jkorlander says:
This is definitely a sociological issue, and not a race issue. My parents raised me expecting me to go to college and I did. Some of my white students when I taught down in Alabama did not think about college at all. These students typically were raised on the farm by parents who also didn't attend college. I guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.........

Answered 1 year ago

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SCLATeacher says:
I would appeal to a collegiate sportsfan base and then expand that sports appeal to educating parents/kids more about a particular college. Yes we know UNC is a good basketball school, as is Duke, but they are also top 10 schools academically. We need to take our stereotypical love for sports and expand that to learning more about the institutions.

Further, as Cos did on the show (which people seem to want to talk about still...) wearing sweatshirts ourselves advertise we promore education. At the school where I taught, we had college Friday's where we wore college t-shirts, hats and sweatshirts. It was a start.

Answered 1 year ago

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urwututhink says:
Yeah, this is definitely an issue where the mindset of the parents comes heavily into play. As mentioned earlier, there are blacks, whites, Hispanics, and so on and so on, who may not emphasize the need for college to their children. The key is finding effective ways to put college in their thoughts and plans. SCLA brought up a good point about using sports as a segue to hammering home the value of a college education. There is a new book out entitled "The Student Athlete Playbook: Your Gameplan to Become a Champion in Sports & Life" - the book was written on a premise similar to that of SCLA Teacher's: sports appeal can be used as a tool to connect with an audience and deliver a valuable message. The book serves as a "playbook" for taking that same decision making, talent, and drive used in the sports arena and approaching important facets of life with that same tenacity.

Everyone doesn't play sports so for those who must be targeted in other ways, I think a great approach will call for a mixture of influences such as college paraphenelia days, college fairs, creative/informative mailing pieces from universities, etc. - positioning college in the minds of youth will yield results that even reluctant parents won't be able to stop in alot of cases.


Source: http://www.rtkzradio.com
Answered 1 year ago

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bemore says:
Exposure, exposure, exposure….we must continue to inundate our youth with the thought that anyone with the internal fortitude to succeed can aspire to go to College. I belong to a group of Professionals with varying backgrounds that go around to middle schools in the Maryland area pushing the Achievement Counts program. Basically, the program contrasts the life, job opportunities, and income of high school graduates versus college graduates. We lay out a College achievement plan and at the end of the presentation we have each student sign an Achievement contract committing to the effort. I don’t know how many times I saw light bulbs go off in some of these kids head as they finally realized that they had just as much of an opportunity to go to College and that College wasn’t just for a certain groups based on color or family income. Time and time again young adults would tell me they didn’t know it was that simple……..once again…..exposure, exposure, exposure.

The overall program and concept is straightforward and with minimal effort it could be emulated to other states and regions. All you would have to do is contact your local schools and present the concept to the administration. I have yet to have one Administrator tell me “no, that won’t work, etc”. I would be more than happy to assist anyone who would like to pursue this further.


Answered 1 year ago

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hbcukidz says:
Thank you all. You have given some very good advice. Bemore I would be interested in getting more "How tos" to delivering the message to the administrators. The reason why I see it more prevalent in the black community is because of the sheer numbers. Only 2% of the people in this country are black with a college degree (associates included). Most of my non-black friends are all college educated. So you kind of see the world from the set of eyes you are using sometimes. But it is interesting the link between athletics and academics. When we launched we had developed an analogy using that "You choose branded athletic GEAR for playing football, basketball, baseball, etc,...what brand do you choose for learning in school?" Yet people tend to embrace the need to be able to dribble a ball...reading and analyzing ideas is something that "other people do". That is what we hear a lot of times.


Source: http://www.AchieversinTraining.com
Answered 1 year ago

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SCLATeacher says:
Are you sure about that 2% number? That is absurd if it is true! I don't know whether to smile at my achievement or cry at the fact that so many are "left behind." No wonder there are so few black male teachers in public schools, they aren't even graduating from college?!?!?

Thanks for the impetus...

Answered 1 year ago

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hbcukidz says:
SCLATeacher, I seem to get that intial reaction a lot-LOL...Here are the US Census numbers. Recall that usually stats quoted are simply taking educated blacks vs. total blacks. Well, that is absurd because we do not live in our own separate community. You must take the total number of degreed blacks and divide that number by the total number of U.S. citizens. The raw numbers can be found at this link. Be sure to read the fact that it is tracking HIGHEST educational attainment. I have had folks challenge the numbers thinking that they are double counted for Masters and Phds. If you exclude Associate degrees it is actually less than 2%.

http://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/education/cps2006.html

233,194,000 TOTAL POPULATION OVER AGE 15
27,712,000 TOTAL BLACK POPULATION OVER AGE 15

BLACK EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT
Bachelor's degree 2,900,000
Master's degree 1,011,000
Professional degree 162,000
Doctoral degree 108,000
TOTAL DEGREED BLACKS 4,181,000

4,181,000 divided by 233,194,000=1.79%

If you choose to add in the Associates Degrees: add
1,820,000+4,181,000=6,001,000 TOTAL DEGREED BLACKS

6,001,000 divided by 233,194,000=2.57%

So bottom line, there is a lot of work to do in the community as Drs. Cosby and Poussaint have eloquently pointed out.


Source: http://www.AchieversinTraining.com
Answered 1 year ago

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thetalk says:
I suppose the idea that if your parents didn't go or nobody close to you went to college or is going to college is legitimate. In 1972 when I entered high school I enrolled in the college course because I really didn't know what I wanted to do after high school, though early on I assumed I would try going to college. Which harkens back to bemore's comment exposure, exposure, exposure. I didn't know what I wanted to do because I didn't know what was available, what was out there to pursue as a career. My mother went to college while we were in school and got her masters degree in psychology. Her achievements didn't spur me on to desire to go to college, and as I went through high school I hated school work more and more. By the end of high school I had learned about and understood what the vocational side of our school was about and I think I would have been way better off, as after a short stint in the military, I got into construction, and started my own construction company. So to make a long story short I think many black children don't aspire to go to college is because they do not know what the many various career opportunities are. They may be shown only a few career opportunities at their school through their guidance councilor because that's what the guidance councilor thinks they would be able to do. So I think it is definitely exposure and early exposure to as many careers as possible so they can discover what they want to do and what college or tech school to go to, to make it happen.....EXPOSURE!


Source: http://thetalk.us
Answered 12 months ago

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hbcukidz says:
I agree with you thetalk. From my experience, exposure was really the key. Although my dad and mom told me from 1st grade that I would be going to college. My dad strongly wanted me to become a lawyer. I was headed that direction for a while until 10th grade. A career day presentation by a consultant who worked from home just BLEW me away! I had NEVER heard of such a career nor had anyone in my family. So I decided that I had to go further in my own education to be able to do what that man said he did where he earned a great living-working from home-LOL! I remember going up to him after his presentation asking a million questions-who/what/when/where/how. From that moment forward, I wanted to be a consultant who worked from home! So I agree that early exposure beyond one's parents experience/ knowledge is key for our children. The funny thing is that sometimes, I do think I should have gone to law school too (smile)


Source: http://www.AchieversinTraining.com
Answered 12 months ago

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creeve says:
I feel that children follow examples. I went to college because my father went to college. I also was exposed to many things, such as the arts, museums, theatre, and films. It's funny but I see a lot of theatre and I am, most of the time, the ONLY or one of five in the theatre, from Broadway to off off Broadway. Exposure is key to wanting MORE in life.

Answered 11 months, 4 weeks ago

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faye2020ts says:
I feel that all children should be exposed to the idea of college and higher education at a young age. That is when they are forming opinions and building their character with everystep they take.

When my daughter at age 5 said she wanted to be a vet, I told her great, keep your grades up so you can go to college and become a vet.

When my 11 year old asked me who she should write a paper on for Black History month, I told her Bill Cosby. She was amazed that he was not only an actor and comedian, but also very well educated and could have made his living as a teacher.

I explained to her that many "actors", "singers" also had college educations. She only saw the "glam". Many kids only see the "glam" side of things, even with atheletes. It doesn't occur to them that college for alot of them was part of the road to fame.

If you wait til high school to discuss college with your kids you have waited to late. I believe that is true for any child. I have a friend who is a teacher in a metropoliten area and she says it is really depressing.

She asked her class if they had thought about jobs or colleges when they got older. One child said she was not going to college or work that she was going to stay home and have babies and receive a check from the gov't like her mom does. One boy said that he was going to hang out on the street like his older brother, no job but he always had money.

Only one of these children where black but they both had been influenced by their surroundings and what they saw. The old saying "actions speak louder than words" is never more true than with children.

One way the teacher planned to address this was to have a dress up day for her class.....they had to dress in a costume of what they wanted to be when they grew up.....Nurse, Doctor, etc. then planned on discussing each field the children chose and what "higher education" they would need.

She also made sure to send guide lines to the parents, after one child stated they'd dress as a gang member. These children were only around 7 to 8 years old. Elementary school age and people wonder why some teachers get so depressed. We need more teachers that are men to set a good example and all parents need to address the need or advantage of college at a young age.

In this day and time a good education is not an option it is a life/survival requirement. Food, Water, Oxygen, EDUCATION!

Answered 5 months ago

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