Parents, let kids know they’re great.

By Marsha Johnson, Special to CNN

updated 7:45 AM EDT, Wed March 14, 2012

(CNN) — Kudos to the Department of Education for a new study documenting that black students, especially boys, receive much harsher discipline than other students in public schools. Many black people would tell you they knew this already, but it generally takes data for institutional change to occur.

The coverage of the study in The New York Times last week got me thinking about what needs to be done. While we must attack the problem on multiple fronts, one part of the solution will not be found in scholarly journals or five-point plans. It is sleeping deep in our histories and needs to be awakened and put to work.

It is the communal love of our children.  Not just one or two of us doing it, and not just when it is convenient or our children are behaving and excelling.   Children in trouble need caring and confidence-building now — right now.

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http://www.cnn.com/2012/03/14/opinion/johnson-children-confidence/index.html