Black boys don’t need more discipline, they need mentors (2018)
About me: I&#x27;m asian, 32 years old.<p>Throughout my childhood, I always thought Black people seemed so cool and funny. They exude confidence and it intimidated my to make friends with them.<p>Now I teach people coding before and after my work as a full time software engineer. A few of my students are black. I had a hard time working with them.<p>Later, as I became friends with them, I realized they are very self conscious about their intelligence. (I know I&#x27;m generalizing here, but 100% of the black students I mentored felt this way). I realized my asian background and hyper-competitiveness and high expectations made the situation worse. This realization completely changed me as a person.<p>This eventually let to me starting a coding bootcamp at our public library and I try to create an environment to make students feel safe and not judged. I don&#x27;t have this down to a process yet, if anyone knows please let me know. How does one create a safe environment so students showing up will feel emotionally safe enough to start asking questions without fear of being judged?<p>Say we measure the time from when a student walks in to the time when he&#x2F;she starts asking questions whenever they have a question. Are there any activities to do that can reduce the comfort time to the minimum?