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Equity & Diversity Opinion

My Problem with the Schott Foundation Report

By Richard Whitmire — August 17, 2010 1 min read
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Don’t get me wrong. I admire the foundation and applaud the work they do on behalf of black males. But when their latest report came out I immediately looked for their explanation for why black females fare so much better than black males. I examined the press release -- no mention, only comparisons to white males. Then I read the Education Week story. The same. Not only were there no explanations, there weren’t numbers comparing black male/female graduation rates.

At that point I called up the full report and began scanning. Nothing. Thinking I was missing something I entered “female” into the search function and got ... nothing. All the comparisons were to white males. Those comparisons, I would argue, are important and relevant, but equally important and relevant are the gender comparisons within race. That’s where half this puzzle lies, which is why it can’t be avoided.

When you have twice as many black females as males graduating from college ... it’s very relevant.

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