Report paints bleak picture of black men's education

Desmond Bryant says sometimes it's hard going home and talking to his old friends.

The 19-year-old Southeast Missouri State University sophomore says a lot of the guys he used to run with in his St. Louis neighborhood didn't go on to college. Many of them didn't finish high school, and some didn't make it out of junior high.

"We kind of started drifting apart," Bryant said. "We don't have anything in common to talk about anymore."

Bryant and other black Southeast students recently shared their perspectives on college life and their thoughts on a recent study that paints a dismal picture of educational life for the average black male in America.

Black men are far more likely to go to prison than they are to go to college, according to "A Call for Change," a report from the Council of the Great City Schools, which describes its findings as "jaw-dropping" and evidence of a sociological and educational crisis in America. Among main points, the report shows black men ages 18 and older represented 5 percent of the total college student population but 36 percent of the total prison population.

"Black males continue to perform lower than their peers throughout the country on almost every indicator," the report says. "And while much work over the years has gone into addressing the challenge of the Black/White achievement gap, there has been no concerted national effort focused on the education and social outcomes of Black males specifically."

However, critics like Caroline Grannan, a San Francisco public-school parent, volunteer and advocate, have pointed to numbers not adding up to a "crisis." In a Washington Post blog, Grannan said the perceived low college enrollment rate is skewed because black men make up "just 6.5 percent of the U.S. population."

Still, a Southeast Missouri State University admissions official said the challenges in recruiting and retaining black male students are real, and much of the battle is waged on the poverty line.

"The things that predict student success in successfully completing their degree are socioeconomics and a strong support system, and black males are a population that struggles with having that full family support system in place to help them," said Debbie Below, Southeast's assistant vice president of enrollment management and director of admissions.

In 2008, nearly two-thirds of black children lived in a single-parent household, according to the study. In 2007, one out of three black children lived in poverty.

A majority of black males, like Sean Davis, are first-generation college students. Davis, an 18-year-old Southeast freshman from St. Louis, grew up in foster care, and he said a lot of his biological family and his friends were not "college-driven." His foster family members were, however, and they encouraged him to pursue his degree.

Black males make up 3 percent, or 337, of the 11,112 students enrolled at Southeast this fall semester, according to university statistics. That's on par with enrollment figures from the same semester last year. Southeast's percentages are on track with Missouri's other four-year institutions, based on fall 2009 figures, the latest available, from the Missouri Department of Higher Education. Black males made up about 1 percent of Missouri State University's student population, 2 percent at the University of Missouri-Columbia and 5 percent at Missouri Western State University.

The goal, Below said, is that Southeast's enrollment is representative of the state four-year university average, in which male black students make up about 4 percent of the total student population in 2009.

Southeast Missouri State University, officials there say, has had success in recruiting and retaining students through programs like the campus' Academic Support Centers and initiatives like Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs, or GEAR UP, aimed at boosting the number of low-income students who are prepared to enter and succeed in postsecondary education.

Trent Ball, Southeast associate dean of students, said a male initiative program offers black students the opportunity to get together at least once a month and talk about their experiences.

"We have been talking to them about what challenges they find on campus and the skill sets they want to learn," he said, noting the point is to keep students connected.

The issue of low college enrollment among U.S. black males begins long before college entrance exams, education experts say. With black graduation rates below 50 percent in a lot of U.S. cities, about 64 percent last year at Cape Girardeau Central High School, the challenge is to first put black male students in a position to enter college.

Bryant, the Southeast sophomore, said two-fifths of his high school senior class of 500-plus students did not graduate. Angela Dickson, a junior transfer student at Southeast and among the 4 percent of black females enrolled at the university, said reports like those from the Council of the Great City Schools point to a deeper societal problem.

"A lot of that comes from children living in poverty-stricken neighborhoods, and there is a trickle-down effect," she said. "This should open eyes and let people know it's something we need to change in society."

mkittle@semissourian.com

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By the numbers

In its recent report on what it sees as an education crisis for U.S. black males, the Council of the Great City Schools found:

* In 2008, black males were nearly twice as likely to drop out of high school as white males. Nine percent of black males dropped out of high school compared with 5 percent of white males.

* The average ACT scores of black students were lower than those for white students in English, mathematics and reading. In 2009, the gap between white and black students was six points in English, five points in mathematics and six points in reading.

* Public schools with more than 50 percent minority student enrollments reported a higher rate of crime than schools with fewer minority students in 2008.

* The graduation rates were at least 50 percent higher for white males than for black males. Approximately 15 percent of black males graduated in four years and about one-third graduated in five years compared with 33 percent of white males graduating in four years and one-half graduating in five years.

* In 2008, black males ages 18 and older represented only 5 percent of the total college student population but 36 percent of the total prison population.