When Barack Obama was elected as POTUS in 2008, I was sure we would see an uptick in academic improvement amongst African American males. I was sure that pride amongst young African American boys would swell, and we would see a new generation of black leaders, academics and professionals pursuing excellence after witnessing the historical election of the nation’s first African-American president.
Instead, what statistics show, and what I have personally witnessed is a continuing decline in leadership and achievement in school amongst African-American males. In some cases there is a flat out disdain for education and being perceived as a smart in school. When I was in school it was a badge of honor to get good grades. Now many of our boys are dumbing themselves down to fit in. I don’t know when this trend started, but it has to stop now.
A 2014 article on statistics of black males in the classroom reports only 54 percent of African Americans graduate from high school compared to 75 percent of their Caucasian and Asian peers. Many of these African-American males are from single parent homes, and do not have fathers in their lives.
Countless African American boys in this country are being raised by women who are doing the very best they can, but face tough challenges especially when a boy becomes a teenager. Some mothers coddle their sons to the point where their sons can’t function in society. Some of these young men feel entitled, and they feel like everything should be done for them. If you are doing everything for, and making excuses for your son stop it now. You are not helping him by doing this. People in the real word expect him to act like, and will treat him like a man, not like you have been treating him at home.