Educational Attainment in America

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Recommended: Social inequality between blacks and whites regarding education

The message that many African American males receive throughout their lives is that they are unintelligible, uneducable, and dangerous (hooks 2004; Jackson and Moore 2008). With this message being delivered to them every day it is not hard to understand the disparity of those getting higher education and those who do not compared to their white counterparts. These messages can play a role in how their self-image is formed and defined. Other factors include poverty and incarceration. These are not the only factors that affect African American males but these are some of the common factors that affect the educational attainment of African American males. This is should be a concern because there may be something that can be done to prevent the disparity of educational attainment among African American males and white males. It can be argued that there is no way a person can develop positive self-expectations and self-mastery if they are daily being feed negative views of how society sees them. Societal expectations play a role in this development. Negative images of African American males are constantly being viewed in the media creating a source of negative stereotypes (Jackson and Moore 2008). Along with the negative images there is poverty. Among African Americans, poverty can be seen in the neighborhoods that they grow up in. The neighborhoods are frequently characterized by high rates of crime, joblessness, social isolation and few resources for child development (Brooks-Gunn, Duncan, Klebanov, & Sealand 1993). Incarceration is factor that also affects African American males more than their white counterparts. In a study by Bruce Western and Christopher Wildeman it was found that “around one in five African American men exp... ... middle of paper ... ...African American Youth: The Role of Parents and the School.” Journal of Youth & Adolescence 36(4): 417-27. Mizell, C. Andre. 1999. African American Men’s Personal Sense of Mastery: The Consequences Adolescent Environment, Self-Concept, and Adult Achievement.” Journal of Black Psychology 25(2): 210-30. Jackson, Aurora. 2003. “The Effects of Family and Neighborhood Characteristics on the Behavioral and Cognitive Development of Poor Black Children: A Longitudinal Study” American Journal of Community Psychology 32(1/2): 175-86. Rumbaut, Ruben G. 2005. “Turning points in the transition to adulthood: Determinants of educational attainment, incarceration, and early childbearing among children of immigrants.” Ethnic and Racial Studies 28(6): 1041-86. Wildeman, Christopher and Bruce Western. 2010. “Incarceration in Fragile Families.” Future of Children 20(2): 157-77.

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