Education: When Minorities Fail, Society Fails
December 15th, 2009 by Dylan DeletoThere are many competing views on exactly what it means to close the achievement gap in education. The primary question concerns what is being measured. Is it dropout rates? Is it graduation rates? Is it the difference in standardized test scores. Finally, and perhaps more important, who is being measured? Is the comparison between the wealthy and the needy, black and white, males and females? Various educators use different evaluations.
Across the nation, Black and Hispanic high school students are more likely to drop out of school than Whites or Asians. This trend persists through college, despite improvements in recent years. Moreover, of those students who attend college, Blacks and Hispanics are only half as likely to earn a college degree as compared to Whites.
Recent studies have shown that are three crucial factors required to improve the college enrollment and eventually graduation rates among Blacks and Hispanics:
First, the students must have higher educational aspirations, and parents, teachers and others must have higher expectations of these youth. The youth must have the desire to attend college in order to narrow the achievement gap. Therefore, intervention must start even before high school. Even during their preteen years, the connection between their future dreams and a college education must be repeatedly brought to their attention. Therefore, as they develop their young minds, they will make the right choices, both academic and social, that ultimately will lead them to success.
Strong academic preparation: A clear policy lever is to make required high-school courses more rigorous. Low-income and ethnic minority students are least likely to enroll in a college-preparatory curriculum, so this effort should address the courses that all student must take.
Financial support: Many low-income students simply cannot afford to go to college without scholarship support and reduced tuition options. However, despite the significant financial aid available, college "sticker prices" remain a barrier to first-generation students. Rising college costs coupled with flat or declining family incomes have created unmet financial needs - a college education can cost as much $50,000 per academic year.
Education levels the playing field. It breaks the shackles of poverty and uplifts the human spirit, thereby improving the lives of individuals, families and the overall society. Education has the ability to eradicate illiteracy, poverty, racism and crime; nothing else has that power, not even money. Therefore, every smart society must be committed to the education of all to ensure its preservation. If not, eventually, the crabs in the bucket will win.
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