The Black Gender Gap in the Classroom By Caille Millner
Date : 05-28-1999 article from CAMPUS DISPATCH
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CAMBRIDGE- At 19, I'm too young to be worried about my biological clock. Yet, like many educated black women, I've already had to face the fact that I might not have to think about about Pampers and formula. That I won't be reading Working Mother and picking up the kids from soccer practice. That I won't have to wonder if they're eating the right foods and making the right friends, because, quite frankly, I may not be having any children.
No offense to the many strong black women who have raised wonderful children by themselves, but I'd like my children to have two parents in the home. I want to be married before I have children. And that, my friends, is a big "if."
Gradually, I'm realizing that the issue of the endangered black male is knocking at my doorstep. There really aren't enough black men to go around-in college or in the professional world-for the great numbers of well-educated professional black women who simply want to get married and have children like everyone else. According to The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education, black women currently make up 62 percent of all blacks enrolled in higher education. Black women account for 75 percent of the black enrollment gains in the past 15 years. That means that on almost any college campus, you can expect to see a huge gender gap among black students-usually about 3:2 in favor of women, but sometimes as large as 4:1.
While these statistics should be applauded for some reasons-it's good that black women are making academic and professional progress-they present a huge problem on another level. Of course, it is elitist to presume that these black women have to date and marry black men with comparable degrees and salary levels. Too many of us fall into the trap of wanting Superman-the man with the looks, the money, the title, and all sorts of other trappings that don't guarantee happiness. The man with the blue-collar job may make a woman just as happy-but it's only natural to look for someone with your interests and background.
And while I'm here at Harvard University, my social group consists of the men who are here. I've tried to avoid falling into the trap of believing that I have to meet my husband here, but I can't help thinking the odds don't look good. I've spent many an hour with groups of beautiful, successful black women as we tear our hair out in fear that we'll wind up in Waiting to Exhale: the Next Generation.
"I noticed it right away when I got here,"' said Alisha Alleyne, 19, a sophomore. "It's been . . . well, problematic.
I think the men tend to exploit their advantage."
The dearth of black men does have some black women wondering about dating white men, but fewer black women date interracially than do black men. Perhaps that's not surprising given that, historically, black women and white men don't have the healthiest relationship. When I dated a white man, I kept having fever dreams about white slaveowners taking advantage of black women and treating them like exotic fetish objects. No wonder that relationship ended.
"For me, dating white men is not an option," said Alleyne. "Being black in America, you just go through so much, and you don't need certain things about your life to be questioned. I have to have someone who can understand the importance of what I'm going through in this society."
But while the gender gap has my sisters and me sweating over our romantic futures, our social lives are not really the big deal here. What matters most is what's going on with black men. Why aren't they getting to college in the same numbers as black women? And how is this affecting the way the black community operates as a whole?
There are many theories as to why black men don't achieve at the same rate as black women. There's the "Hoop Dreams" explanation: Black men think the only way to get recognition in a racist society is to play the designated roles of athlete or entertainer. This route doesn't require formal education, but it only allows for a few superstars.
There's also the theory that, historically, black women have had more access to the white mainstream-if only through their work as maids, nannies, cooks and housekeepers in white houses. Black men tended to work in fields and factories where they had little close contact with whites, and what contact they had was strictly authoritarian. This extends into the arena of higher education, as men view school as another agent of authority designed to keep them down, while women find it easier to move into the mainstream.
The fact that many teachers, from grade school on, send black boys to the principal's office more often than white children or black girls, discourage them from speaking out in class, and generally make them feel academically inferior does nothing to encourage black boys to achieve academically.
A related theory contends that some black men see the pursuit of education as a kind of cultural betrayal-"selling out" and "acting white." "The peer pressure is definitely there," said a sophomore, 19, who went to a majority white private school in Chicago. But being associated with an elite prep school during school hours didn't insulate him from outsiders' assumptions that he wasn't bright." I still had to face society's expectations at three o' clock. The only thing that assisted me was that I had a high quality education and was surrounded by people who shared my motivations."
"A lot of my friends, even the ones who had more money than I did, weren't all that interested in school," said the sophmore. "They weren't motivated and didn't get much motivation from their parents and their school. It can happen to a lot of black men. I really wish them the best, but I'm afraid about their chances."
Most people believe that the combination of these explanations, mixed with a lethal dose of American racism, is more than enough to keep black men out of college. But the lack of black men in higher education has dire effects for all of us. Where will the black male role models come from? How will the black community continue to function without black male support?
And last but certainly not least, what are all these single black women going to do?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
YO! (Youth Outlook), 660 Market Street, Room 210, San Francisco, CA 94104, tel: (415) 438-4755.
WWW:
Email:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CAMBRIDGE- At 19, I'm too young to be worried about my biological clock. Yet, like many educated black women, I've already had to face the fact that I might not have to think about about Pampers and formula. That I won't be reading Working Mother and picking up the kids from soccer practice. That I won't have to wonder if they're eating the right foods and making the right friends, because, quite frankly, I may not be having any children.
No offense to the many strong black women who have raised wonderful children by themselves, but I'd like my children to have two parents in the home. I want to be married before I have children. And that, my friends, is a big "if."
Gradually, I'm realizing that the issue of the endangered black male is knocking at my doorstep. There really aren't enough black men to go around-in college or in the professional world-for the great numbers of well-educated professional black women who simply want to get married and have children like everyone else. According to The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education, black women currently make up 62 percent of all blacks enrolled in higher education. Black women account for 75 percent of the black enrollment gains in the past 15 years. That means that on almost any college campus, you can expect to see a huge gender gap among black students-usually about 3:2 in favor of women, but sometimes as large as 4:1.
While these statistics should be applauded for some reasons-it's good that black women are making academic and professional progress-they present a huge problem on another level. Of course, it is elitist to presume that these black women have to date and marry black men with comparable degrees and salary levels. Too many of us fall into the trap of wanting Superman-the man with the looks, the money, the title, and all sorts of other trappings that don't guarantee happiness. The man with the blue-collar job may make a woman just as happy-but it's only natural to look for someone with your interests and background.
And while I'm here at Harvard University, my social group consists of the men who are here. I've tried to avoid falling into the trap of believing that I have to meet my husband here, but I can't help thinking the odds don't look good. I've spent many an hour with groups of beautiful, successful black women as we tear our hair out in fear that we'll wind up in Waiting to Exhale: the Next Generation.
"I noticed it right away when I got here,"' said Alisha Alleyne, 19, a sophomore. "It's been . . . well, problematic.
I think the men tend to exploit their advantage."
The dearth of black men does have some black women wondering about dating white men, but fewer black women date interracially than do black men. Perhaps that's not surprising given that, historically, black women and white men don't have the healthiest relationship. When I dated a white man, I kept having fever dreams about white slaveowners taking advantage of black women and treating them like exotic fetish objects. No wonder that relationship ended.
"For me, dating white men is not an option," said Alleyne. "Being black in America, you just go through so much, and you don't need certain things about your life to be questioned. I have to have someone who can understand the importance of what I'm going through in this society."
But while the gender gap has my sisters and me sweating over our romantic futures, our social lives are not really the big deal here. What matters most is what's going on with black men. Why aren't they getting to college in the same numbers as black women? And how is this affecting the way the black community operates as a whole?
There are many theories as to why black men don't achieve at the same rate as black women. There's the "Hoop Dreams" explanation: Black men think the only way to get recognition in a racist society is to play the designated roles of athlete or entertainer. This route doesn't require formal education, but it only allows for a few superstars.
There's also the theory that, historically, black women have had more access to the white mainstream-if only through their work as maids, nannies, cooks and housekeepers in white houses. Black men tended to work in fields and factories where they had little close contact with whites, and what contact they had was strictly authoritarian. This extends into the arena of higher education, as men view school as another agent of authority designed to keep them down, while women find it easier to move into the mainstream.
The fact that many teachers, from grade school on, send black boys to the principal's office more often than white children or black girls, discourage them from speaking out in class, and generally make them feel academically inferior does nothing to encourage black boys to achieve academically.
A related theory contends that some black men see the pursuit of education as a kind of cultural betrayal-"selling out" and "acting white." "The peer pressure is definitely there," said a sophomore, 19, who went to a majority white private school in Chicago. But being associated with an elite prep school during school hours didn't insulate him from outsiders' assumptions that he wasn't bright." I still had to face society's expectations at three o' clock. The only thing that assisted me was that I had a high quality education and was surrounded by people who shared my motivations."
"A lot of my friends, even the ones who had more money than I did, weren't all that interested in school," said the sophmore. "They weren't motivated and didn't get much motivation from their parents and their school. It can happen to a lot of black men. I really wish them the best, but I'm afraid about their chances."
Most people believe that the combination of these explanations, mixed with a lethal dose of American racism, is more than enough to keep black men out of college. But the lack of black men in higher education has dire effects for all of us. Where will the black male role models come from? How will the black community continue to function without black male support?
And last but certainly not least, what are all these single black women going to do?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
YO! (Youth Outlook), 660 Market Street, Room 210, San Francisco, CA 94104, tel: (415) 438-4755.
WWW:
Email:
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