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July 27, 2012 10:00 AM
On the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for African-Americans
Earlier this week, at the Urban League’s annual convention, President Barack Obama announced a special program designed to improve the education achievement of black students. The initiative is a little vague, however.
According to a piece by Kristen Welker at NBC News:
The president told the largely African American crowd of roughly 3,700 people that the executive order will seek to improve educational achievement for African Americans at all levels “so every child has greater access to a complete and competitive education from the time they’re born to the time, all through the time they get a career” the president said to cheers.
The official added that the initiative would be housed in the Education Department, which will work with the Executive Office and other Cabinet agencies to identify practices that will improve African Americans’ achievement in schools and colleges. The administration official did not yet know how much funding the program would receive but said more information would be released Thursday when the president signs the executive order.
This comes as Obama, nearing a close race with Mitt Romney, is eager to shore up black support. What the initiative will actually do, however, remains a little unclear.
Are there really any practices that will improve African Americans’ achievement in schools and colleges exclusively?
Wouldn’t any practices that improve African Americans’ achievement in schools and colleges also work pretty effectively with all other students?
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Roger Clegg, Ctr for Equal Opportunity on July 27, 2012 11:22 AM:
Excellent points, Daniel.
It is a bad idea for the president to set up a new bureaucracy with a focus on one particular racial group, to the exclusion of all others. As the NBC (!) news story [link: http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/07/25/12955941-obama-announces-new-education-program-focused-on-african-americans ] pointed out, up to now President Obama has often resisted this sort of blacks-only program (though he has supported other kinds of racial preferences and race-based policies [link: as you may know]): “In an interview on BET last September he answered a question about why he didn’t create more policies specifically targeted at African Americans: ‘That’s not how America works,’ the president replied, ‘America works when all of us are pulling together and everybody is focused on making sure that every single person has opportunity.’” But apparently election-year pressures to pander to his base have gotten too strong.
The executive order and the accompanying statement are also silent on the main reason for racial disparities in educational outcomes: More than 7 out of 10 African Americans (72.5 percent) are born out of wedlock. This is also the reason for related disparities, like those in crime and school-discipline rates; the executive order mentions those disparities, but makes it sound like they are unconnected with disparities in behavior. Of course, this is not true. A disproportionate share of crimes are committed by African Americans, and they are disproportionately likely to misbehave in school. Again, these problems are all rooted in the fact that so many African Americans are being raised in a single-mom homes without a father. The president should be focusing on this problem – which is worst among African Americans but is an increasing problem for all racial and ethnic groups – instead of setting up a new bureaucracy with a racially exclusive agenda.
Alan Rhoads on July 27, 2012 1:07 PM:
I agree. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., perhaps the foremost activist in the push for equal rights amongst all peoples in America did once say, "Judge a man by the content of his character, not by the color of his skin." Creating a "black only" program is totally contradicting at least Dr. King's view on racism and equality. There's no doubt there needs to be more initiatives to develop more peace and non-violence, harmony, progress and prosperity, intelligence, character and just social order within predominately non-caucasion communities- however, this educational policy, like affirmative action, just further affirms racism. If the African-American community truly wants to progress, it starts with the men developing the merits by which we as AMERICANS value and seek to develop- work ethic, determination, intelligence and character. Two of these attributes- intelligence and character, are what Dr. Martin Luther King also said "is the true goal of education."