“The high school graduation rate for African American students in New Jersey eclipsed 80 percent for the first time in 2015, according to state data. But a new study released Tuesday found that African American students headed to college are likely to end up in some of the lowest-paying college majors.” …
Interesting comments after the article.
http://www.nj.com/education/2016/02/african_americans_often_pick_low-paying_college_ma.html#comments
Many African Americans are coming from families in which they are the first to attend college. Not just the first in their immediate family, but the first in their entire family. There’s little institutional knowledge about college to pass down. The attitude is often - well, you’re going to college, so clearly you are going to make a lot of money anyway!
And honestly, they’re not wrong when we do relative comparisons. I’m black, and when I was growing up my entire family of five was raised on a salary of around $40-50K, which was what my dad brought in as a bus driver for the New York city bus service. And we were better off than many in my working-class community Starting out making $46,000 as a health administrator or $41,000 as a social worker sounds really good if your mom makes $28,000 as a certified nursing assistant or your dad makes $37,000 as a carpenter. When I went to college the idea of making $50,000 by myself, as a single person, sounded like more money than I knew what to do with. (No, not all African Americans are lower-income, but class and race are related and intersectional.)
I envisioned myself in the careers that I saw around me (secretary, paralegal, teacher perhaps). I never envisioned myself as a professor or a researcher because my only reference for that group were white men. Engineers and scientists, too. I had no idea what software developers or IT specialists or clinical laboratory scientists could make; I didn’t even know some of those careers existed. Even most of the prominent or wealthy black people I knew about were not scientists: they were lawyers, doctors, maybe business professionals.
And now? I work in tech. There are very few black people here. Understandably so, not lots of black people want to work in environments with very few people who look like them. There’s a fear that you won’t be understood, that you will face discrimination, that you’ll have to be the representative of your race on a daily basis. I work at Microsoft and I am the only black person on my team, and one of the few people of color. There are also typically no black people on the product teams I work with, so I am usually the only black person in the room during a meeting…even large meetings. And if I am not, often the other person of color is in a non-technical role at the company (which there’s nothing wrong with, IMO, just pointing it out).
That goes for the city you live in, too - San Francisco is about 6% black, and Seattle is about 8% black. I have a few black friends in Seattle and we joke all the time about doing a double take when you pass someone black in the street. Personally, it typically doesn’t bother me and it’s a change I was willing to make to take the high compensation, flexibility, and job satisfaction of working in the tech industry. And I love Seattle! But one of the most common remarks I got from other black friends before I moved here (from New York) was “You moving to Seattle? But there are no black people there.” Some people don’t want to move to a place where they’re going to be the only one, and a very visible only one at that. That’s especially true for some of my black female friends who are still single and looking for romantic partners.
I guess this study is not surprising. A lot of youth is taught to go for whatever they’ll enjoy; “it’s not about the money!”. I feel like some teachers/ parents are afraid to emphasize that one should choose their favorite among majors that at least make decent money ($50,000 on average, at least $40,000 to start) Because the reality is that it IS somewhat about the money. And I’ve learned this from observing my parents; although I’m struggling now, I was nowhere near poor as a child. My parents although a bit excessive at times, really taught me that the only way to make it is to find somewhat of a happy medium between income potential and interests.
Anyway, I’m African American and will be a nursing major this fall. I hope to attend grad school for nursing no more than 3 years after I finish my under grad degree.
Isn’t there a whole different thread on this already?