Why do relatively fewer black Americans earn university degrees? CNN has the story:
Black students are less likely to attain college degrees because of discrimination and external responsibilities, study finds
Except, that's not quite what the study finds, as evidenced by the first two paragraphs of the CNN story:
Black college students have lower six-year completion rates for any type of degree or certificate program than any other racial or ethnic group because of racial discrimination, the high cost of higher education and a multitude of external responsibilities, according to a new Lumina Foundation-Gallup 2023 State of Higher Education study.
The study, released on Thursday, found that Black students in less racially diverse programs are more likely to feel discriminated against, physically and psychologically unsafe, and disrespected, leading them to abandon their higher education goals. (boldface and italics mine--Darren)
Nowhere in the article was there any evidence of discrimination. I have a hard time believing that there's a lot of discrimination against black Americans in academia. Crazy, I know, but I don't buy it. I'll be blunt, those reasons given above sound like excuses to me. You don't have to justify feeeeeeling discriminated against, or feeeeeeeeling psychologically unsafe, or feeeeeeeeling disrespected. And there's no way any person or organization could defend themselves from such accusations and prove a negative. It's very easy to give those excuses.
Why do fewer black Americans earn university degrees? I'd say that, given their K-12 performance as a group, many are not properly prepared for college. The "external responsibilities" in the CNN title, explained in the article, could also play a role. But racial discrimination? I just don't buy it absent evidence.
(And for those of you who will want to scream "racism!" about this post, first, screw you. Second, I didn't talk why white Americans aren't prepared for university-level work because that wasn't what the CNN story was about, and this post is about the CNN story.)
"found that Black students in less racially diverse programs are more likely to feel"
ReplyDeleteI need clarification on what "less racially diverse" means in this context. In my field, public education, less racially diverse generally means there are fewer black kids. A school that is almost entirely attended by black students, is described as very racially diverse. It doesn't make sense, but that's how it seems to work.
Presumable, Black Studies majors are mostly black folks. Is that more or less racially diverse?