The rise in the African Americans inequality in education can be attributed to the lower parental education status for the African Americans; thus, leaving them without same education opportunities as the whites in United States. Children from African American families have lower educational expectations compared to those from White American families because their parents are less educated as compared to their white counterparts. As a result of their low educations status, parents of African American origin set very low educational expectations for their children. The low level of education of the parents of African American origin plays a major role in the African American inequality in education because it contributes to the low educational expectations set by their children, low positive attitudes towards education, and less communication between parents and children about the progress in schools (Spring 133). The disparity in education between the African American children and the white children is clearly evident at the age of two years. This is because at this crucial age for child development, very few African American children have the basic learning skills, such as vocabulary, counting, simple math and knowledge of colors, numbers and different shapes. The children of African American origin lack the necessary support from their lowly educated parents and other siblings in some activities, such as helping them in learning the basic educational skills before joining kindergarten. The lack of proper educational background for the children from African American families causes them to be held back in many classes as compared to the white children; thus, affecting their academic and social life posing the danger of dropping out of school (Spring 137).
The increasing levels of African American inequality in education should be a great concern for all the education stakeholders in United States. Therefore, effort should be made to come up with reliable solutions for solving this stalemate, which affects the performance of the African Americans in the United States. One of the main possible solutions for the problem is taking necessary measures to expand the affirmative action in the college admissions for African Americans. The expansion of the affirmative action in college admission for all schools in United States can serve as a long lasting solution to the problem of inequality in education for the different races in United States. The expansion process can incorporate the reforms of the criteria and procedures that are used in admission of students into colleges (Korgen 108). It would be a good move towards eliminating procedures that are discriminative and prevent the admission of students from particular races on the basis of setting differing academic qualifications. The expansion of the affirmative action will provide a preferential college admission for low income students who are qualified in different education levels. It will have a positive impact on the African American students admission in colleges as the affirmative action will be free from influence of racial backgrounds hence all the races will have equal chances in securing admission in colleges (Korgen 112). It will help increase the number of the African American students being admitted in colleges irrespective of their parent’s educational status or economic power to educate their children.
Another possible solution for dealing with the African American inequality in education is though sensitizing the parents on the importance of setting high educational standards for their children. The parents play a major role in determining the education progress of their children because they provide the initial academic background for their children when they are young. Therefore, measures should be taken to sensitize the parents on the need to encourage their children to work hard and provide the best education background for them. Parents can play a major role in promoting acquisition of quality education for their children regardless of their education level. This can be achieved through encouraging African American parents to present their children to the education systems at their tender age to ensure that they acquire a strong education background (Edwards, Patricia, Gwendolyn and Jennifer, 206). Upon giving the children from the African American families the same educational background as the white’s children, they will have the confidence and ability to compete accordingly with their counterparts up to the higher levels of learning. It will be a possible long lasting solution to the African American inequality in education experienced in the United States education systems. The parent’s sensitization process can also focus on educating them on the need to closely support their children in their endeavors to acquire education without ignoring them. The initiative can be attained through ensuring that the African American parents engage in constant communication with their children about their progress in school in order to keep check on any abnormal conduct of their children in school (Edwards, Patricia, Gwendolyn and Jennifer, 210). Children require close monitoring by their parents for them to be more serious in academics and attain the best.
Works Cited
Edwards, Patricia Ann, Gwendolyn Thompson McMillon, and Jennifer D. Turner. Change Is Gonna Come: Transforming Literacy Education for African American Students. New York: Teachers College Press, 2015. Print
Korgen, Kathleen O. Race Policy and Multiracial Americans. New York: Policy Press, 2016. Print.
Spring, Joel. American Education. London: Routledge, 2015. Print
