<p>“this article is discouraging and doesn’t offer any solution. If it leads to giving up, then what good does that do?”</p>
<p>It helps us understand what’s going on in the world. Lots of problems don’t have solutions at present. I still want newspapers to cover stories about ISIS, breast cancer, etc. even if there isn’t any solution to share.</p>
<p>Adding these statistics from the Department of Education to the article could have provided some explanation.<a href=“New Data Shows a Wide Racial Disparity in the GPAs of College Graduates : The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education”>http://www.jbhe.com/2012/11/new-data-shows-a-wide-racial-disparity-in-the-gpas-of-college-graduates/</a></p>
<p>New data from the U.S. Department of Education shows a wide racial disparity in the grade point averages of bachelor’s degree recipients. The data shows grades for students who earned their degrees during the 2007-08 academic year.</p>
<p>Some 75 percent of all White bachelor degree recipients had a grade point average of 3.0 or higher. For Blacks, 55.3 percent of all graduates had a grade point average of 3.0 or higher. Whites were more than twice as likely as Blacks to graduate with grade point averages better than 3.5. Two out of every five White graduates but less than one in five Black graduates achieved a GPA greater than 3.5.</p>
<p>Blacks were nearly three times as likely as Whites to graduate with a GPA of less than 2.5. Some 14.5 percent of Black graduates and 5.5 percent of White graduates had a GPA of less than 2.5.</p>
<p>As others have said, a lot of factors are in play, in addition to racism. A major one is socioeconomic status (SES). This determines how prepared students are for college, how well they do (GPA), their ability to network, and even what colleges they attend (or complete).</p>
<p>Some minorities have lower grades than whites, and some minorities have higher gpas…its almost like there is a program that pushes some minorities into colleges where they will be at the lower end of the academic range of accepted students, and other the same program might have the unintended consequence of putting other minorities in the top end of admitted students…nah, that would never happen.</p>
<p>The media plays a part in both shaping and reflecting social times, and the entertainment industry plays a large role in creating and shaping people’s perceptions. The 60’s was a time of social change as well as questioning and breaking down barriers, not just about race, but gender and other ideas at the time. </p>
<p>By casting Poitier as superstars, Hollywood exposed the flaws of discrimination. The message of “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” highlighted this, and Poitier portraying a superstar man drove that message home. It is unfortunate if it resulted in people feeling that one had to be a superstar to succeed. I don’t think this is the only area where Hollywood has played with images in order to challenge people’s ideas. Archie Bunker’s character was made to be ridiculous in order to show his ideas as ridiculous. It would have been inefective to portray him as someone admirable. </p>
<p>Poitier played superstar roles, but he could not have realistically pulled them off if he, himself, was not a superb actor. It was not just the roles that Potier played, but his excellence as an actor that resulted in him being a change in the world.</p>
<p>One message that prevailed in the 60’s was that change is possible, which is why I still hope for solutions when reading disappointing news.</p>
<p>Thank you Pennylane for describing the context superbly. Marie, it’s a perspective you would do well to think about more critically, which might resolve your confusion in this and other matters regarding race.</p>
<p>Confused is about the last thing I am on issues of race. You may disagree with something I said somewhere although specifically what I’m not sure. But, I am definitely not the least bit confused on this issue. That’s actually amusing. I think Pennylane may be overthinking but I don’t disagree with anything in that post, although what it has to do with college grads in 2015 in another question. If the answer is that change is possible again no disagreement. Of course, if the problem has more to do with schools and scores that’s another story altogether. Personally, I think success and failure are generally much more individual and not really a group thing, whatever the group.</p>
<p><a href=“Employers' Replies to Racial Names | NBER”>http://www.nber.org/digest/sep03/w9873.html</a></p>
<p>Lots of studies have demonstrated that old fashion racism is at the core.</p>
<p>The big secret is that most white people WANT blacks to succeed, they don’t like poverty and unemployment, and they try extra hard to give them them respect and opportunities. You think white teachers discriminate against black students? If anything, they are more patient and more helpful than with white students. I’ve taught at four colleges for over 20 years…an anti-black professor wouldn’t be tolerated for 5 minutes.</p>
<p>^^^
I absolutely agree!</p>
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<p>While I can understand that having a “white-sounding-name” can be a benefit, I don’t think that simply having an ethnic-sounding name is a serious drawback. I wonder if having a name that sounds ridiculously made-up is the problem. I was a little shocked to see the name tag of a very helpful salesperson. What were her parents thinking! Her name was Turkeysha. Seriously! Who puts Turkey in a girl’s name! What next? Pigesha? Horsesha? This has nothing to do with one’s heritage, and it makes these children vulnerable to teasing…imagine what dear Turkeysha heard on the playground…particularly around Thanksgiving. There are plenty of authentic ethnic names; why make up something that is just an albatross?</p>
<p>That said, it’s not the person’s fault when his/her parents give them a made-up name, and the person’s employability should not be harmed. (remember the poor girl whose parents named her: “Talula does the Hula from Hawaii” (yes! She was in New Zealand and the courts allowed her to change her name at age 9) again…what were her parents thinking!!</p>
<p>Anyway, I don’t think that the current crop of 40-50 year olds that are doing most of the hiring these days are racist folks who don’t want to hire a URM. I agree with the sentiment that no one wants minorities to be living in poverty or unemployed. </p>
<p>I read this article when it first appeared in NYT earlier in the week. The first gentleman, I believe his name was William? That’s pretty normal if you ask me! </p>
<ol>
<li><p>I do believe that names can be a hinderance. I have always hated my name( the name of a country). DDs name is not one that you would expect at all. We purposefully gave her a name that would never be an issue when it came to hiring. Unfortunately, it became too popular & there are too many “Alice’s” on her college campus.</p></li>
<li><p>Growing up in the 70s/80s, we were always told that we had to jump higher, sing louder, worker harder…just to be on the same level as whites. As we will always be scrutinized harder on all fronts. Perfection is not an option! It was drilled into our heads.</p></li>
<li><p>I have family members/friends children who have graduated from HBCUs. They are all employed. One cousin grew up in Maryland/D.C. area, graduated from A&T, relocated to Iowa for his first job. He hated it, but stuck it out and has since moved back to MD and is employed as an engineer. His wife is also an A&T grad. She too is gainfully employed. Another set of younger cousins are also A&T grads, one is working in the fashion industry in NYC and another is a teacher. </p></li>
</ol>
<p>Marie1234 said, regarding Hollywood’s depiction of black characters;
“And, yeah the movie star stuff from the 60’s left me somewhat baffled, too.” </p>
<p>But also said this; “Confused is about the last thing I am on issues of race.”</p>
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<p>Individuals may, but there is a lot of institutionalized racism in many metropolitan areas with a large divide between blacks’ and whites’ achievement. Milwaukee is a perfect example of this. Defunding urban schools, greatly reducing or eliminating public transportation from the city center to the suburbs where the jobs (and white people with cars) are, cutting community health services–all while applying laws in a discriminatory fashion (i.e., arrest rates of blacks vs. whites for minor drug offenses)–it’s hard to believe everyone has the same “best interests” in mind sometimes.</p>
<p>My point there was this is not the 1960’s. But I do concede there are people who seem to want a rerun. </p>
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<p>But it <em>is</em>!</p>
<p>Right. Which is why I am a strong advocate for conventional or at least spellable/pronounceable names, whatever the person’s race. </p>
<p>Some good points Sally re transportation and health services. Bottom line is there are reasons.to fail if you look for them. But the idea that success is impossible clashes with the evidence. Even community colleges have huge financial aid programs. Teachers are often willing to bend over backwards to help the less fortunate of all races, but are fighting the anti-success messages of rap.music the the vile “you’re not black enough” crowd. Teachers will stay late and offer extra help, but they aren’t going to drag students out of bed and force them to go to class. </p>
<p>I never understood the complaint about overly harsh treatment for drug offenses. Thank goodness someone cares enough to stand up to drug use and provide a disincentive. If you don’t like unfair punishment, stop using drugs!!</p>
<p>I discount the unusual names explanation. In California, there are so many unusual names that are difficult to pronounce and spell unless they are from your particular heritage. D has several friends named Thuy. Easy to pronounce when you know how but hard to figure out just from phonetics. </p>
<p>I tend to think that it’s the lower grades that set the mass of black college graduates apart. If more black job candidates have lower grades, no honors on the diploma, or come from less well known or highly regarded colleges and universities, then yes, they are going to find it more difficult to get employment in their field. Employers may even make allowances for the lower grades for black candidates like graduate and professional schools do. But there are limits. For example, blacks pass the bar at lower rates than whites which is an absolute ‘bar’ to practicing law. I have no idea why this is, but the poorer showing in colleges is an explanation.</p>
<p>Sally, if a person’s parent chose a name that was meaningful to him or her and didn’t live the kind of life to understand that their grown child might be at a career disadvantage with that name, should the adult be penalized? Should the adult need to change his or her name from the one given by his or her parent(s)? I don’t think so. It is an injustice, imho.</p>