Jack & Jill Politics

At least paper of the sheepskin academic variety and that is a good thing. Got this from Afro

Nearly 4.6 million African-Americans hold a four-year college degree, a new high, but a large racial gap in degree attainment still exists and does not appear to be shrinking, according to a report in the Journal of Blacks in Higher Education.

The Journal also found that an overwhelming majority of these Black college graduates are women.

As of November 2009, 2,670,000 Black women hold four-year degrees or higher levels of academic achievement, according to the Journal, compared to 1,909,000 Black men, and represent 58 percent of all Black students earning a bachelor’s degree.

Likewise, Black women are earning master’s degrees at higher rates than Black men, with 669,000 Black women holding advanced degrees compared to 409,000 Black men. However, Black men continue to lead Black women in the number of professional degrees, such as those in medicine and law, according to the Journal. Roughly 88,000 Black men have professional degrees, compared to 62,000 Black women.

Despite the disparities between Black men and women, African-Americans as a demographic seem to be making positive strides in higher education compared to previous generations. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 3,215,000 Blacks nationwide have bachelor’s degrees, and another 1,078,000 Blacks hold a four-year college degree and a master’s. A total of 150,000 Blacks have professional degrees and another 136,000 African American hold doctorates. These numbers show tremendous progress in the Black community, according to the Journal report; in the 1920s, only approximately 10,000 American Blacks were college-educated.

However, African-Americans still lag behind other racial groups in college degree attainment. The Journal study found 32.6 percent of non-Hispanic Whites over age 25 hold a college degree, compared to 19.6 percent of Blacks in the same age group, a gap that has remained unchanged in recent years.

A few interesting things here. First, I was under the one-sided and insidiously unfair impression brothas couldn’t do anything right. So, yay for us. Still a lots and lots of work to do, but you take your victories where you can get them.

Second, the important take away is still in the last graf of the article. We’re still lagging way behind. The improvement in degree diversity and such is cool, but it’s not cool when 80% of Black Americans over age 25 don’t have degrees. Yes; there’s a lot of complex and complicated elements that factor into that figure, but I think we can all agree that it is a number that could use improvement.

How can we help the trend Marcus?

Great question. A good way to start helping out the youths on the come-up. I’m affiliated with the ACT-SO organization and they just so happen to have a great fundraiser tomorrow night in NYC.

If you’re in the city, come to the Opening Ceremony Event.

For $40, you get to eat and raffle and drink for the kids. If you can’t make it, you are still well within your rights to donate. Helping Black kids have the opportunity to be smart is a super good look (which you should wholeheartedly believe since that plug was as shameless as it gets. Oh well. I’m about Black kids having a  chance to be smart).