53% Of Black Boys In Fourth Grade Can't Read At Basic Level & We're Mad at This Brother?
According to recent studies 53% of black boys in fourth grade can't read at a basic level. As many people have heard before, many states base how many prisons they are going to build off of 4th grade test scores. I guess we can assume a lot more prisons will be built at this rate. That's why it's hard for me to understand all the controversy around this video of a father disciplining his son.
Yeah, I might have used different language, and shaving his eyebrows off was a bit much, but they'll grow back. And no, I wouldn't have videotaped my son's punishment, but overall I see a father who doesn't want his son to end up a statistic. However, some people are calling for this dad to be sent to jail.
In Brandi Worley's article titled," Viral video of dad disciplining son leaves a mark" an associate professor at Howard University feels this father should be in prison:
"I think what he's doing is illegal and he should be arrested for it. I think it does fit into the category of psychological abuse," said Dr. Ivory Toldson, associate professor at Howard University, senior research analyst for the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation and editor-in-chief of the Journal of Negro Education.
In the same article, I fundamentally disagreed:
" I saw a father (on the video) who was deeply concerned about the future of his son," said Jasiri X. "I would rather see more fathers do that than not be engaged at all. Or just come and drop off some money and leave."
According to a 2001 U.S. Department of Education study, "highly involved biological fathers had children who were 43 percent more likely than other children to earn mostly As and 33 percent less likely than other children to repeat a grade."
I bet the young man in the video is a competent reader, and if he's not, he soon will be.