It turns out that having the total population of college students consisting of Black males is not so bad considering that they are only 6.5% of the total US population.
I wish that Valarie Strauss and the New York Times had focused in on the population of individuals from 18 to 24 and thus of college age in order to obtain a more accurate depiction. Still it does not matter.
The real question that needs to be asked is: Are There Enough Black Males Receiving Higher Education Commensurate To The Need To Turn Our Community In A Different Direction?
It is important to understand that some people's goal is to find contentment that "other people are in the mud along with us". By showing that the issue suffered by Blacks is not too far out of line with others a bit of contentment is obtained.
My question above marks a departure from this prevailing consciousness. It challenges the Black community to make inventory of the amount of force that is necessary to alter the course using the organic means that we have control over - our human resources. This is not the defacto consciousness for a community that is used to responding to an external threat instead of living up to the God given potential that we have been provisioned with.
None the less here are some stats that I cam across per my research. Academic enrollment by race:
See Historical Tables: Age Distribution of College Students 14 Years Old and Over, by Sex: October 1947 to 2008
Academic Year 2008
| Racial Subset | College Enrollment Percentage |
| All Ethnicities | 39.6% |
| Males All Races | 37% |
| Females All Races | 42.3% |
| Blacks All Genders | 31.6% |
| Black Males | 29.1% |
| Hispanic Males | 23.0% |
| Asian Males | 53.9% |
| White Males | 38% |
| White Males - Non-Hispanic | 41.7% |
I interpret the percentages listed as being the percentage of individuals in the specified population subset who are enrolled in college. In order to arrive at the 5% number that is of concern we would have to tabulate the total population of college students and then enumerate the total number of Black males contained within.
The more significant point is to evaluate the relatively low percentage of Black and Hispanic males in college relative to their total population numbers (not the total of college enrolled young people).
Furthermore we need to appraise why the academic institutions that are controlled by "favorable people" are not preparing more of our young people to return to their communities to become "professional service agents".
We are more likely to see the "White Male" stat used as a reference for us to follow than the more successful "Asian Male" as a point of study to understand their relative success.
2 comments:
Unfortunately, a disproportionate number of black males enrolled in college are athletes, many of whom would not qualify academically were they not..
I do not begrudge a person who has an opportunity to finance his academic career doing so using the vehicle of sport to do so.
They should be faulted only when they discard the tremendous opportunity that they are presented with by not doubling down on the remedial education to cover some lost ground as they instead get distracted by the parties and sexual escapades that come along with their experience in the lime light.
The adults in the environment from whence they come deserve the largest amount of the blame for their state of academic proficiency upon graduation from high school.
What the student does once he reaches his 18th birthday AND realizes that he is far behind others academically is his burden.
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