The Apathetic Negro

"A college education is the primary force for black achievement." Thomas A. LaVeist, Ph.D. 

Everyone holding a top tier chair at a company possesses a Bachelor’s Degree or higher. In many cases that is now becoming the norm, it is REQUIRED that you possess a Bachelor’s Degree or the company will overtly exemplify that you do not meet their basic requirements. Only in rare cases and some professions are there one or two people that do not hold a college degree but yet hold an executive position (below 1% and are usually obtained through the family business or a hook-up through a friendly association but never through company initiation). But with us living in the information age, where what is retained in your brain costs more than what your hands and feet can do, if you are not acquiring the highest amount of knowledge possible you will be left in the dust along with the rest of the high school drop outs. Now more than ever people are not stopping at their Bachelor’s but looking at a Master’s as the minim to enter the corporate world; and those professions who only looked at a Master’s are now only considering a double Master’s or Doctorate’s.  Which brings me to the query: “Where does the Black community stand among the educational bracket?”

If we look at statistics, the Black community is at the penultimate of the educational ladder, only being lapped by the Hispanic community. Who is at the apogee? Asians and then Caucasians. Let us take a look at what statistics tell us about the Black community and education.

In every large metro area, educational attainment for whites exceeds that for both blacks and Latinos.
http://www.brookings.edu/metro/MetroAmericaChapters/education.aspx

"Blacks experienced the greatest growth in graduate enrollment (74 percent) from 2000 to 2007"
http://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/2009/section1/indicator11.asp

Fall enrollment in degree-granting institutions, by race/ethnicity of student and by state or jurisdiction: 2007
http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d08/tables/dt08_228.asp

"The percentage of American college students who are minorities has been increasing. In 1976, 15 percent were minorities, compared with 32 percent in 2007.... The percentage of Black students was 9 percent at the beginning of the time period and it fluctuated during the early part of the period before rising to 13 percent in 2007."

US DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION  - FAST FACTS
http://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=98

Blacks On Campus - Factual Friday
http://blackoncampus.com/2010/06/11/factual-friday-curiouser-and-curiouser-edition-june-11-2010/

Minorities in Higher Education Annual Status Report
http://www.acenet.edu/AM/Template.cfm?Section=CAREE&Template=/CM/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=23716

­­“As for African Americans, black students in their final year of high school have reading and math skills no better than those of whites and Asians who are still in the eighth grade. Their prospects of going on to graduate from college and to earn a decent income are inevitably not good.”
Stephan Thernstrom, Wall Street Journal

http://www.educationgadfly.net/flypaper/2010/05/do-black-single-parent-families-explain-the-achievement-gap/

Financial Statistics of College Grads Vs. Non-Grads
http://www.ehow.com/m/about_6128503_financial-college-grads-vs_-non_grads.html

"Currently, among Blacks, 63 percent of college undergraduates are female compared to 37 percent who are male – this represents the largest gender gap among all ethnic and language groups. It remains unclear as to why families appear more likely to send their daughters and not their sons to college."

"Another highlight of the study was that despite educational progress by African Americans of both genders, Blacks continue to obtain bachelor degrees at a much lower rate than whites. Indeed, the gap between Blacks and whites is larger today than it was in the 1960s and 1970s."

http://www.louisianaweekly.com/news.php?viewStory=2336

"Between 1993-95 and 2003-05, the college participation rate for whites increased from 43 percent to 48 percent, while the college participation rate for African Americans increased from 35 percent to 41 percent."
http://www.acenet.edu/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Search&template=/CM/HTMLDisplay.cfm&ContentID=23754

"Total minority enrollment at the nation's colleges and universities surged by 122 percent over the past 20 years, up from nearly 2 million in 1980-81 to 4.3 million in 2000-01. Despite this significant gain, African Americans and Hispanics continue to lag behind their white counterparts in the percentage of college-age, high school graduates enrolled in college."
http://www.acenet.edu/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Search&template=/CM/HTMLDisplay.cfm&ContentID=3719

“California spends about $47,000 per inmate while only spending about $9,000 for every student enrolled. New York State spends about $56,000 per inmate and approximately $16,000 for every student in the school system. Michigan pays about $34,000 for every prisoner and about $11,000 for a student.”“In 1992, eighteen percent of the African Americans in the labor force had not graduated from high school.  By 2009, that figure had declined by one-half to 9 percent.  Of note, African Americans in the labor force that had graduated from college increased from 16 percent in 1992 to 24 percent in 2009.”

“30% of Georgia high school students are dropping out.”
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/03/14/states-spend-times-incarcerating-educating-studies-say-464156987/#

“Unemployment rates fall as educational attainment increases as well. In 2009, the unemployment rate for African Americans 25 years and over without a high school diploma was over 21 percent, while the jobless rates for high school graduates and those graduating with a bachelor’s degree and higher were 14.0 and 7.3, respectively.”

Go to the Geographic’s Department and Compare the African American Statistics to Other Races
http://www.bls.gov/

Why are there so many homeless Black people in the Skid Row sector of Downtown Los Angeles and throughout the entire Los Angeles region all the way to the Santa Monica Pier? Because the lack of education. Now let us be empathetic for a moment and assume that these people were once business owners and their luck had run out… Ok now look at reality, all of them!? We cannot speculate what happened to these people in their lives, but the last major recession of catastrophic proportions that would leave thousands of people homeless happened in 1990 during George W. Bush Sr.’s presidency so what other LOGICAL explanation can we blame for so many homeless Black people occupying every division of the City of Los Angeles? On any given day you see more homeless African Americans in Los Angeles than any other race, hands down. Why!? Drugs? Receiving a college education would have taught these people about the repercussions from the abuse of drugs and also put these people in a career where they valued their profession and would not do anything to risk losing that. The only confutation against that is that “everyone makes mistakes.” A second explanation would be their luck ran out and they lost their job and could not find another one. That is logical and would lead them to drug abuse. Finding another job would solely be based on determination and not the amount of education you have received. But we cannot elide that with more education, especially a Master’s and Doctorate’s, the more determined in life you are to succeed because of the devotion you have put in to acquiring that education. The last explanation could be mental incompetency. These people could have been suffering from mental problems and were abandoned by their families. But all in all, there is a STRONG link between poverty and unemployment and the lack of receiving a college education or moreover a high school education.

What are the greatest causes of homelessness?

For persons in families, the three most commonly cited causes, according to a 2008 U.S. Conference of Mayors study are:

• Lack of affordable housing
• Poverty
• Unemployment

For singles, the three most commonly cited causes of homelessness are:

• Substance abuse
• Lack of affordable housing
• Mental illness

What are some other demographics of homeless people?

Racial and ethnic minorities, particularly African-Americans, are overrepresented.

• 39% are non-Hispanic whites (compared to 76% of the general population)
• 42% are African-Americans (compared to 11% of the general population)
• 13% are Hispanic (compared to 9% of the general population)
• 4% are Native-American (compared to 1% of the general population)
• 2% were Asian

http://usmayors.org/pressreleases/documents/hungerhomelessnessreport_121208.pdf

This theory I may call it is buttressed by the amount of African American inmates that are in prison. Prisons are becoming overcrowded. 40.2% of inmates are Black. But why are they going to prison? The lack of education. Loosely 82% of inmates do not have a high school diploma. With that told, these Black males/females do not even possess the minutia basics to succeed in the even most basic vocations. These crimes they are committing are not white collar crimes. They are armed robbery, burglary, murder, grand theft auto, or battery. And the amount of minorities that are flocking into prison is staggering. Are all these people “insane?” No, matter of fact when they committed these acts they knew full well of what they were doing. Now look at it from this standpoint. They did it because they were down and out. Ok, that speaks for anybody, college education or not. But if we look at statistics, out of the millions of college students around the nation, only 62,953 criminal offenses were committed by college students in 2009. So divide that number by the 10-13 million students enrolled into college and you have only 00.5% of the college population that committed crimes, revealing that if these criminals were spending their time studying a text book instead of robbing a liquor store, than their lives would be the total obverse. Young Black males are going to jail because of a lack of education and the lack of reinforcement to receive an education. No one is encouraging young Black people to aspire for that extra four or six years of their life that will pay off for the rest of the thirty, forty, or fifty years that they continue to live. No one is letting them know that to prosper you must know how to balance your finances and manage a business. No proletariat is living a comfortable and rewarding life. They get up every Monday and slave all the way to Friday, some Saturday and Sunday just to make overtime. But the young Black generation is not looking at it from this standpoint. They are viewing it from a “get rich now” viewpoint, the same viewpoint that has put so many Blacks in prison.

“About 10.4% of the entire African-American male population in the United States aged 25 to 29 was incarcerated, by far the largest racial or ethnic group—by comparison, 2.4% of Hispanic men and 1.2% of white men in that same age group were incarcerated. According to a report by the Justice Policy Institute in 2002, the number of black men in prison has grown to five times the rate it was twenty years ago. Today, more African-American men are in jail than in college.”

Information Please® Database, © 2007 Pearson Education http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0881455.html

“As of June 30, 2008, there are 846,000 black male inmates held in state or federal prisons or local jails in the United States. This represents 40.2% of all inmates for the same year. This data is based on the Prison Inmates at Midyear 2008 Statistical Tables of the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics. About 65% of black inmates are aged 20-39.”

U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics

 http://www.numberof.net/number-of-black-men-in-prison/

Black Men in Prison: What Obama Must Fix Right Now

http://www.bvblackspin.com/2010/01/04/black-male-incarceration-010410/

I further support these declarations with the high rate of unemployment in the Black community. 52% were unemployed in 2009 with 21% of that being African Americans without a college education; and without a college education that number will rise. The jobs that many in the Black community withhold our expendable positions; positions that anyone can do and will be filled at no expense: security personnel, warehouse worker, chauffer, truck driver, and factory worker. Now I am not saying there is anything wrong with these positions, but ask yourself one question: “Where are the respect, growth, and long-term achievement in these positions?” In the Black community, to many these are top tier positions. These are what the young community aspire to be because their parents, uncles, or other family members do these as a profession, and nothing of becoming a chemist, pediatrician, mortgage broker, Certified Public Account, or C.E.O. is ever talked about. College is never talked about and if it is, it is not enforced to the point where the child’s only option is gain a higher education and succeed.

This is a table of all the jobs held by Blacks, Hispanics, Asians, and Females minorities. Spot what top jobs are held by Blacks and what bottom of the barrel jobs African Americans hold the most. This information will let the African American community see why there are not that many job opportunities being opened for them.

http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/2010/tables/10s0603.xls

What is it that separates Black and White families the most? The amount of education in the family. In a Black family maybe only one person may have a college degree, if any. In a White family, especially affluent, everyone has a college degree; it is mandatory in their family and the quintessential nexus that defines their legacy. That attitude needs to be established in the Black community. College should not be an option but a requirement. The average Black family income is $34,000 rounded. The average White family income is $152,000 rounded. That is a $122,000 leap from the Black community. Take away one person from a Black, two income family and you have $17,000, $7,000 above the POVERTY mark. So leads to me say, the average Black person is living barely in poverty. Poverty does not just mean living on the street or in a filthy household, it stands for the severely low financial bracket that you are in. Yet many African Americans are complacent with their low paying jobs and bottom of the barrel positions, and do not plan anytime in the future to go to school to elevate their career.

The 2010 Poverty Guidelines for the 48 Contiguous States and the District of Columbia
Persons in family	Poverty guideline
1	$10,830
2	14,570
3	18,310
4	22,050
5	25,790
6	29,530
7	33,270
8	37,010
For families with more than 8 persons, add $3,740 for each additional person.

2010 Poverty Guidelines for Alaska
Persons in family	Poverty guideline
1	$13,530
2	18,210
3	22,890
4	27,570
5	32,250
6	36,930
7	41,610
8	46,290
For families with more than 8 persons, add $4,680 for each additional person.

2010 Poverty Guidelines for Hawaii
Persons in family	Poverty guideline
1	$12,460
2	16,760
3	21,060
4	25,360
5	29,660
6	33,960
7	38,260
8	42,560
For families with more than 8 persons, add $4,300 for each additional person.

SOURCE:  Federal Register, Vol. 75, No. 148, August 3, 2010, pp. 45628–45629

http://aspe.hhs.gov/poverty/10poverty.shtml

Blacks Compared to Whites Living In Poverty: See The Truth For Yourself

http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/2010/tables/10s0699.pdf

“In all, roughly 19.5 percent of the American population attended college but did not finish, 7.4 percent have an Associates degree, 17.1 percent have a bachelor’s degree and 9.9 percent have a doctorate or professional degree.”

http://collegemoneymakingideas.com/what-percentage-of-americans-go-to-college/2010/

What many in the Black community are not understanding is that with an education comes more than just a degree; it brings responsibility, confidence, respect, power, and choice. No one is telling the Black community that your speech is enhanced, your fashion becomes more professional, your demeanor becomes more civilized, and your business intellect is augmented. You surround yourself with more positive and successful people that inspire you to be greatness. This explains the gap between Black wealth and White wealth. White families are more determined and supported, while in the Black community, the lack of education pulls everyone back. No one spends tens of thousands of dollars just to do it; they spend it to invest in their career. A degree means you have taken the time to learn what essentials you will need to prosper in the future, and this when placed in front of an employer lets them know you are ready to take on the arduous tasks that they need you to do. Without it how can you prove you are equipped or even more, worthy of the position? You cannot, unless you have a decade of experience from a previous employer or profession that is similar, and even then your resume must be top notch for them to consider you over a graduate with a Doctorate’s Degree fresh out of college.

Thomas A. LaVeist, Ph.D., author of the DayStar Guide to Colleges for African American Students (Kaplan, $20), adds, "A college education is the primary force for black achievement."

So let us say you do not need a degree to go into the profession you want to do. You want to be an actor, a singer, a writer, a photographer, a painter, or a basketball player. None of those professions require a degree to be in. There are many people in these professions that do not have a clue of what college is like. But let us examine the scenario deeper. How many high school/college basketball players do you know that are good enough to be in the NBA? Now take that number and divide it by the number of people who are actually in the NBA (360-450). That small percentage you see is the exact chance that you have of getting into the NBA. Now divide the number of people you know by the number of superstars in the NBA. That is the percentage you have of becoming a superstar in the NBA. If you look at the numbers, you have a better chance of becoming a doctor than playing in the NBA. You have a better chance of becoming a bank branch manager than playing in the NBA. Also these careers are more extensive. What is happening in the Black community is that the young people are looking at the professions that do not require a degree and aspiring to be those instead of the business owners who make the operations run smoothly. What Black people are not understanding is that if the player breaks his leg, his career is over. The OWNER, the guy with the college degree, will just replace him and keep the team rolling. THE COGS NEVER MATTER. Black people want to play on the team but not own it; they want to sing on the record label but not own it; they want to act for the studio but not own it. This cycle of continuously being the marionette excises all opportunity for Black people to step behind the scenes and take control. It is not the puppet who makes the orders but the master; and for so long Black people have been playing the puppet, and loving it.

For many out there, they believe if you are not going to go to college, than why go to school all together? And that raises a strong point; why even go to school at all if you are not going to go all the way? A high school education only prepares you for college but does nothing for the corporate world, unless you are attending an elite private school, which only 11% of U.S. students do. (Council for American Private Education) A high school education becomes obsolete once you enter college, because the basics of business communication takes form in your college years, so entering the levels of upper management with a high school diploma is like bringing a spoon to a gunfight. But what about those people that tell you that you do not need to go to college to succeed? Let us analyze this quandary because with so many non-educated people in the Black community, the façade of you do not need a college degree to succeed is rampant, and one of the focal reasons why the young Black youth is failing. In the Black community the lack of education has led many to believe that their dead end job is good enough and that this is what life is worth living. They fill complacent with what society has given them and do not desire more, and that all of this "greatness" has been achieved without a college education. So the only information they have to pass down to the next generation in the Black community is “this is what I achieved, and look at Jay-Z, Lil Wayne, and T.I., and they don’t have a degree.” Now take a closer look at the person telling you this. Are they as successful as Charles Koch, Lee Shau Kee of Hong Kong, or Warren Buffet (all corporate executives who have college degrees and riches people in the world)? No. Is this person going anywhere in life? No. Will this person likely fail at anything else that they smatter? Yes. What significant venture has this person achieved that would catch the attention of a corporate executive? Nothing. So what are the benefits of listening to a person who tells you that you do not need a college education to succeed? Last time I checked, a college graduate is going to tell you the opposite, and that college graduate is going to be financially more stable and possess more assets, acclaim, and respect in the business world than that loser who does not even know the meaning of IPO. But this is what is going around the Black community. More people are telling the youth what they do not need instead of what they do need, and the statistics prove that with the decline in male college enrollment. Once again the more Blacks are out of the corporate world, the more obsolete they become.

Background on High School Dropouts

http://www.dosomething.org/tipsandtools/background-high-school-dropouts