Blacking out In School: Atmospheric Conditions of Black Education Pt. 1
As a senior in high school, I was walking into one of my last debate tournaments of my quad-ruby Lincoln-Douglass career. It was a bittersweet moment for me in itself. However, I was walking in with my debate coach at the time, who I guess was fond of the type student I was and she asked a question much more bitter than sweet. She asked me why more black males weren't like me. At the time I mentioned that the circumstance of every black student is quite different (which it is) so it is very hard to compare. On the surface, I guess I should've gotten all upset at the mere questioning by a white person but I was appropriately ill-prepared to answer the question at that time. I gave what I thought a decent answer, but it was an incomplete one. I didn't really have the language to provide a conclusive answer that is fair to the masses of black students who just do not see the point of school.
Later in life, I understood Malcolm X to have stated a very important point that must be understood for race
discussions such as these to have any merit in this dungeon of a society. Malcolm advocated black nationalism the supreme agent for economic, political and intellectual independence for black Americans. Such independence would be an action plan to end racism by in part, providing conversations between blacks and whites in which whites would ask questions to black Americans that do not hurt our feelings. Blacks, in turn, would also ask questions of white Americans that do not hurt their feelings. Just like in relationships, being able to hear another's perspective without becoming defensive, offended or hypocritical goes a long way in understanding another's point of view, even when the two parties disagree.
A disproportionate number of black students rely solely on public education for their schooling. That's just a fact. Despite the shortfalls of public education, America seems resolved to leave any solution up to our members most affected by the problem of public education. Well done! So, if we must stay in public schools, maybe we should start speaking up and listening up with the fortitude Malcolm suggested and answer some of the questions posed by white educators. Because, after all, it does seem as if American race relations have been an abusive relationship with blacks maintaining complete fidelity and dependence to our drunkard of a husband whipping us upside the head each and every generation as his show of undying affection.
Now there is a natural inclination for blacks to bristle at any inquiriy posed by white Americans. That is perfectly understandable given white Americans' paralyzing hypocrisy in rejecting their unflinching racism as the ultimate crutch propping up much of their so-called "success." White Americans certainly accept historical black and brown disparities in incarceration, education, income and wealth as empircal evidence of black and brown inferiority, but it never works the other way around. But despite that cowardice, I do wish to field this question of why more black youth are not like their docile, naive overachievers as I was in school.
Disparities in education are highlighted seemingly everyday by education and community advocates. Such insight by the vanguards of American education typically get ignored by the school administrations and Boards of Education insisting greater and greater allotment of state and federal funding only for districts satisfying absurd standardized test quotas. Such tests have as many black writers as NBC, the Declaration of Independence, Simon and Garfunkel or the Constitution of these United States.
The conceptual definition of education generally explains public schools' disastrous attempts to educate black youth specifically. America likes to think that desk + book + teacher = education. But education is not a linear cause and effect relationship that American politicians and experts make it out to seem. The 'black kids are bad, thus they don't learn' mythology is as accurate as the original Thanksgiving story. Education is a composite determination of a youth's perception of his economics, purpose, lineage, socialization and future options. The best measurement of the composite prospects of any individual youth is their socioeconomic status or SES. The American Psychological Association measures youth realities through the Socioeconomic Status measurement or SES. The functional definition of SES is taken from the APA Children, Youth and Families & Socioeconomic web report as follows:
Socioeconomic status (SES) is often measured as a combination of education, income, and occupation. It is commonly conceptualized as the social standing or class of an individual or group. When viewed through a social class lens, privilege, power, and control are emphasized. Furthermore, an examination of SES as a gradient or continuous variable reveals inequities in access to and distribution of resources. SES is relevant to all realms of behavioral and social science, including research, practice, education, and advocacy. SES’ findings best illustrate the conditions required for healthy human development throughout our current society.
For historically under-developed communities, where a disproportionate number of black youth reside, there are 2 relevant questions to ask:
1. What qualifies as a low SES?
2. What are the impacts of having a low SES?
The APA addresses the qualities and impacts of low SES in the following way:
Low SES and its correlates, such as lower education, poverty, and poor health, ultimately affect our society as a whole, in particular, America’s children. Children in the United States face one of the highest rates of poverty within the industrialized world. Inequities in wealth distribution, resource distribution, and quality of life are increasing in the United States and globally. Society benefits from an increased focus on the foundations of socioeconomic inequities and efforts to reduce the deep gaps in socioeconomic status in the United States and abroad. Behavioral and other social science professionals possess the tools necessary to study and identify strategies that could alleviate these disparities at both individual and societal levels.
The following data provides a very basic encapsulation of the condition of the black community since the outset of segregation in the mid-1960’s in education, economics and community development. The APA measures low SES as lower education, increased poverty, low-income and menial occupations. Low SES outcomes for parents generates low SES assessments for their children. Once SES levels are calculated, assigning the impacts is fairly easy and widespread. The following comparisons outlines the development of black communities in SES areas since the passing of Civil Rights legislation accredited as the watershed moment in the fight or even abolishment of America’s system of racism.
Education
National High School Graduation Rate %: 1964-2012
Blacks—53% of white graduation rate (1964)
Blacks—93% of white graduation rate (2012)
Analysis: High school graduation rates have risen steadily since the 1960’s and represents one of the marked improvements since the Civil Rights era. The quality of secondary education (as opposed to the act of graduating itself) from high school continues to overly- influence subsequent occupation and income levels. Higher quality of education data is still heavily in favor of students from higher SES backgrounds.
Entrepreneurship & Economic Development
Median adjusted household income (scaled to 3-person household): 1968
[if !supportLists]· [endif]Blacks-- $26,027
[if !supportLists]· [endif]Whites--$47, 951
Median adjusted household income (scaled to 3-person household): 2011
[if !supportLists]· [endif]Blacks-- $39,760
[if !supportLists]· [endif]Whites-- $67, 175
Since the 1960’s, income disparities have risen from an average of $19,000 (1967) per household to roughly $27,000 (2011) in the last 40 years.
The income gap between whites and Hispanics has also widened over the past 40 years. In 1970, the difference between white and Hispanic incomes was about $15,500; by 2011 the gap had grown to roughly $27,000. In 1987, Asian income was about equal to white income and it surpassed white income in the late 1980s. In 2011, Asian income was 102% of white income.
Median net-worth of households (in 2012 dollars): 1984*
[if !supportLists]· [endif]Blacks-- $7, 150
[if !supportLists]· [endif]Whites-- $82, 374
Median net-worth of households (in 2012 dollars): 2011
[if !supportLists]· [endif]Blacks-- $6,446
[if !supportLists]· [endif]Whites-- $91, 405
Analysis: In 1984, the median net worth of black households was less than 1/10th (9%) that of white households. By 2011, the black-white wealth gap had widened even further: black household wealth was 7% that of white households.
Share of people below poverty level: 1974
· Blacks: 30.3%
[if !supportLists]· Whites: 7.7%
Share of people below poverty level: 2011
[if !supportLists]· [endif]Blacks: 27.6%
[if !supportLists]· [endif]Whites: 9.8%
Analysis: Black Americans remain nearly three times as likely as white Americans to live in poverty. Hispanic poverty was 3.1 times white poverty in 1976, but the gap narrowed to 2.6 times in 2011. The Asian-white poverty gap has also narrowed: Asians are 1.2 times as likely as whites to be in poverty now, compared with 1.9 times as likely in 1987.
Hispanic net worth also is notably smaller than white net worth, and the gap has widened over time. In 1984, the typical Hispanic household had 13% of the wealth of the typical white household, compared with 9% in 2011.
*Median net worth data was only available after 1984. Additionally, median net worth is more than simple income data, but a composite of income, savings, retirement & home equity
Community/Family Development
Marriage rates (18 years+)—1960
[if !supportLists]· [endif]Black families—61%
[if !supportLists]· [endif]White families—74%
Marriage rates (18 years+)—2010
[if !supportLists]· [endif]Black families—31%
[if !supportLists]· [endif]White families—55%
Analysis: Black marriage rate now 56% that of white marriage rate, although marriage rates have fallen for nearly every racial group in America since the Civil Rights era. The black marriage rate has nearly been cut in half since the Civil Rights era.
(Marriage is considered an indicator of well-being in part because married adults are economically better off, although that may reflect the greater propensity of affluent adults to marry)
Home Ownership: 1976
[if !supportLists]· [endif]Blacks: 44%
[if !supportLists]· [endif]Whites: 69%
Home Ownership: 2012
[if !supportLists]· [endif]Blacks: 44%
[if !supportLists]· [endif]Whites: 73%
In 2012, the black homeownership rate was 60% that of whites. The size of the white-black homeownership gap has widened somewhat since 1976, when the black rate was 64% of the white rate.
The Hispanic-white homeownership gap in 2012 is about what it was in 1976, when the Hispanic rate was 62% of the white rate (in 2012, it was 63% of the white rate). The Asian-white homeownership gap has narrowed since 1988.
Families like mine flew to Washington, D.C. to celebrate the seminal moment in African-American protest history. A fundamental component of the March on Washington over 50 years ago was to compel an overhaul of the American education system. As families celebrated, it must be asked if they even knew the exact victories gained? Conclusions on the 50 years since the Civil Rights Movement are as follows:
As stated by the New Yorker in its article recounting the 50th anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington
When researchers compare today’s situation with that of 1984 and the Civil Rights era, they find that a greater share of blacks than whites have ended up in low-paying service positions that don’t offer benefits that help compound wealth inequities, such as retirement plans, savings and investments. Black families are less likely to receive inheritances; black students graduate college both at lower rates and are more likely to be saddled with college debt; and blacks are incarcerated at disproportionate rates, reducing their ability to earn good wages even when those who are imprisoned become free.
Although high school graduate rates are championed as a significant Civil Rights era gain, the wealth gap is primarily explained through home ownership.
The New Yorker further noted conclusions from researchers at Brandeis University:
Black and white families were recently tracked from 1984 to 2009. During that period, a smaller proportion of black families bought homes, and the blacks who did bought them later in life than their white peers—and that meant they benefited less as home values rose, according to Thomas Shapiro, a professor at Brandeis University. When one compares white families whose wealth grew over the years to black families whose wealth grew also, Shapiro said, twenty-seven per cent of the disparity between the two groups is related to home ownership.
Most poignantly, a review of the actual aims of the March on Washington encapusaltes the ineffictiveness of black protest movements in changing the condition of black families. The status quo immediately reinforced pre-existing social conditions of poverty, underemployment and unemployment for the masses of black communities as soon as the marching stopped. Fundamentally, guarantees of fair housing, adequate and integrated education, the right to vote, reducing Congressional representation of offending states of civil rights never got off the Congressional cutting room floor. Let's review the standards our forbears used to measure justice and compare our current celebrations to these standards.
The 10 Demands of the March on Washington for Jobs and Opportunity
1. Comprehensive and effective civil rights legislation from the present Congress — without compromise or filibuster — to guarantee all Americans:
Access to all public accommodations
Decent housing
Adequate and integrated education
The right to vote
2. Withholding of Federal funds from all programs in which discrimination exists.
3. Desegregation of all school districts in 1963.
4. Enforcement of the Fourteenth Amendment — reducing Congressional representation of states where citizens are disfranchised.
5. A new Executive Order banning discrimination in all housing supported by federal funds.
6. Authority for the Attorney General to institute injunctive suits when any Constitutional right is violated.
7. A massive federal program to train and place all unemployed workers — Negro and white— on meaningful and dignified jobs at decent wages.
8. A national minimum wage act that will give all Americans a decent standard of living. (Government surveys show that anything less than $2.00 an hour fails to do this.) [The minimum wage at the time of the march is $1.15/hour.]
9. A broadened Fair Labor Standards Act to include all areas of employment which are presently excluded.
10. A federal Fair Employment Practices Act barring discrimination by federal, state, and municipal governments, and by employers, contractors, employment agencies, and trade unions.
http://www.crmvet.org/info/mow.pdf
The reality then, for contemporary black communities illustrates that blacks comprise a larger cross-section of the American population living under low SES levels than in the Civil Rights era over 50 years ago. Despite pompous celebrations of the recent 50th Anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Opportunity, headlined by the iconic 'I Have A Dream Speech', African Americans can measure regress on each and every demand comprising their 10-point platform marched for in August of 1963. Where is the celebration in this?
For black youth, the present-day representatives of failed efforts to democcratically improve disparate housing conditions and public education options, they enter public school with full knowledge that their future opportunities are defined initially from an impoverished and menial context of circumstances. Black youth enter school leaving unwed black parents who then travel themselves to menial jobs for long hours at criminally low wages that barely subsidize their lives at the margins of American wealth and hypocrisy. Our youth receive this condition as their first indicator of the work and lives that they eventually must perform starting with an irrelevant and impersonal education in an overcrowded classroom.
There is a chorus of abysmally unintelligent critics ready to bash such analysis as a cauldron of despair precluding the mere possibility for social mobility from the lowly SES ranks to the romanticized heights of the ever-shrinking American dream. Such ideological grandstanders viciously attack the vanguards of education reform, suggesting that we excuse and coddle the underachievement and apathy. They overadvertise the likes of Ben Carson, Marco Rubio, Orpah Winfrey, Robert Johnson, Frederick Douglass, Booker T. Washington or Michael Jordan as empirical proof that success amid the most desperate of circumstances is indeed possible.
Stupefying retorts such as these assume that the argument against exploitation, racism and the miseducation of black and brown youth is that it is impossible for a single black or brown student to learn under these circumstances. Widespread ignorance plays to the racist American sensibility that until you literally drape a wet blanket around poor minority youth in the blistering cold, then they have ample opportunity to succeed. But what America truly is, is a numbers game. Exploiters of the American economic and education systems comprehend the categorical impossibility of relegating every impoverished black or brown American to unemployment, underemployment, crime, disease and/or homelessness. The above statistics even show the guaranteed possibility for up to 30-35% of blacks and browns to achieve success desite debilitating handicaps of unmet physiological needs. But the health of communities to stand independent of the white racist, militaristic & capitalistic system requires upwards of 80-85% of minorities to succeed academically, define themselves for themselves culturally and maintain independence from white representation politically and economically. Such numbers are rendered impossible under this current system and it is designed to stay that way.
Class warfare is only one of several factors that begin to answer the question why many black students don't succeed. Until public schools adopt a different paradigm that incorporates historical divestments in poor and minority communities, then our schools will maintain their greatest gift to society: preparing low SES black and brown youth for menial work, unemployment and similar predictable outcomes. The stating of condition is not the broadcast of hopelessness. To ignore such reality to maintain political correct celebrations of the protest movements that did not provide the intended change is the real hopelessness. Stay tuned for analysis on culture and gender that also play fundamental roles in the cause for black and brown underachievement.
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