Problems Growing For Poorly Educated Black Men

New York, USA, March 31, 2006 – Poorly educated black men are becoming more disconnected from the mainstream society and the trend may worsen, according to a report in The New York Times.

New studies coming out of Columbia, Princeton, Harvard and other institutions show that employment and education statistics do not tell the whole story of what is happening to black men. According to the studies, high-school diplomas are the exception among young, poorly educated black men, and prison is almost routine, with incarceration rates climbing for blacks even as urban crime rates have declined, the newspaper reports.

Although the problems afflicting poor black men have been known for decades, the new data paint a more extensive and sobering picture of the challenges they face.

"There's something very different happening with young black men, and it's something we can no longer ignore," says Ronald B. Mincy, professor of social work at Columbia University and editor of the report "Black Males Left Behind."

"Over the last two decades, the economy did great and low-skilled women, helped by public policy, latched onto it. But young black men were falling farther back."

Many of the new studies look at the plight of black men, particularly when it comes to determining the scope of joblessness.  

"If you look at the numbers, the 1990's was a bad decade for young black men, even though it had the best labor market in 30 years," says Harry J. Holzer, an economist at Georgetown University and coauthor of the report "Reconnecting Disadvantaged Young Men."

Studies have shown that many of the negative trends are associated with poor schooling, and progress has been slight in recent years. Federal data tend to understate dropout rates among the poor, in part because imprisoned youths are not counted. New studies, however, show that within inner cities across the country, more than half of all black men still do not finish high school, says Gary Orfield, an education expert at Harvard and editor of a report entitled "Dropouts in America."

"We're pumping out boys with no honest alternative," says Orfield, "and of course their neighborhoods offer many other alternatives."

Data from many of the new studies show also that dropout rates for Latino youths are as bad or worse but are not associated with nearly as much unemployment or crime.   

Quote of the Day:

"There's something very different happening with young black men, and it's something we can no longer ignore. Over the last two decades, the economy did great and low-skilled women, helped by public policy, latched onto it. But young black men were falling farther back."  

Ronald B. Mincy, professor of social work at Columbia University, on the plight of black men today. The New York Times, March 20.

Source: DiversityInc

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