State of the Black Male 2010

1. State of the Black Male 2010 And the promises we continue to break… Ron Brown, Ph.D.

2. Question What do you consider the factors that most hinder the enrollment of black men in higher education? • Under-preparedness • Cultural disincentives • Lack of mentors

3. Question How much of an impact does the scarcity of African-American men have on those who are enrolled? • The college community is usually seen as lacking, at best, or as hostile by African-American men who fail to find a level of cultural comfort in the campus community.

4. Question Are there particular recruitment strategies that you think are most effective and that more colleges should consider?

5. Session question “What’s wrong?“ and “How can we fix it?"

6. Texas: Discipline-Percentage

7. Texas: Gifted/Talented and Mentally Retarded Percentage

8. Status and Trends: Education of African Americans (T or F) • Blacks have higher dropout rates than their White counterparts. • Most Black students attend public schools where minorities represent the majority of the student body. • Since 1974, the academic gap between the percentages of White and Black children whose mothers attained a bachelor’s degree has continued to increase. • In 1982, Black high school graduates completed more academic courses than in 1998. Furthermore, in 1998, their academic credit totals remained lower than their White counterparts, but their vocational credit totals were higher. • In 1998, Black students were less likely than their white counterparts to take advanced mathematics courses and some advanced science courses. • In 2000, fewer Black 12th grade students took Advanced Placement (AP) examinations than both their White and Hispanic counterparts. (NCES Status and Trends in Education of Blacks, 2003)

9. Status and Trends: Education of African Americans (T or F) • The percentage of Black 3-to 5-year-olds being read to at home, being told stories, and visiting libraries was higher in 1999 than in 1991. Black children in 1999 were less likely than their White peers to be read to or to be told a story in the past week. • Black students are more likely than their White, Hispanic, and Asian/Pacific Islander students to receive special education services. • Black students have higher retention and suspension/expulsion rates than do White and Hispanic students. • In 2001, in addition to White students, Black students scored lower than all other racial groups and Hispanic subgroups on both the verbal and math sections of the Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT). • (NCES Status and Trends in Education of Blacks, 2003)

10. Reasons for poor family involvement among African-American parents • Efforts to meet basic needs that may take precedence over other needs • Fears or discomfort about working with school personnel • Uncertainty regarding the meaning and importance of family involvement • Lack of structure and routine in the home • Lack of funds to provide an educationally enriched home environment and learning experiences (e.g., to purchase books, to visit museums, etc.) • Low expectations for self and children (Ford & Moore, 2004)

11. Common factors that enhance educational/career aspirations • Belief in self • Personal characteristics • Realistic aspirations (NBA, NFL) • Support systems (e.g., family, educators, peers) • Participation in special programs, extracurricular activities, and summer enrichment programs • Appropriately challenging, rigorous classes

12. Missing Male Enrollment, 2005 * Data from 2005 Texas Higher Education Figures (THECB)

13. The world is flat

14. Blink Malcolm Gladwell wrote this book to show how people make split second judgments about things and how much of these judgments are correct. We all know that we unconsciously make judgments about people when we first meet them; we call them gut feelings.

15. Unemployment rates

16. Prison rates One in every 15 Blacks over the age of 18 is behind bars, compared to one in 106 whites. Between the ages of 20 and 34, one in nine African-American men are incarcerated, almost 15 times the rate for the population as a whole (which is itself the highest in the world — almost seven times the rate in Europe) and eight times the rate for all men.

17. Societal dissonance • Reduce the importance of the dissonant beliefs • Add more consonant beliefs that outweigh the dissonant beliefs • Changing the dissonant beliefs so that they are no longer inconsistent; minimizing the degree of inconsistency or its importance

18. Self-efficacy • Enhance their academic self-concept • Improve their need for improvement • Improve their need for achievement • Increase their self awareness • Change their beliefs about the power of effort • Enhance their concepts of masculinity • Nurture their racial pride

19. Mentoring • Executive leadership must genuinely commit to the concept of a formal mentoring program • Resources (human and financial) must be allocated for support of the program • Identify African-American male students, upon admission, who might be potential program participants or mentees

20. Institutional support • Institutional behavioral change • Early intervention programs • Faculty of color • Teaching strategies for faculty

21. Administrators and faculty Become unreasonable. Refuse to accept things as they are, push, and work for the way things ought to be. Calvin Mackie, Ph.D. “We must be the change we wish to see in the world.” Mahatma Gandhi

22. Programs that show success • The Student African-American Brotherhood (SAAB), offer regional conferences throughout the United States to incorporate the message of empowerment and success to thousands of young men each year. • Meyerhoff Scholars at the University of Maryland Baltimore County, offer undergraduate preparation to increase the number of African Americans earning terminal degrees in science, engineering, and medicine; Young Black Scholars at the University of California Los Angeles, focus on African-American boys and girls in grades 8-12. • The Black Men Think Tank the University of Cincinnati provides undergraduate Black mentorship.

23. Programs that show success 4. Men of Distinction, Austin Community College, partners participants with African-American faculty and staff who help them explore the opportunities and challenges students commonly face in college.

24. What is Texas doing? • African-American Advisory Committee (AAMAC) • Project M.A.L.E. • Student African American Brotherhood (SAAB) • African-American Male meetings in Austin • All Boys’ Schools in Houston • Walipp Academy • Pro Vision Charter

25. Coming together • The concerns of the populations we are trying to serve cannot be separated. "We can't continue to believe that you can best give your gift — your compassion — to these young Black men by being in this kind of structure, this current structure that is not working!" Instead, people are realizing that we must re-weave connections and come back together. • Usually we sit alone, or perhaps with a small group, and create something — a program, a response, a new policy, a statement. Our passion is in it; we know it is important for our organization and we devote our best efforts to it. Then what happens? We take the finished product and give it to a colleague. Instead of kudos, enthusiasm, and action, we are met with indifference, at best. We don't pick up other peoples’ work and express gratitude .

26. One man/woman “Let no one be discouraged by the belief there is nothing one man or one woman can do against the enormous array of the world's ills, against misery and ignorance, injustice and violence. …Few will have the greatness to bend history itself, but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total of all those acts will be written the history of our generation.” “It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope.” -Robert Kennedy

27. Coming together, cont. "Who cares?“ and "What's possible?"

28. “If they can see it, they can be it."