools had their origins in Africa.
A truthful curriculum for all American students must of necessity be centered in African origins.
· To Require a fundamental change in the core curriculum of teacher educational programs,
· To Require that all undergraduates, specifically those who wish to teach, must take courses
in the history and cultures of students of African Ancestry (African, African American and the African diaspora). Denying
their rich heritage, historically and in the present, has victimized students of African descent, frequently making them feel
inferior, while deceiving students of European descent by means of a curriculum that alleges European superiority.
· Education for all American students must counter global racist dehumanization embedded within
American curriculum and pedagogy.
· To Require that Local, state, and national certification examinations must provide questions that demonstrate
the candidate's competency to teach about these cultures and to teach the students of these respective cultures.
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“There is no achievement gap [between Black and White students],
There
are only access, opportunity, and resource gaps.”
Dr. Adelaide Sanford
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NBEA Philosophy
"One who does not know can know from learning"
• All
United States students should be taught about the African origins
of civilization and the world's cultural link to African heritage.
• As individual educators it is our moral and professional duty to teach all the students entrusted to us, to help them develop
the skills to search for and critically discern truth and justice.
• However, as an organization the National Black Education Agenda has as its primary mission and responsibility
the development of those skills in students of African descent. Our philosophy and goals must address primarily
the intellectual, cultural, economic, political, spiritual/moral development, psychological and physical wellness of students
of African descent.
•
Students of African descent include those persons born
in the United States - - the descendents of enslaved ancestors who built the US economy without compensation - -, those Africans
born in the US of immigrant parents and those Africans who are immigrants from the African continent, the Caribbean, Latin
America and other countries and territories.
• For reasons of historic, political and economic interests of Africans in the United States, curriculum and pedagogy should also help other
students of color to understand their cultural linkage to African heritage. Curriculum should enlighten peoples of African
lineage, preparing them for the reality only several decades hence when people of color will be the numerical majority in
the United States. Such linkages will be essential for groups of color to assume cultural, economic and political control
of our lives.
•
Therefore, it will behoove NBEA to reach out to other
educational organizations of color to enlist their support in pursuing mutually beneficial goals. However, reaching out should
not imply that we are willing to indulge other cultural groups in changing our philosophy and goals.
As Harold Cruse wrote in The Crisis of the Negro Intellectual:
“Culture is the cementing principle that holds the political and the economic together”.
==============================
African
Centered Education Programs/Schools In the US
Below is a listing of public & independent Black Educational
Institutions which have African-Centered Curriculum. With your help, we can make this listing even more accurate and detailed...
so that Black educators and those nonBlack educators who are concerned with finding ways to resolve the crises in Black education
can have some substantial material and connections for their respective battles.
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