For whatever reason, the recent article that I posted on this site back on Thursday regarding Prince George’s County, Md. has been on my mind for a good part of the weekend. I have long maintained that public schools in mostly Black communities tend to be nothing more than lab experiments and this article I believe may underscore my suspicion. When you put the following two excerpts together, I think that it shows a very interesting picture of “America’s Wealthiest Black County”
From Ebony Magazine (2006)
“In the mid 1800s, it was home to slave plantations and tobacco farms. But gone are the days of Black subservience along the banks of the Potomac River in Prince George’s County, Maryland. Today, African-Americans in the suburban enclave east of Washington, D.C., are planting their own seeds of power and wealth, enjoying–in numbers never before seen in this country-luxuries like championship golf courses, Olympic-size swimming pools, horseback riding stables and ice-skating training centers.
With the distinction of being the richest majority African-American county in the country, Prince George’s County is more than a place to live. For the 500,000 or so Black county residents–many of whom are in occupations that range from doctors and lawyers to hotel owners and restaurateurs–it is home to a social, economic and political movement that has turned the typical American hierarchy on its ear, and, if handled correctly, could reverberate for generations to come.
In fact, the county’s unique position is so intriguing that publishing giant Doubleday recently published P.G. County, a steamy fictional novel that takes readers into a well-heeled world where millionaire Blacks are central characters.
In the real Prince George’s County, the people are just as intriguing. The county ranks in the top 2 percent in the nation in income level, and in people who are employed in executive jobs. Two-thirds of its work force are in white-collar professions, many of whom have plunked down huge sums of money to live in the county where the average price for a new home is more than $700,000, with many fetching more than $1 million.” (source)
In the same county…
(gazette.net) “Prince George’s County’s recent economic prosperity could be jeopardized unless African-American males, who make up a sizable portion of the future workforce, make greater strides in academic achievement, business advocates and educators say.
African-American males make up 39 percent of the county’s public school population, or nearly 52,000 students, and they have among the lowest rates of academic achievement.” (source)
So far, only 3 of us have been chatting about this on the original post, but I would like to see input from others who are in the know of what’s going on in PG county. The links on that post (including the article excerpt I placed in one of my comments) should provide you with some general information about the school system.
In any event, I just feel that this is a very serious issue that is too important for us to just treat as just another news item. Please feel free to post links to related articles that could shed some more light on this issue.
Sphere: Related Content
January 29th, 2007 at 7:01 pm
I think the Gazette piece is over the top.
But if I were a researcher, PG County would be an area of research.
April 9th, 2007 at 12:10 pm
I am a product of the Prince Georges county school system. I graduated in 2002 in the top 15 percent of my class. I was SGA treasurer as well as captain of the varsity cheerleading squad. My former school is now one of the worst public schools in the county. This is not the children’s fault. Its the school system. The children are not being taught what the need to know. I have a younger sister who is a sophomore at that very same school but you would not even know it. Prince Georges County Public Schools have gone down tremendously. I simply do not understand. We are the wealthiest black county in America and we are also one of the most under educated. A 4.0 student at my old school may not be able to learn on the same level as a 4.0 student from Montgomery County (another suburb of D.C, less than 20 min away) not because the P.G student lacks intelligence, but because he or she did not receive the education that was expected of “America’s wealthiest black county”.
But it is true what they say, Prince Geogres County is a place like no other with a style and livelihood that can not be compared, it is a wonderful enviorment to raise a family. It’s very imperative that we as a community work together to strengthen our schools. I personally look forward to becoming a teacher in Prince Georges County so that I may help end the cycle of under achievement.
June 26th, 2009 at 12:50 pm
I think some of the reasons that PG School System is so flawed are:(1) there are so many uncertified/qualified teachers active in the system, (2) the PG School System is not agressive enough, or have unrealistic expectations/standards, when hiring certified/qualified teachers, (3) the PGCPS seems to hire a lot of educational personnel using a form of croneyism, (4) parents of students are not as supportive of teachers as they should be, (5) the pervasive hip-hop culture has a strong negative influence on K-12 students, black, hispanic and white. As an educator working in the PG School System I am surprised at the educational level in the county specifically and the US as a whole. No wonder we are behind in Math and Science. But, surprise of surprise, we are also behind in other academic areas, e.g. English, Social Studies, etc.
There needs to be an overhaul of the whole K-12 school system. Really! There needs to be a back to basics approach. We must find some way to make our children interested in learning. I do not have all the answers, nor the space in this forum to detail some of my recommendations. One recommendation is a separation of males and females at the Middle School level. I also advocate payment for grades. At the same time I also recommend that the PG and other school systems stop dumbing down the curriculum. This gives the US a false sense of achievement in education. Believe me, many K-12 students who get A’s are actually C students! There should be accuracy, integrity and uniformity in academic assessment across the board. Currrently there is not.
I have a graduate degree in education, am Praxis II certified in Elementary Education, have applied for many, many of the vacancies in the PG School System over the past two (2) years and have been constantly turned down. Yet when I visit their K-12 schools as a sub I am bombarded by the low academic standards, discipline and achievement in PG schools. It seems that their suspect hiring practices match the low standard of achievement in their schools. This needs to change urgently or the system will constantly be embarrassed on a national scale. For example, in a very recent Newsweek survey of about 1500 (+?) high schools in the US only five (5!) from PG County were ranked!
One bit of good news though: the PGCPS is in the process of firing about 500 or ‘provisional’ teachers who have been unable or incapable of passing their education certification exams. This is a step in the right direction.