Thompson, G. L. (2004). Through ebony eyes: What teachers need to know but are afraid to ask about African American students. San Francisco:  Jossey-Bass. (ISBN 0-7879-7061-1, 312 pages)  

Julie Landsman, Ph.D.  

There is no question that this book is desperately needed. As Thompson states in her introduction, “the achievement gap between blacks and whites continues to exist” (p. 3). Also, she further states that “...a high percentage of teachers are under prepared to work effectively with students of color. Hence, there is often a cultural mismatch between teachers and African American students that has many negative consequences” (p. 4). I have observed these consequences over my years as a high school teacher in city schools and in community colleges. After touring the country to talk about education and diversity, multicultural studies, and institutional racism, I believe even more in the dire need we have in this country to engage in an honest dialogue on race and education. In my opinion, Thompson has started us down this path in her book, Through Ebony Eyes: What Teachers Need to Know but are Afraid to Ask about African American Students.  

The author has divided her book into two major parts: the first deals with basics in educational reform such as tracking, theories to explain the achievement gap, common myths about African American students, effective instructional practices, and effective classroom management. The second half of the book addresses other controversial questions and topics such as Standard English versus Ebonics, reaching students from challenging backgrounds, the N word, accusations of racism, culturally relevant education, and other issues that come up for teachers who are often too hesitant to talk about them. She concludes with a chapter that responds to the question, “Can beliefs be changed?”  

The book has come about as a result of a study in training teachers in developing a greater degree of efficacy in reaching African American students in one middle school and three high schools in cities in California. After a six-hour inservice Thompson surveyed the participant teachers to determine shifts in their attitudes and beliefs about African American students. Her examination of the data, examples from her autobiographical and others’ real life stories, and conclusions based on responses in class and during the inservice, are the basis for Through Ebony Eyes and provide fascinating reading. In the opening chapter, where she describes theories and studies that attempt to explain the reasons for Black students’ failure in school, Thompson includes summaries and research with such clarity and conciseness that it is worth the price of the book. So often, we hear teachers say that it is because of … peer pressure, or fourth-grade failure, or parents are at fault, or tracking … (and the list goes on) … that African American students are left behind in schools. What Thompson does in this section of her book is to provide research and examples that explain such theories that leave us with the clear understanding that the gap in achievement between African American and White students is not due to any one item or theory. It is the result of a complex set of factors grounded in the institutional and individual racism that is a part of our country as a whole. She ends this brilliant chapter with specific suggestions and beliefs that all teachers need to hold if we are to provide true equity for all students in our charge.  

Thompson provides the same kind of practical information at the end of her second chapter on effective instructional practices, including ideas for all subject areas. She outlines ideas in detail that will help students learn. I believe these ideas will help all students learn, including White students. They are good classroom practices. Yet, Thompson emphasizes that African American students’ opportunity to succeed in the world is more urgently dependent on such practices than many other students, given the fact that more of these students live in homes that have experienced poverty and/or day-to-day racism that affects their lives and motivation. What I especially like about Thompson’s descriptions is her specificity in areas of good teaching practices - from addressing the need for a mixture of phonics and the language experience approach for reading instruction to a discussion of the frequency of calculator use in mathematics.  

Yet, here in this chapter that I really appreciate, is also where I am disappointed in one aspect of this book. I have found too many books that have disappointed in the same way so I will quote here as an illustration of what worries me. First, there is a list of eight characteristics that African American parents often want their children’s teachers to provide in their instruction. Reading down this list, not only could I not agree more but also I believe they would be excellent for students anywhere. Then, I came upon this quote at the end of the chapter: “I have met many teachers who are exhausted and feel confused or even demoralized by the education system’s history of moving from one reform to another and then back to previous reforms in rapid succession. However, some soon learn that to become effective teachers of African American children, teachers must develop the ability to differentiate between nonsense and good teaching practices. Teachers who want to become good find ways to rise to the challenge regardless of politics, the students’ backgrounds and so on” (p. 64).  

I find the above statement unrealistic and unwittingly demoralizing. Many young new teachers, in our cities where class sizes average 40 students per hour and five hours per day, are going home feeling guilty, “used up,” and discouraged because they cannot reach their 200 students each day in the ways that Thompson and others demand. After two or three years of feeling like utter failures, the best ones leave the profession. They leave because they know they are not “doing it right.” However, to call 200 parents, to grade 200 papers, and to meet the needs of 200 students a day with all their questions and comments, problems, and brilliance, is impossible. I believe that books like Through Ebony Eyes must acknowledge the broader political climate and its effect on our students, our schools, and our country. If this was done throughout, I believe the book would have a more realistic tone. Instead, there are moments while reading this book that I have felt that Thompson did not seem to truly understand the day-to-day life of the teachers she is talking about.  

None of this is to excuse racism, low expectations, lack of effort, or self-reflection on the part of teachers. I whole heartily recommend this book for all preservice and inservice educators. We need the important truths presented here, the concrete solutions, and the powerful examples Thompson brings to us. We experience what Thompson presents as “we go along,” and this is invaluable. Yet, what I want, when all is done, is that a broader brush be used, that we are left knowing that the whole system is broken and in deep decay, and that this destruction of our schools affects the lives of African American students in more drastic ways than any other group of students. We need to find somewhere here an understanding of the realities for many teachers and students: no books, classes without enough desks, broken computer laboratories, one counselor for 800 students, cut backs in English as a Second Language teachers, and the list could continue. We need this broader acknowledgement to be convinced that the author understands what all teachers are struggling with as we try to individualize, get personal, and provide feedback.  

I say this because this book is important. I am just afraid that without recognition of the hardships faced by public school educators, along with the racism in the system, the author may lose credibility with her reader. Thus, the reader may not pay enough attention to, for example, the chapter on classroom management.  This is one of my own specialties over 25 years as a teacher and writer. In my opinion, Thompson’s chapter is thorough and well articulated. Her summarizing sentence at the end of the chapter states: “Teachers who are willing to listen to the messages students send, who educate themselves about cultural differences, who practice the essential components of an effective classroom management system, who use good teaching practices and who use common sense increase the likelihood that no child - African American or other, - will be left behind academically” (p.105). This has come after a fine summary of ways to handle a classroom that allows all students to succeed and feel safe. And, as in all her other chapters, this one has numerous concrete examples and stories.  

In the second part of the book, the half that deals with controversial questions, Thompson provides a list of excellent strategies and ideas, things all teachers can do to change the way they respond. Her chapter, “Why Do African American Students need a Culturally Relevant Education?,” is another one that makes this book worth purchasing. It directs the responsibility onto each of us as individuals in a very powerful statement. For example, she notes that, “African American students need a culturally relevant curriculum, but they cannot receive it from fearful teachers, teachers who refuse to acknowledge and face the realities and inequities that continue to exist in society, or from teachers who will not take the time to use the African American community as a resource to improve pedagogy“(p. 208). Here is her call to activism, and it is one I believe in wholeheartedly. Many educators so often believe that they can do all the work needed to be done on their own and in their particular Western, individualistic White way, without calling on the communities in which they teach for help and instruction. Thompson has presented in the second half of the book a way to become the activist teachers that, I believe, we must become.  

On the whole, I recommend this book as “a way in.” I recommend it for its practicality of classroom suggestions, for its fearlessness in tackling tough issues, and for its use of story, research, anecdote, and statistics to demonstrate the points made in the book. I also recommend this book because of its Appendix, bibliography, book lists, and suggestions for all of us. They all are invaluable.  

My only reservation has to do with tone and that tone stems from what seems to be a less than generous recognition of what even the best teachers describe as an impossible job. I hope Thompson’s next book will include some exploration of ways to bring about true equity in education in this country, which will benefit African American students in ways that are vital to their success and to the survival of all American citizens.