Paper Proposal

Leah Hotaling

Peer Review

  • Scope: I’d like to examine the equality of African American education in American society. Although education is normally seen as the best path to success, the American education system is constantly under scrutiny by political leaders, educators, students, and parents. However, there are also underlying factors of racism that still persist in America that are present in schools and affect the foundation of education programs. I’d like to hone in on African American education in rural areas as well as inner city schools where the heaviest racism is present. I will examine the history of Black education in the twentieth-century and compare it to where it stands in the twenty-first century. Especially over the past sixty years there were major changes in education, starting with the Civil Rights Movement. I will also evaluate programs that were designed to encourage minority education and note whether or not they succeed in providing equal opportunities for black students. I also want to examine the correlation between black education and crime rates because education often leads to avoiding dangerous situations.
  • Value: Education and success have a strong correlation; however, not all Americans have access to proper resources that aid learning and support for continuing to higher education. W.E.B. Du Bois claimed that education of the black community by black educators would lead to the best success for African Americans. In America today there has been a push for more integrated school systems; however, this is what Du Bois argued against. Does separating students make for deeper race divides or do the benefits of the learning process outweigh other possible consequences? Would African American parents actually agree to sending their children to schools designated for race specific learning? Does that go against all the efforts that were made throughout the past century to conquer racism?
  • Originality: The gap in education from whites and blacks has been noted for years and many people blame the gap on differences in social classes. Edward Bell, author of journal article “Educating African American Males,” found that African American students place a heavy focus on their appearance rather than obtaining self discipline. Bell argued that school systems need to help students develop social skills, which can further help them down the road. The argument that it is important to help them develop practical skills relates to the journal article, “60 Years after Brown v. Board of Education: The Impact of the Congressional Black Caucus on the Education of Black People in the United States of America” written by Ivory Toldson. Toldson argued that the most important thing is to make academic resources available to all students in order to aid learning. He also argued that by forcing integration to create a diversity does not ensure educational equality. Another source that I will use in my paper is the book Educating a Diverse Nation by Clifton Conrad because he worked directly with African American students from universities and programs.
  • Practicality: I believe that I have enough information to support my claims. I would like to find more books on the subject but there is a good amount of articles that are good resources. I also think that I should try looking into videos or documentaries because having someone explain the complicated topic will help present new ideas and questions. I will use several primary sources and I will also use some secondary sources from the Dickinson online database. Photos can be found through google.

Bell, Edward E. “Educating African American Males.” Online Submission (2010): 1-22.

Conrad, Clifton. Educating a Diverse Nation. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2015.

Toldson, Ivory A. “60 Years after Brown v. Board of Education: The Impact of the Congressional Black Caucus on the Education of Black People in the United States of America (Editor’s Commentary).” Journal Of Negro Education 83, no. 3 (2014): 194-198.

6 thoughts on “Paper Proposal

  1. Leah, I thought your correlation between black education and crime rates was a really interesting point that set your research apart right away. When I read your “scope” section, it seemed to me that your main claim was that the aspects of racism that still exist in American schools influence the education systems already in place, but it wasn’t completely clear to me how racism changes the education system. I think elaborating on that a bit more would enhance your argument and make your ideas clearer. I also thought your questions brought up really interesting points, like the idea of teaching black students in schools designated by race. You tied this to DuBois really nicely, which provided context and support for your idea. The originality of your topic was clear to me because of how you tied your sources into it. Some of the claims the authors you cited made were especially interesting to me and brought in more perspectives to the topic. The only other question I have is what kind of articles were you going to use for your research? Overall, I really liked the points you brought up and the different perspectives you brought into your proposal.

  2. Leah, I really like your topic. You have clearly stated what specific ideas you will research such as the correlation of crime rates and education in African Americans. This made it easy for me to see the route that your paper will likely take.The only thing I will say is that you may be taking on a little too much. Each of your ideas is related but also broad that it may be difficult to research each one of them and then connect them. Also, your idea of education and success makes sense. I am just wondering what you mean when you say education leads to success? Wealth? Political Power?This may be something that you choose not to address but it could be interesting to include and may even help you narrow your topic.

  3. Leah, this is a very stimulating topic that you can go a lot of different ways with. You seem to have a good sense of what you are going to do with it, and the specifics you are going to get into. Your analytical questions were interesting to me when I read this, and they can be argued by both sides, so I would try to get a variety of sources and analyze them before coming to a conclusion (if you do). You can use a lot of DuBois and past thinkers/leaders of the African American civil rights movement, and there are probably a lot of good modern sources as well. Good job being concise.

  4. This is a very good topic and will connect with the class perfectly having just read DuBois. I especially like the idea of connecting lack of education to crime rate and I will be curious to see how the two intertwine. I would go into more detail of why education equals success so the reader truly knows the importance of being educated. You could also mention what type of education proves to have the best outcome. Lastly I would suggest to go into the idea of segregating schools. It has always been a very controversial topic and if you could explain the benefits and consequences of it I think it will provide greater outlook of the education barrier.

  5. Leah, I think this is an extremely relevant topic to the twenty-first century, and I think you do a very nice job making it your own. This topic is also relevant to what we have learned in our seminar with DuBois, and you do a nice job bringing him in as evidence to back up your claims. Having education connected to crime rates is a nice addition, but I feel like you just kind of threw that sentence in there at the end of your scope. It is definitely worth bringing up, but I think you need to put some evidence behind it in your scope and put it more towards what you are looking to examine in the beginning. Other than that, the questions made me think and I could definitely see the ample of sources available for this topic. I think it’s great that you are bringing in primary sources and I can clearly see this is original. Good topic and a well-written proposal.

  6. It’s great that your scope is very specific and relevant to the present, without losing the many-sidedness of the topic. I like the clear, straightforward way you phrased it. Great job!

    However, I’m a bit confused about the value section. While in your scope you discussed various aspects of racism in education and its effects, in value you only expressed the significance of physical separation of races in education. I think adding more of the topics you introduced in the scope part into value will greatly strengthen your argument about the importance of your paper.

    Also, about the originality, I see how your topic relates to the existing studies made by other people. I’m not sure, though, how your paper will be different from the sources you will be using. Giving this a thought might give deeper insight into your topic.

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