Disappearing Acts
I know some of you might have asked lately, where has Chandra been? I’m still here, and so is the man shortage. As a matter of fact, I recently ran across a headline that stopped me in my internet tracks:
Status Report Finds Black Males Disappearing From College Campuses
My first thought was, oh @#$% somebody is reading Shades Of Retribution and is trying some of the girl’s ideas at home. After I calmed myself, though I read the story and found it only a little less shocking. I’ve been hearing statistics about the disparities between college educated black men and the rest of the population for a couple of decades now, and the issue still perplexes me. Combine that with the fact that things only appear to be getting worse for the numbers of black males who actually graduate from college, and I have to ask a few questions.
Black men, why won’t you go to college and finish? I know you have the brains, but what happens to your motivation once you have been provided the opportunity? Those questions are just for those black men who have dropped out of college. Now, questions for people who put these statistics together. Are your really giving us the whole picture? Most of the black men I attended college with not only graduated but went on to receive masters degrees and PhD’s.
Does this study include community colleges? A very reliable source, a black man who attended community college before attending a four-year college, told me that many of his fellow black males stayed long enough at school to meet a few females and then dropped out. Is that what this study is about? Undoubtedly our difficult economic times have intensified the problem of attaining higher education. I think a study showing how many black men who do have college degrees go on to earn as much as their peers would be a much more revealing study. A Chicago public school has been highlighted in the news recently because the school is made up of only African-American males, and all of the graduating class has been accepted into college. What are they doing at this school to guarantee this type of success, and where is this same support on college campuses? My hope is that with the push to make education more affordable, these types of statistics will one day soon become a thing of the past.
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