The Election of Barack Obama and Urban Education

A lot of focus since the recent inauguration of President Barack Obama has been on how he’s going to “fix” the economy. Indeed, within the new bill to stimulate the economy, a substantial amount of money has been put into education and, more specifically to aid students being educated in urban communities. While it doesn’t go into specifics of the areas in which the money is going (urban, suburban or rural), the bill does include $13,000,000,000 for Title 1 aid, $1,066,000,000 for school improvement and money for teacher and principal recruitment and retention in high-need schools and subjects.

Still, I can’t help but think that beyond the financial assistance, the election of Obama may have a massive impact on children of color being educated in America right now. In the days after the results came in, I found myself reading a lot of articles in which African American parents talked of how having Obama in the White House opened up the possibilities for their children.

In the Huntsville Times, a mother Erica Harbin talked about the impact on her son. “At home, we were thinking Anthony could be the president, too ... When we got the results, we said, 'You really can be.' Anthony can be whatever he wants to be.'” The world isn’t going to change overnight; it’s not an end to racism as so many news channel pundits inanely stated in the days after November 4th. Yet after centuries of winning small victories at a time, Obama being the first African American President means that, simply, he won’t be the last.

A lot is hinging on what he is able to do in these next four years. Major mistakes could hold back future black presidents – I think about how the general antipathy towards Margaret Thatcher in Britain has prevented more women from becoming Prime Minister in the decades since (it certainly explains why so many Brits gave their support to Obama over Hillary Clinton during the primaries).

Jeffrey Pascal, an African American student also quoted in the Huntsville Times article also makes an interesting point: “It's changed the view children have on life ... Now, instead of wanting to be Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant, they say, ‘I want to be president of the United States.’.” President Obama has created a new kind of role model for many children: a role model for whom academic achievement was a major contributing factor. As Pascal optimistically notes, it has the potential to spur a lot of children on in their education. Even the Presidency of the United States is no longer out of reach.

For educators, too, it is important. Children’s author Linda Meyer also has something to say on the matter: “The fact that we have someone other than an old white man standing behind the Seal of the President will provide powerful reinforcement to the lessons teachers and parents try to instill in their children ... For decades, we've used parables, fairy tales and stories to use as examples of how there is more that unites people of different ethnicities and religions than divides them. However, using a real person, especially someone who is now the most powerful person on the planet, as an example of diversity is a hundred times more potent than any fairy tale or story.”

Ultimately, I can't begin to predict how this election will affect my career as a teacher – whether I work in an urban environment or not – but certainly any teaching of the government and history of the people will see a dramatic shift. The impact this election will have on American children of all races will be felt for years to come. As an historian, I have noticed how many people gave their children the name “George Washington” in the years following the Revolution and his presidency. I can’t help but wonder how many students I will come to teach with the first and middle names “Barack Obama” in the next few decades.