A few days ago I posted about an article referencing the Schott Foundation Yes We Can report, which outlined the horrible high school graduation rates for black males in the country. Since that post, I have downloaded the report, and have continued to be saddened by our failure with the graduation of black males. Also, as I reviewed the report, it became obvious that Indianapolis Public Schools is second to Detroit Public Schools in having the overall lowest rate of male, (black and white) high school graduations. Detroit graduates 27% of black male students and 19% of white male students. Indianapolis graduates 36% of black males and 26% of white males. In fact, while states have much higher rates of graduation for white males than black males, the urban picture is one of schools that can't graduate males of either race.
While the report makes an incredible case that we under invest in black males across the board, another obvious conclusion is that many of the urban school districts do an abysmal job of graduating males, period. Only one urban area, Newark New Jersey graduates as high as 75% of its black male students.
One interesting part of the study is Fort Bend Indiana. It has pretty good numbers, but I can't figure out if it is Fort Wayne Indiana, or Fort Bend County Texas. If it is Indiana, then the contrast between Fort Wayne and Indianapolis is striking.
The authors draw their conclusions, and I would like to see the graduation rates for black and white females added to the report. It is a wakeup call for many of us. In an economy in which 60% of the jobs require post secondary education, and almost all of the ones that support a middle class standard of living are included in that list, we can't afford this problem. Of more importance we don't need to have over 50% of the males in our urban areas unable to enjoy their lives, support their families and contribute to our cities.
