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Keeping Black Boys Out of Special Education Paperback – May 1, 2005

by Jawanza Kunjufu (Author)
4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 97 ratings
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This critical analysis looks at the disproportionate number of African American males in special education. Arguing that the problem is race and gender driven, questions covered include Why does Europe send more females to special education? Why does America lead the world in giving children Ritalin? Is there a relationship between sugar, Ritalin, and cocaine? and Is there a relationship between special education and prison? More than 100 strategies to help teachers and parents keep black boys in the regular classroom, such as revising teacher expectations, increasing parental involvement, changing teaching styles from a left-brain abstract approach to a right-brain hands-on approach, redoing the curriculum, understanding the impact of mass media, and fostering healthy eating habits.
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Previous page
  1. Print length
    224 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    African American Images
  4. Publication date
    May 1, 2005
  5. Dimensions
    5.5 x 0.51 x 8.5 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    0974900028
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0974900025
  8. See all details
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Understanding Black Male Learning Styles
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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Jawanza Kunjufu is the author of 23 books, including the Countering the Conspiracy to Destroy Black Boys series, Black Students. Middle Class Teachers, Satan, I’m Taking Back My Health, and State of Emergency. He lives in Chicago.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ African American Images; Illustrated edition (May 1, 2005)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 224 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0974900028
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0974900025
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 8.8 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 0.51 x 8.5 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 97 ratings

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Jawanza Kunjufu

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Customer reviews

4.7 out of 5 stars
4.7 out of 5
97 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Catrina Cox
5.0 out of 5 stars Informative
Reviewed in the United States on March 21, 2024
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Great and informative
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Sandra Lisbon
5.0 out of 5 stars Keeping Black Boys out of Special Education
Reviewed in the United States on June 27, 2014
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Putting Black Boys in Special Education is like a drowning. Not being able to come up for air.

Everything in this book is true. And the first place ( Kindergarten) Is the first place that placing Black Boys in Special Education begins (Reason no classroom control)
3 people found this helpful
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Chevella
5.0 out of 5 stars Powerful
Reviewed in the United States on January 17, 2013
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This should be read by all educators. So many discount the learning differences and behavioral differences of boy - and are quick to lable the boys in the class. this book allows readers to find different methods of teaching and learning - to change themselves and allow children, especially boys, to be themselves.
5 people found this helpful
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Tina
5.0 out of 5 stars ... parents who think the school system have your son best interest at
Reviewed in the United States on March 5, 2015
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This is a must read for those parents who think the school system have your son best interest at heart
2 people found this helpful
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Kimyatta Frazier
5.0 out of 5 stars excellent
Reviewed in the United States on July 1, 2013
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As I struggle with the school district where I reside, this book enlightened me, gave me hope, and more knowledge to Fight for my son
One person found this helpful
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Jonathan M Estey
3.0 out of 5 stars An important topic – but sloppy and inaccurate writing
Reviewed in the United States on August 9, 2019
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As a special education teacher who teaches kids in an urban public school, I was excited to read this book because disproportionate identification (that is, the huge race, gender, and class disparities in who gets placed in special education) is my life – I see it every day in the makeup of my caseload and my classes. Kunjufu's book may have come out in 2005, but the issue has not gone away in the least, and this book is STILL (as far as I know) the only non-academic book out there to discuss it. For spreading awareness of this disproportionality far beyond the readership of peer-reviewed special education journals, Kunjufu deserves a lot of credit.

If you are not aware of the racial and gender discrepancies in special education identification, testing, placement, and services in the USA, this book will definitely teach you about them!
That said, if you are looking for a source of deeper analysis of this issue, or for potential solutions, this book is not it. I was incredibly disappointed by the inaccuracies, misrepresentations, shoddy research, pseudo-science, ignorance, and prejudice that drags down nearly every chapter of this work. While this topic is vitally important and Kunjufu does have some useful insights and suggestions, I CANNOT in good conscience recommend it to anyone, especially not parents – there are so many factual errors and inaccuracies that it would be impossible to separate the truths from the mistakes.

Taken apart from the rest of the book, I can recommend Chapter 5 for an excellent analysis of the benefits of phonics instruction. Kunjufu has definitely done his homework on that topic! That chapter really belongs in a different book, however, since it is all about reading instruction, and it has almost nothing to do with race, gender, or special education. (Presumably, ALL students should be getting phonics instruction, since the research shows that it’s effective across race and gender.)
I can also recommend parts of chapters 7 and 9. Once you get past the gender essentialism at the start of Chapter 7, Kunjufu’s advice about building relationships between white educators and black boys is legitimately helpful. I have had to work hard to confront my own biases about black boys’ behavior and communication styles, and to stop seeing my students – all of whom are still children! – as threats. Kunjufu’s explanation of black peer culture and the power dynamic between students and teachers would have been a huge help to me in that process. And though Chapter 9’s description of the IEP process is very far from reality (it is not clear to me that Kunjufu has ever actually been in an IEP meeting – and if so, it was either a very strange one, or he does not remember it well!), I think that parents of any race – but ESPECIALLY black parents – can really benefit from having their rights enumerated and being encouraged to demand more. My experience as a special education teacher has been that far too many parents are ready to accept whatever we put in front of them, uncomfortable with asking for anything extra; I often have to work hard to make parents comfortable with sharing their concerns, actively making recommendations, or voicing disagreement. (It’s your right!) And I have found that it is often the most disadvantaged families which speak up the least and which are most in danger of missing out as a result.

Kunjufu is writing from an Africentric perspective, which is not in itself a problem – he is very open about his Africentrism, and centering African-American experiences and culture in a work like this makes perfect sense. It is also refreshing that Kunjufu is NOT writing from a partisan Republican or Democratic perspective – he is just as comfortable citing Paolo Freire and Malcolm X as he is referring to his “good friend” Ben Carson. This book is blessedly untouched by the debates about “accountability” and “school choice” that dominated education writing in the early 2000’s. However, Kunjufu also ignores any material analysis of the US education system and of US racism. Kunjufu sees this problem as an entirely cultural matter, requiring cultural solutions – primarily, instilling respect and pride for “African” cultural principles and the “black, masculine peer culture.” His critique locates the source of racial inequality exclusively with individual attitudes; there is no mention of systemic or institutionalized racism. Kunjufu therefore turns a blind eye to the issues of unequal school funding, poor building conditions, privatization of education, standardized testing, the cost of college, disproportionate policing of minority neighborhoods, the War on Drugs, mass incarceration, etc. Amazingly, Kunjufu persists throughout the book in describing American public schools as if they were all the same, urban and suburban, rich and poor. Therefore, this book – about black boys and by an Africentrist writer – has very little to say about the overwhelming majority of racial inequality in today’s education system. We can teach white public school teachers to say “Ma’at” and “Ngozi Sabo” all we want; that’s still not going to repair leaky roofs or re-hire the music teacher who just got laid off or stop the police from arresting our students for the most unnecessary reasons.

This book is also severely limited by Kunjufu’s essentialist views of race and gender. He portrays “African” culture as a single, monolithic entity stretching from the pharaohs of Egypt to modern-day rappers. (Africa is the most culturally, linguistically, and genetically diverse continent on Earth; it is utterly ridiculous to suggest that all “African” culture is the same!) Black people who don’t fit Kunjufu’s definition of “blackness”, from middle class black teachers to Clarence Thomas, are dismissed with the “No true Scottsman” fallacy: well, it’s still their culture; they just don’t appreciate it. Similarly, Kunjufu quickly resorts to biological determinism when explaining learning differences between boys and girls – if common masculine traits don’t lead to success in school, that can’t be because we’re raising boys with toxic ideas about masculinity; it must be because school culture is hostile to inborn male traits. It is particularly strange that Kunjufu’s views of gender are so regressive, because leading feminist scholar Gloria Ladson-Billings was his Ph.D mentor and he freely cites her, Lisa Delpit, Beverly Tatum, and others… but once he starts describing gendered learning characteristics, the feminist voices suddenly disappear. Kunjufu’s treatment of black LGBTQ+ youth – or rather, his lack thereof – is also a serious oversight, missing a chance to bring these extremely vulnerable students to teachers’ attention.

Perhaps most galling to me as a special education teacher, Kunjufu’s views on special education and disability issues are shockingly ignorant. Huge portions of this book are based on junk science, already discredited back in 2005. Kunjufu seems to see identification with a disability as a de-facto prison sentence, ignoring the much more important point that, whether or not black boys are over-placed in special education, we need special education programs to work well for the students who are in them! Having an IEP should help students with disabilities be successful, not hold them back! Is the goal just to keep black boys “out of special education,” or is it to fix the underlying barriers – whether related to racism, toxic masculinity, educational inequalities, or disability – which put them there in the first place?

It is long past time for a new, better treatment of racial and gender disproportionality in special education aimed at the general population, to take this one’s place.
10 people found this helpful
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Loves To Read
4.0 out of 5 stars Opens your eyes and mind
Reviewed in the United States on November 10, 2006
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I brought this book because it is very revelent. The book is Afro- centric. In some was has a strong 60's type message and tone. The facts are true, candid and thought provoking. I highly recommend the sections on how to deal with the school system as an advocate for the child as well the sections on developing the child's self esteem. The recommendations in the book do work.It's a good book for educators and African American families regardless of your child's grades. I highly recommend it.
5 people found this helpful
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Pattiann
5.0 out of 5 stars Comment to seller.
Reviewed in the United States on January 9, 2014
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