Recently I stumbled across statistics that presented the disparities in education amongst minorities and whites, more specifically, blacks and whites. I was utterly surprised to learn that such a great chasm exists, as far as education is concerned. I decided then and there that I wanted to do a video high lighting some of these disparities and try my best to encourage African Americans to take education seriously. I reminded of my own upbringing, and how I myself did not see education as being vital for my own success. I remember growing up and deciding that not only will I do” just enough to get by”, but I really didn’t have any dreams or aspirations beyond high school. I guess I could blame it on the fact that nobody even considered that I was even college material, or maybe, I suffered from a stigma of inferiority that so many of us suffer from as African Americans, especially men. I could blame it on those things, but I won’t. It is too often that we hide behind the cloud of excuses that most often leads us down the path of mediocrity or complacency. It wasn’t until my first year in college that I discovered that knowledge truly is power, and that if I wanted to get anywhere or achieve anything of great significance, I would need to take my educational opportunities seriously. This brings me to the reason for picking such a topic for discussion. We have got to do something about the gap that exists amongst African-American and whites. The statistics are alarming. Did you know that the average African-American child spends forty five minutes studying a week, while the average Caucasian child spends ten to fifteen hours in study a week? Does that disturb you? Well it should. Did you know that approximately 100,000 African American boys drop out of school a year? In some urban areas it’s close to 70% according to Jawanza Kunjufu, a noted educator, public speaker. This is ridiculous. I think the education gap also lends itself to socio-economic disparities. While the national unemployment rate is at 9.5%, the African-American unemployment rate is 16.5% and in some place it’s even higher. According to an article on alumni round up dot com entitled “Is the pay gap between Blacks and Whites actually an education gap?” African-Americans in 2008 earned an average of $18,054, compared to $28,502 by whites. Our average income is just 57.9% that of whites. The Census report revealed that only 19.7% of African-Americans had bachelors or advanced degrees. That compared with 32.6% for whites. And 17% of blacks had not graduated from high school, exactly twice the rate of whites. By the end of the decade it is estimated that eight out of ten jobs will require some type of higher education. It is time for us all to take our education seriously. If we don’t I fear that we will see a greater educational chasm between African-Americans and whites. Let’s spend more time with our kids reading. Let’s look up programs to get our kids involved in after school. Let’s find government subsidies and scholarships that will allow us to go to college and earn our degrees. Let’s no longer just settle for the status quo. Let’s wake up and realize that we owe ourselves this. I’ll end this with the words of W.E.B. Du Bois,”Education is that whole system of human training within and without the school house walls, which molds and develops men.”
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