The University of Memphis is proof 50 years later society is moving forward, but based on the percentage of African-American student’s graduating on time, the stigmas preventing black students from seeking higher education in the past might be affecting them now.
Shortly after Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated, the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders, under the orders of President Lyndon B. Johnson, released a report stating, “Our nation is moving toward two societies, one black, one white — separate and unequal.”
The University of Memphis has a 28 percent graduation rate, and of the 28 percent of students who graduate in four years, 35 percent of graduates are white and 16 percent are African-American.
Eddie Yancey, a learning specialist at the University of Memphis, said the majority of African-American students are not prepared before entering college.
“Most African-American students are not well, nor fairly, informed as to what they are getting into when deciding to attend college,” Yancey said.
African-American students are the largest minority group on campus and compose 37.8 percent of the university’s student body but are the lowest number of all racial groups on campus to graduate in four years.
“The 'lack of truth and reality' are often conveyed to this community,” Yancey said. “Very few people share with this population (African-Americans) that every year they 'play around' in school will cost them a massive debt.”
The focus on closing the achievement gap in schools with the No Child Left Behind Act, a program designed to aid minority students and students in poverty and an increase in standardized testing was intended to provide a way for children who were behind to catch up. With 36 schools being shut down in the past three years in predominately black neighborhoods, many students do not see higher education as a obtainable goal.
Another contributing factor to a decrease in black students graduating on time or enrolling at a higher education institution is the cost of college is constantly increasing. As public colleges become more expensive, it has become harder for low-income students to finish a degree. Courses can be costly depending on the amount of hours a student is taking, and the added cost of living on campus or commuting can be overwhelming.
In 1968, black people were not permitted to go to the same public institutions as white people, and 50 years later, the systemic measures set in place then have made it almost impossible for black people to succeed now. A majority of jobs today require its applicants to have some post-secondary education.
While black people are better off in terms than they were in the 1960s, they are still disadvantaged in comparison to whites. If black students are not graduating on time or at all, then they have less of a shot at competing in a job market that is starting to require a degree from a secondary education.
