Tyrone N. Butts
APE Reporter
16
Blacks must see education as their only way out
While comedian Bill Cosby was all over the media with his ghetto bashing, another important topic was barely getting attention. Recently, two Harvard University law professors broke the silence on a topic that many of us have long avoided. In many instances, Africans have done a better job landing slots at the top schools. Contrary to popular belief, not all of these students are exchange students.
In fact, as reported by the New York Times, Lani Guinier, a Harvard law professor, and Henry Louis Gates Jr., chairman of Harvard&
39;s African and African-American studies department, are raising questions about the increase in the number of black immigrants landing a spot at the prestigious university compared to the number of Ame
rican-born blacks.
About 8 percent or 530 o
f Harvard's undergraduates are black, but as many as two-thirds are West Indian and African immigrants, or their children, or are children of biracial couples.
The New York Times reported that researchers at Princeton University and the University of Pennsylvania studied the achievement at 28 selective colleges and found that 41 percent of the black students identified themselves as immigrants, as children of immigrants or as mixed race.
The implications of this trend are worth considering, Gates noted.
Harvard is the gateway to the inner circles of power. If we find it frustrating that poor urban youth are dropping out of high schools at such high rates, it is mind-boggling to know that even kids from affluent backgrounds
have hit a wall. While children of immigrants are climbing that wall, black students whose families have been in the United States for generations can't get off the ground.
On shaky g
round
Like the Cosby comments, looking in this mirror puts black people
on shaky ground. After all, whenever a white person brings up how well immigrants have done compared to poor urban blacks, we are ready to slap him or her down.
Guinier made it clear that she wasn't looking to exclude immigrants.
"I just want people to be honest enough to talk about it," she said in the NYT interview. "What are the implications of this?"
Obviously, if the trend continues and holds forth on other Ivy League campuses, affirmative action programs designed to increase the population of black students will be of no help.
Students who fit the traditional minority model are in short supply and have taken to calling themselves
the "descendants."
Gates is planning to bring together a study group to research the subject, he told the NYT.
"This is about the kids of recent arrivals beating out
the black indigenous middle-class kids," he said. "We need to learn what the immigrants' kids have so we can bottle it and sell it, because many membe
rs of the African-American community, particularly among the chronically poor, have lost that sense of purpose and values which produced our generation."
So it seems to me that people who are looking down their noses at the lower classes should look in their own mirror. A lot of what Cosby had to say about how low-income black people are living their lives could be said about the middle class.
After all, how can so many immigrants who arrive barely speaking the language outperform black American students, many of whom have been educated at expensive private schoo
ls?
The immigrant students may very well have been ahead of American students when they arrived in this country, plus, immigrant students have one thing in common: They are cl
ear that education is their only way out.
A child's labors
When I visited Ghana a while ago, I met a 7- or 8-year-old boy who got up every morning and worked on the streets as a vendor before going to
school. After eating dinner, he went back to work. The boy told me he studied several hours before going to sleep because he had to take tests to continue to stay in school.
It surprised me that the boy didn't complain about his all-work, no-play schedule. His only concern was whether he would have enough money to pay for his books, pens and paper.
While I certainly don't believe that black students in the United States can't compete, unfortunately many of them do not feel that education is the only way out.
And because so many of us didn't learn a thing about wealth
, these young students have seen too many so-called educated brothers and sisters barely making ends meet.
The education crisis that Cosby has been ranting about goes beyond poor blac
k kids.
There's little wonder that a lot of black students skip higher education altogether.
After all, we live in a society where an uneducated rapper can earn millions while an educated doctor will be lucky if he can avo
id being sued for millions.
If we want more black students to believe that education is the answer, we have to give them hope. That's where many of us have fallen down on the job.
*******************
Dat's rite mammy, it don't make no difference if you is rich or poor. A n-gger is a n-gger is a n-gger.
T.N.B.
Blacks must see education as their only way out
While comedian Bill Cosby was all over the media with his ghetto bashing, another important topic was barely getting attention. Recently, two Harvard University law professors broke the silence on a topic that many of us have long avoided. In many instances, Africans have done a better job landing slots at the top schools. Contrary to popular belief, not all of these students are exchange students.
In fact, as reported by the New York Times, Lani Guinier, a Harvard law professor, and Henry Louis Gates Jr., chairman of Harvard&
39;s African and African-American studies department, are raising questions about the increase in the number of black immigrants landing a spot at the prestigious university compared to the number of Ame
rican-born blacks.
About 8 percent or 530 o
f Harvard's undergraduates are black, but as many as two-thirds are West Indian and African immigrants, or their children, or are children of biracial couples.
The New York Times reported that researchers at Princeton University and the University of Pennsylvania studied the achievement at 28 selective colleges and found that 41 percent of the black students identified themselves as immigrants, as children of immigrants or as mixed race.
The implications of this trend are worth considering, Gates noted.
Harvard is the gateway to the inner circles of power. If we find it frustrating that poor urban youth are dropping out of high schools at such high rates, it is mind-boggling to know that even kids from affluent backgrounds
have hit a wall. While children of immigrants are climbing that wall, black students whose families have been in the United States for generations can't get off the ground.
On shaky g
round
Like the Cosby comments, looking in this mirror puts black people
on shaky ground. After all, whenever a white person brings up how well immigrants have done compared to poor urban blacks, we are ready to slap him or her down.
Guinier made it clear that she wasn't looking to exclude immigrants.
"I just want people to be honest enough to talk about it," she said in the NYT interview. "What are the implications of this?"
Obviously, if the trend continues and holds forth on other Ivy League campuses, affirmative action programs designed to increase the population of black students will be of no help.
Students who fit the traditional minority model are in short supply and have taken to calling themselves
the "descendants."
Gates is planning to bring together a study group to research the subject, he told the NYT.
"This is about the kids of recent arrivals beating out
the black indigenous middle-class kids," he said. "We need to learn what the immigrants' kids have so we can bottle it and sell it, because many membe
rs of the African-American community, particularly among the chronically poor, have lost that sense of purpose and values which produced our generation."
So it seems to me that people who are looking down their noses at the lower classes should look in their own mirror. A lot of what Cosby had to say about how low-income black people are living their lives could be said about the middle class.
After all, how can so many immigrants who arrive barely speaking the language outperform black American students, many of whom have been educated at expensive private schoo
ls?
The immigrant students may very well have been ahead of American students when they arrived in this country, plus, immigrant students have one thing in common: They are cl
ear that education is their only way out.
A child's labors
When I visited Ghana a while ago, I met a 7- or 8-year-old boy who got up every morning and worked on the streets as a vendor before going to
school. After eating dinner, he went back to work. The boy told me he studied several hours before going to sleep because he had to take tests to continue to stay in school.
It surprised me that the boy didn't complain about his all-work, no-play schedule. His only concern was whether he would have enough money to pay for his books, pens and paper.
While I certainly don't believe that black students in the United States can't compete, unfortunately many of them do not feel that education is the only way out.
And because so many of us didn't learn a thing about wealth
, these young students have seen too many so-called educated brothers and sisters barely making ends meet.
The education crisis that Cosby has been ranting about goes beyond poor blac
k kids.
There's little wonder that a lot of black students skip higher education altogether.
After all, we live in a society where an uneducated rapper can earn millions while an educated doctor will be lucky if he can avo
id being sued for millions.
If we want more black students to believe that education is the answer, we have to give them hope. That's where many of us have fallen down on the job.
*******************
Dat's rite mammy, it don't make no difference if you is rich or poor. A n-gger is a n-gger is a n-gger.
T.N.B.