Essay On Educational Expectations For African Americans

African American Studies is a very complex subject. To confuse African American studies with black history is a common occurrence. African American studies is much deeper and more profound than just Black history alone. There are many unanswered and unasked questions among the Black American culture which causes confusion and misunderstanding in modern day society. In unit one there were many themes, concepts, and significant issues in the discipline of Africana studies. Both W.E.B Du Bois and Vivian V. Gordan touched on many concerns.

Throughout history, African American weren’t considered the smartest race on earth. With slavery and being for bided to ever touch or learn to read a book, African American became the race that envy having an education. Education became a prime factor in the African American culture. Having an education to an African is having the one-way ticket out of the terrible streets. They believe that if they don’t know nothing they won’t get nothing. In other word, if they aren’t educated their life would remain the same. Way back to slavery, African American would be beaten if they were to open a book and dare to read it instead of cleaning it.

African Americans now constitute nearly 1 million of the total 2.3 million incarcerated; that is 60% of 30% of the African American population. African Americas are incarcerated at nearly six times the rate of whites. “Between 6.6% and 7.5% of all black males ages 25 to 39 were imprisoned in 2011, which were the highest imprisonment rates among the measured sex, race, Hispanic origin, and age groups." (Carson, E. Ann, and Sabol, William J. 2011.) Stated on Americanprogram.org “ The Sentencing Project reports that African Americans are 21 percent more likely to receive mandatory-minimum sentences than white defendants and are 20 percent more likely to be sentenced to prison.” Hispanics and African Americans make up 58% of all prisoners in 2008, even though African Americans and Hispanics make up approximately one quarter of the US population. (Henderson 2000). Slightly 15% of the inmate population is made up of 283,000 Hispanic prisoners.

In the United States alone, minorities have struggled for centuries to earn the basic rights and opportunities as others. African Americans have always worked harder and been treated maliciously just because of the color of their skin. There have been numerous movements, peaceful protests, and brutal battles by black leaders against whites for equality, justice, and a fair chance at a better life. It is safe to say that in the past, blacks were not allowed to progress or have a mind of their own. In comparison to the past, the educational sector for minorities still remains as an extreme societal challenge. For many years, African Americans have been denied educational advancement opportunities. The higher education area suffers greatly for the black population but very few people will address why this matter occurs. Do black families’ socioeconomic status affect the children’s education? The socioeconomic status is easily defined as an individuals or families’ economic and social rank based on income, education level, and occupation. The socioeconomic status of black families does affect their children’s academic success, however; it does not determine their children’s success. This educational disadvantage for black students needs to be addressed because of the lack of financial and emotional support that minority students receive due to their parents lack of experience and knowledge with higher education. Many black students become a product of their environment because

Today's education is often viewed as failing in its goal of educating students, especially those students characterized as minorities, including African American, Hispanic, and Appalachian students (Quiroz, 1999). Among the minority groups mentioned, African American males are affected most adversely. Research has shown that when Black male students are compared to other students by gender and race they consistently rank lowest in academic achievement (Ogbu, 2003), have the worst attendance record (Voelkle, 1999), are suspended and expelled the most often (Raffaele Mendez, 2003; Staples, 1982), are most likely to drop out of school, and most often fail to graduate from high school or to earn a GED (Pinkney, 2000; Roderick, 2003).

A study was done comparing family structure between whites and blacks to determine how important of a role family structure plays in education. Not to my surprise, most of the percentages were higher among whites, but not by very much in any category. More single mothers who were black were more involved in school planning than white mothers. More black mothers told their children what was educationally expected from them; more talked with their kids daily, and checked their schoolwork.

Racism and prejudices seem to be one of the causes for why African American students achieve low in academics. According to Garry Bold, even though funding levels of black schools are the same as wealthy white schools, predominately black schools will remain unequal. The reason why predominately black schools remain unequal is because educational reforms such as the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) keeps probing into black schools in attempt of creating a new and improved way of teaching African Americans students so they can be like their white

For blacks, the history of higher education typically points to segregated education. Before the Civil War, the social system promoted the belief that blacks wouldn’t get return on their time spent in higher education. Brown and Ricard (2007) noted that most North institutions were reluctant to allow black enrollment in colleges and universities, and in the South, where slaveholder’s were still powerhouse businessmen, slaves would never be allowed to become more educated than their owners. The reluctance of the White leaders to allow blacks to formally be accepted into higher education programs held blacks back from achieving what many aspired to, and were fully capable of, experience.

Historically black colleges and universities, otherwise known as HBCUs, have played an integral role in advancing the education of underprivileged black teenagers since their inception after the American Civil War. They have had students extremely well known in their fields today, such as billionaire entertainer Oprah Winfrey, the first African American Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, and civil rights activist Martin Luther King, Jr. Though their graduation rates tend to be around 1 in 3, they have produced a majority of successful African American professionals. For the continued advancement of African Americans, HBCUs are necessary for offering educational opportunities that their students had been historically denied and presently out of financial reach, while promoting strong family values and equality that may be lacking at traditional schools and displaying positive African American role models in their alumni and staff.

“I don’t mind if I have to sit on the floor at school. All I want is an education,” said Malala Yousafzai, Pakistani activist for female education. In today's society, many people don’t realize how grateful they should be for the education they receive. Even the slightest education is much more than people were receiving just three centuries ago, and even more than people in countries besides the United States of America. In specifics, women and African Americans were once unable to pursue any form of education in the United States, along with many other ethnicities.

Despite numerous misconceptions, African Americans who have attended HBCUs have thrived tremendously. In fact, African American students that attend an HBCU are more likely to go on to graduate from a professional school than African American graduates from other institutional types. Brandon Busteed, an executive director who organized a survey about the matter under Gallup-Purdue University stated, “There are still noticeable challenges around completion rates and loan default rates, and this data doesn’t change that…but this data does add a whole new dimension to the conversation about the value of HBCUs. Black students are having very meaningful experiences at HBCUs, compared to black graduates from everywhere else.” (Busteed) Here we can assume what Busteed analyzed from the survey was that despite the fact that HBCUs seem to have challenges, for instance one that wasn’t mention regarding how PWIs receive a substation amount of funding as compared to HBCUs. In the face of all this the black students that do attend HBCUs are still confident and graduate quite successful. Moreover, approximately 33% of African American students receiving their PhDs

In modern Western society, education success and attainment is the clearest indicator of competence and success. This belief assumes a kind of homogeneity despite the empirical evidence of considerable racial and cultural diversity in North America. As a result, the egregious casualties of the American educational and social system remain disproportionately and overwhelmingly African American. Furthermore, the many casualties among African American youth in North America confirm the failure of the social sciences and the educational system in their attempt to address the needs of the African American child. The following study epitomizes the enduring racial and cultural generalizations of those individuals whose entire history as a “science” has been the repeated distribution of unfavorable characteristics to the African race.

To start off, it might seem that African Americans feel that they are inferior to whites. Some might claim that our country has not overcome the Jim Crow Era, proving this by bringing up an example of an African American actress who did not get a part “because she doesn’t quite look the part” (Schwab). But the one actress that did not get a part does not compare to the countless amount of successful African Americans. “Obama, the first black president, Oprah, Samuel Jackson” and so many more are just examples of blacks that are successful in today’s eyes. This uncountable list of blacks in jobs equal to whites just proves that they are not inferior, but that they are in fact, equal. If that reasoning is not enough, take the fact that we have

To my fellow African Americans in the community of Georgia, there has been quite many inequalities because of our color and origin. Some inequalities were the right to vote and the type of jobs that are offered to one. One can even be discriminated in other occupational ways. I believe we shouldn’t be discriminated against and we have the voice to stop the unfair treatment given to us. If we can work out something and come to an agreement with how we can be treated, we would have equality and peace provided to us no matter our race and skin color.

Many roles have changed in the last two hundred years, including soldiers, women, ethnicity, and race. In the 1800’s, many of the American people thought of blacks as three fifths of a person, perhaps they were not worthy to use the same bathroom, eat in the same restaurant, work in the same factory, or read from the same libraries as a white person. The role of an African American has changed drastically, blacks are allowed, in the United States, to learn in the same schools, work in the same jobs, etcetera. But wait, the roles of African American have changed even more than that, if you are African American you have a higher chance than a white person of entering into a college, and as an African American, you have the same rights as whites to manage a company, or even become the president of the United States of America.