Segregated Higher Education - Assignment Example

Segregated Higher Education’ Introduction The importance of education in the development of society is immense. A society is made up of different individuals. These individuals have their unique needs personalities and demands. The humans are dominating in nature and try to go to any means to attain their primary needs. The role of society in the development of human civilization is of the utmost important. This process of evolution is formulated by transfer of knowledge. The learning of one generation is transferred to the next. This process of information transfer ensures that the evolutionary process of learning continues. This is because not only this gives a chance for further learning on an already established base but it also ensures that norms and rules of society are followed. There was once a time when this education was passed on by father to son and so on. However with time the nature and content has become increasingly complex. Therefore special institutions are used to transfer this knowledge and it is called education. This education is therefore an important and integral step in making a human being a functional part of a society. Most of all education is necessary to find a good livelihood. As the level of education increases so does the income. This is because the numbers of muscle jobs are decreasing day by day. The uneducated workers usually end up working as janitors or cleaners. The most important aspect for any person life in today’s world is the economic aspect. Therefore if the economic aspect of life is weakened all other aspects are automatically affected. Thus uneducated people end up being driven away from main stream society. They do not only become a menace to other people but also develop a sense of contempt in general for everyone else. Most of these individuals end up engaging in unlawful activities at some point in their life. Therefore it can be safely say that lack of education increases the chances of making someone a criminal. According to United States Census Bureau survey of 2008 almost 12.4% of United Sates population consists of African Americans. African Americans are therefore also the largest minority of United States. These African Americans are primarily descendants of slaves who were brought to America from Africa during the periods of slave trade. The American society has evolved a lot during the last few decades. The problems for African American have still not totally vanished. They are not given the same access to education as other races in Americas. This has led to their isolation from main stream society. This is the very reason that many young African Americans end up in prison at very young ages. The Problem The African Americans have come a long way from their ancient status as “slaves” in 18th and 19th century to the present times with the so called equal opportunities available to them today. Moreover, the first Plessy v. Ferguson case in 1885 which marked the African Americans to be inferior to the whites and the former were refused basic human rights just because of their “inferior” status in the society. After that, the historic 1954 Supreme Court decision, "Brown et al v. Board of Education of Topeka et al." made it unconstitutional for the schools to be segregated ones and allowed the African Americans to gain access to the public High schools that the whites had access to. The actual implementation and effect of this decision is still pending and it is indeed heart-breaking to see how the majority of these African Americans (54% of the Black Belt South according to the 1990 census) still do not have access to the proper higher educational facilities and opportunities as their white counterparts (Wimberley & Morris, 1996). The fact is that even though these segregated higher education schools were forced by law to go for desegregation, the communities that supported these schools pulled out their finances and opened up private, posh academies which the African Americans couldn’t afford in the first place and this pretty much meant another kind of indirect segregation. The population of the African Americans had various problems which affected their ability to completely see the effect of the 1954 Supreme Court decision. Some of these were the poverty level which they faced and which impeded their ability to have any influence in the “offices”. Plus their lack of resources didn’t help either and was a big constraint to their ability to voice their ongoing concerns even after the court decision. Moreover, due to the prolonged effect of these basic factors, the African American students at these newly segregated schools didn’t have the ability at first to fully cope with the curriculum which was set for the whites who had led the comfortable life of ambitious students. Thus, these “under achieving” students were labeled "low-ability" students due the encouraged practice of ability grouping1 (Sanders, 1998)and were sited in low-track, or special education programs. In higher education institutions, the problem was them being enrolled in vocational and general programs as they weren’t seen as bright enough to compete with their white counterparts who were placed in academic programs(Oakes, 1990, p. 102).Therefore, even though these African Americans were going to the desegregated schools, their access to good educational opportunities was limited. The increasing competition from Asians and Foreigners for limited seats at these higher education American institutions has only worsened the scenario. The teachers didn’t help as well as they didn’t focus on their ability to make these African American Students understand, rather, they focused on the generalization rule of their background that since they are “black” they don’t possess the ability to compete academically and understand as well as the whites. The lack of African American teachers didn’t help either as around 38,000 African American educators in 17 states lost their positions between 1954 and 1965 (Holmes, 1990; King, 1993). Thus, the story is still grim when we see that the crime rate in these African American neighborhoods is higher than others as they are a product of years of loss of educational opportunities, oppression and mis-education which lessened their self-confidence and dampens the will to achieve and have ambitions. The Public Opinion The public opinion of the African Americans in this regard has always been shaky. In the beginning when this decision was passed by the Supreme Court, there were high expectations of equal opportunities and brighter futures but with the desegregation came the problems that are stated above and that has significantly affected the confidence of the African Americans in the system and the decision itself. Over time, the African American parents actually wanted the schools to be re-segregated as they didn’t see any advantage of sending their children to the “white” schools due to indirect grouping. Most people view the cause of this to be the fact that the African American students have to face the fact of being singled out and forced to achieve twice as much as the European American counterparts as they were the “minority”. As a result, this only fueled the fire making it difficult for these African American students to actually have a comfortable and successful academic life as a student. Initiatives Many different initiatives have been taken to improve the current educational situation of African Americans. These initiatives have come from both individuals and the governments. Even as late as the 1960s African Americans were not allowed to enroll into top graduate schools of America. The government however supported the movement of African Americans into top universities of America. In 1962 James Meredith was given security of Federal marshals so he could attend University of Mississippi. This was an important mile stone in acceptance of African Americans in graduate schools of America. In 1968 San Francisco State University changes the course of black education by setting up a department dedicated to the studies on African American History. This further led way to establishment of African American history as a course in universities like Yale University and Howard University. A very major constraint to African America is unavailability of a strong educational base. Due to inadequate educational facilities at the primary level they lag behind other students when it comes to competing for top institutions of America. Therefore they usually get accepted in second rated colleges and universities. The employment opportunities for African Americans are thus automatically reduced. Therefore it was very necessary that special consideration should be given to African Americans when it came to graduate admissions. According to United States Law however it was not possible to make exceptions which resulted in suffering of the Black population. In 2003 however the Supreme Court ruled in favor of such ruling permitting special consideration. The court upheld the University Of Michigan Law Schools affirmative action policy. The decision was that race can be one of many factors considered by colleges when selecting their students because it furthers “a compelling interest in obtaining the educational benefits that flow from a diverse student body. Conclusion The problems with the levels of African American education are deep rooted and require a lot of work and dedicated effort. A twofold strategy is needed to fully address this issue. First of all mass media should be used to press the cause of African American education. It should be made clear to all Americans that only an educated African American would become a constructive part of society. Therefore in order to improve the society as a whole it is very important to take all measure necessary to improve education in African Americans. This public support should than be used to improve the legal ground work in favor of education initiatives. On the second front the importance of education should be preached to Africa Americans and they should be given monetary rewards to pursue it. These could include college fees, part time job offers etc. Only such rigorous initiatives would ensure that African American get equal education opportunities. The initiatives being taken until now have not been enough to address this very important issue. The African Americans have proved than and again that they are not inferior in any mode of education if given the opportunity. Therefore if equal higher education opportunities are given to African American they would excel and contribute a great deal to the American Society. Read More