 |
 |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Dr. Pedro Noguera is a professor of education at Harvard University. This paper published in In Motion Magazine June 2, 1997.
This article is published by In Motion Magazine as a series of linked articles which can be downloaded in segments. All sections can be reached from this page, or readers can follow from one section to another. The portrait of Dr. Noguera is by freelance photographer Kathy Sloane (kataphoto@aol.com).
Other articles by Dr. Noguera.
Part 2
Dimensions of the Crisis and the Nature of the Response
There is now little disagreement that large numbers of individuals, who happen to be Black and male, face an inordinate number of problems and hardships which set them apart from the rest of the US population. The preponderance of evidence supporting such a conclusion is almost mind numbing. In the labor market, Black males earn on average 73% of the income earned by white males (Carnoy, 1994). In professional and managerial positions, Black males are vastly underrepresented, and in some fields (e.g. many high tech and science related jobs), are almost entirely absent (National Research Council, 1989). Numerous studies indicate that despite the existence of laws prohibiting discrimination in employment, Black males are widely regarded as less desirable employees and therefore are substantially less likely to be hired in most jobs (Massey and Denton, 1993; Hacker, 1992; Feagin and Sikes, 1994). In urban areas, unemployment rates for young Black males are often above 50% (Wilson, 1987), and many policy analysts now regard this group as a permanent underclass deeming them "unemployable" by virtue of their lack of skills and education (Tabb, 1970; Glassgow, 1980; Archuletta, 1983). At the aggregate level, disparities in income persist, so much so that it continues to be the case that the average Black male with a four year college degree earns less than the average white male possessing only a high school diploma (Hacker, 1992).
Health indicators for black males reveal similar hardships. For the last ten years, Black males have been the only group within the US. population to record a declining life expectancy (Spivak, et.al.,1988). The homicide rate for black males ages 15-24 is the highest for any segment of the US. population and seven to eight times higher than that of white males in the same age group (Roper, 1991). Moreover, since 1980, the suicide rate for this age group has surpassed the white male rate, and all indicators point to a sharp and continuous increase (West, 1992; National Research Council, 1989). Black males are also at greater risk of substance abuse, of dying during infancy, or dying prematurely due to heart disease, hyper tension, diabetes and AIDS.
Finally, where Blacks generally, and males in particular, once saw education as the most viable path to social mobility (Anderson, 1988), it now increasingly serves as a primary agent for reproducing their marginality. In most urban areas, 20-30% of Black males drop out of school prior to graduation (Taylor-Gibbs, 1988). Nationally, Black males are four times more likely than white males to be suspended or expelled from school, and nine times more likely to be placed in special education classes (Meier, et.al.,1989). From 1973 to 1977 there was a steady increase in Black male enrollment in college, from 39% to 48% of all high school graduates; for the first time equaling the graduation rate for whites. However, since 1977 there has been a sharp and precipitous decline in Black college enrollment which has disproportionately impacted males (National Research Council, 1989). Moreover, at colleges and universities throughout the U.S., fewer than 40% of the Black males admitted to college graduate within six years. Finally, for growing numbers of Black males prison rather than college is a more probable destination during adolescence and young adulthood. In 1995, one out of every three Black males (for white males the rate is 1 out of 10) between the ages of 18 and 30, were either incarcerated or in some way ensnared by the criminal justice system (Noguera, 1995). In California, the percentage recently increased to 40% (San Francisco Examiner, February 18, 1996).
Yet, despite the overwhelming evidence that Black males are confronted with an array of chronic problems, the notion these conditions constitute a crisis is problematic. First, the term crisis implies a deviation from a more stable norm. It suggest a period of temporary urgency, or even a short term emergency, and not a prolonged and persistent degenerative condition. Secondly, the term crisis also suggest that a better and more secure period preceded the present condition, and that once the crisis is over, conditions shall return to the former state, which even if not ideal, was clearly superior to the way things are at the moment.
For African American males in the US, there is no evidence indicating that present conditions are temporary, or that by some means presently unknown, there will eventually be an improvement. Not only are the problems which particularly afflict Black males persistent, but all signs indicate escalating rather than declining severity. Moreover, while data from various sources suggests that conditions for Black males may indeed be growing worse, the deterioration is of course measured in relation to prior conditions which most observers agree have been bad for a very long time. For example, while unemployment rates for Black males in the U.S. are higher now than they were thirty years ago (Wilson, 1982), the fact that Black males were almost exclusively restricted to the lowest paying and most menial jobs at that time, and that more have now entered professional and managerial positions, suggests at the minimum that measuring real or actual progress is difficult, at least on the basis of some relatively objective criteria.
Still, there is no doubt that severe problems exist for many individuals who are both Black and male. However, can we or should we conclude that these problems are primarily caused by or somehow related to the race and gender of those individuals who experience them? Or, is there lens other than one which fixates on personal attributes which can be used to understand and study these social issues? If so, why are these social problems measured and discussed primarily in terms of race and gender rather than by some other criteria? I will attempt to provide answers to these questions as I examine some of the responses to the "crisis" that have been developed in educational institutions.
