In high school now, at Madison Memorial, I see this achievement gap more clearly than ever. Where are all the minority students in my advanced placement classes? Or more specifically, where are all the black students? In my advanced classes I can count them on one hand. And of these students, most are from middle to upper class families. Their parents have degrees of some sort, and their parents have pushed education—just as my parents encouraged me.
This leads me to ask, “What happens to all the kids whose parents don’t have degrees and who aren’t pushed to learn?” It seems to me that in a lot of these cases, they get trapped in the system, just like the two boys who fought at my school. And do teachers and administrations really know how to help them? It surprises me that we are taught history, math, science, and English but we are never given answers to some of the more difficult questions. The questions that deal with our society and our lives as young people growing up.
What does all of this mean for the African American youth who are struggling? How will they advance in school, and what’s more, in society?
One thought on “The Gap According to Black”
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Are the number of minorities in your class proportional to the # of minorities in Madison? For example if Madison’s minority population is 15% then you would expect less than 15% of the advanced placement class to be minority students. How many low income students are in your advanced classes? Are they represented?
So, are we talking racial or economic?
To address economic differences I believe that 4 y old k-garten would help lessen the bias that you see in your advanced placement classes. We have to invest early in our children’s education not wait until middle or high school to try and level the playing field.