Education: When Minorities Fail, Society Fails

Education: When Minorities Fail, Society Fails

There 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.
Black and Hispanic high school students, across the United States, drop out of school much more frequently than Asians or Whites. Despite recent improvements, this discouraging trend persists. More troubling perhaps, of those students who attend college, Blacks and Hispanics are only half as likely to graduate from college as compared to Whites. Furthermore, many of the minorities who graduate taken longer than 4 years to obtain a college degree. Therefore, the gap must be addressed very early in the educational process to ensure positive long term effects.
In sum, existing research suggests three critical steps to improve gaps in college enrollment rates among Blacks and Hispanics:
High educational aspirations: In order to close the achievement gap, more students must desire to attend college. Intervention on this front must start earlier than high school. High school graduates whose parents did not attend college tend to report lower educational aspirations than their peers as early as eighth grade. Low educational aspirations affect students' curricular choices, as well as their selection of peer groups.
These youth must have strong academic preparation to compete in today's highly competitive world. School districts must strive to make courses more rigorous to better compete with other emerging and industrialized nations. Blacks and Hispanics are enrolling in advanced placement, honors and college preparatory courses at significantly lower rates than Whites: this trend must be corrected. Minority students need to be encouraged to face the challenge and take these more rigorous courses to prepare them for their future.
The final piece of the puzzle is financial support. Often, students from lower income families simply can't afford to go to college without scholarships and/or reduced tuition options. Also, with the rate of tuition increases significantly outpacing the rise in family income, students and parents are often deterred from realizing their dream.
Education is the great equalizer. Education is truly the only sure exit strategy out of poverty. Education creates a competent workforce and populous that lifts our society to new heights. Education is important because it is a tool to eliminate illiteracy, poverty, racism and crime. Education is important because it offers an impetus to fight stereotypes, prejudice and discrimination. Closing the gap is everyone's responsibility because it creates a higher standard for the society as a whole.