<p>Sure, white students probably are just as likely as black students not to do the work. My point was that people tend to assume that when blacks drop out of college that it was due to their not being academically prepared, and that affirmative action caused the students to be admitted to colleges where they were over their heads academically.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, I have seen research indicating that finances is the reason that there is a disproportionate number of black drop-outs. Black people tend to be poorer than are whites, and so for many black students, being in college is more of an economic struggle than it is for many white students.</p>
<p>When it comes to the blacks whom I know who dropped out of college, some were like my son -- very highly prepared middle class or even wealthy, but simply lazy or immature. It wasn't the college's fault that they dropped out. I have seen this far more frequently with black males than females. For reasons still not yet discovered, black males have a very high drop out rate from high school and college. Black females are far more successful than are black males even if they have kids while in high school or college.</p>
<p>Some of the black students whom I saw drop out, were poor and had to leave school because they couldn't afford to continue and the colleges did not have the resources to give them the financial aid that they needed. I literally knew students who were in college fulltime while working and sending $ home to help support their parents or siblings, and I knew students who were selling blood to pay the bills.</p>
<p>"Also I am speaking to exactly what you are saying (about the students graduating from second tier and then going to first tier grad schools), ie about students in general going to where their comfort level is highest, and then transferring "up" to a higher-ranked school if desired. "</p>
<p>In some cases, through no fault of their own, the students didn't have the scores to get into the first tier schools. The students' very low scores were a reflection of their subtandard elementary and secondary schools, not of their intelligence.</p>
<p>Once in an environment in which they could learn up to their capabilities, the students excelled, and then got the scores to get into first tier grad schools, where they did very well because they always had the intelligence to succeed in those kind of environments. It wasn't a matter of confidence: It was a matter of lack of good skills due to being taught by incompetent or inadequate teachers. </p>
<p>The schools where low income students predominate are likely to have high numbers of uncertified teachers and teachers who may be certified, but lack the certification to teach the courses they're in.</p>