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Education: The Minority Divide
Education: When Minorities Fail, Society Fails
by Dylan Deleto
Despite minorities making significant progress in higher education over the last 50 years, there is still a large achievement gap between minorities, specifically Blacks and Hispanics, and Whites. How do we close this gap? Also, what does it mean to close the gap in education? To answer this question, we must first understand what needs to be measured. Is it high school and/or college dropout rates? Is it high school or college graduation rates? Is it the gap in standardized tests scores? Last, and perhaps more to the point, who is being measured? Is the comparison between the rich and the poor, black and white, males and females? Educators have conflicting views concerning this matter.
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, college must become an expectation not an option so that Blacks and Hispanics have higher educational aspirations, leading them to greater achievement. Intervention must start as early as elementary school so that the students fully understand the connection between college and life achievement and ultimately happiness. These youth must understand that few of them will become professional athletes or rappers. However, they can become, for example, a lawyer and manage athletes or rappers. Let them know that education is the closest thing that they can get to a guarantee in life.
Strong academic preparation is the key. First, school districts must make high-school courses more rigorous to narrow the gap that the United States has with other industrialized nations. Ethnic and low-income minority students are the least likely to enroll in advanced placement, honors and college-preparatory curriculum. This effort should address the courses that all students take regardless of their socio-economic standing.
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 creates an even playing field. It provides the best route out of poverty, the best public citizens and workforce prepared to make a better world. Education erases many of woes of human existence: illiteracy, poverty, racism and crime. If a society allows minorities or any other group to lag behind, then they are actually creating a burden that directly impacts the quality of their lives and their children's lives. Therefore, closing the gap in education is the responsibility of the whole society, not just the group that is lagging behind.
Dare to Lead, join the Internet's first Leadership Social Network. Support Youth Leadership, by shopping with our partners. This article is available as a unique content article with free reprint rights.
by Dylan Deleto
Despite minorities making significant progress in higher education over the last 50 years, there is still a large achievement gap between minorities, specifically Blacks and Hispanics, and Whites. How do we close this gap? Also, what does it mean to close the gap in education? To answer this question, we must first understand what needs to be measured. Is it high school and/or college dropout rates? Is it high school or college graduation rates? Is it the gap in standardized tests scores? Last, and perhaps more to the point, who is being measured? Is the comparison between the rich and the poor, black and white, males and females? Educators have conflicting views concerning this matter.
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, college must become an expectation not an option so that Blacks and Hispanics have higher educational aspirations, leading them to greater achievement. Intervention must start as early as elementary school so that the students fully understand the connection between college and life achievement and ultimately happiness. These youth must understand that few of them will become professional athletes or rappers. However, they can become, for example, a lawyer and manage athletes or rappers. Let them know that education is the closest thing that they can get to a guarantee in life.
Strong academic preparation is the key. First, school districts must make high-school courses more rigorous to narrow the gap that the United States has with other industrialized nations. Ethnic and low-income minority students are the least likely to enroll in advanced placement, honors and college-preparatory curriculum. This effort should address the courses that all students take regardless of their socio-economic standing.
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 creates an even playing field. It provides the best route out of poverty, the best public citizens and workforce prepared to make a better world. Education erases many of woes of human existence: illiteracy, poverty, racism and crime. If a society allows minorities or any other group to lag behind, then they are actually creating a burden that directly impacts the quality of their lives and their children's lives. Therefore, closing the gap in education is the responsibility of the whole society, not just the group that is lagging behind.
Dare to Lead, join the Internet's first Leadership Social Network. Support Youth Leadership, by shopping with our partners. This article is available as a unique content article with free reprint rights.
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