It is time to look at the graduation rate of our Black students. We need to know what will get them through the institution of higher education. An acceptance letter to a university does not ensure the Black student will receive that bachelor, master, or doctorate degree. Presently, the Federal Government has in place monies for institutions of higher education to help with support programs for Black students. Because of these efforts, Black students that need and want academic or professional counseling services can receive it. However, some of those programs are so out of touch culturally with what our Black students need.

For example, a Black student came to my office and said she was failing math. I asked her if she had been to the counseling center on campus to sign up for tutoring (to protect the identity of students and my colleagues pseudo names are used).

Sandra (student): “I went to the counseling center, but the graduate student said that they are not set up yet (the semester was three and half weeks in progress)… They will assign me to a small study group … I can’t work in a group … I need someone to work with me one on one.”

Having heard that response, I quickly set up tutoring for the student by connecting her to a Black colleague in another department. The department stated the student failed math last semester and is taking the course for the second time. There appears to be something wrong with that picture. Multiply modalities of teaching styles and awareness of student sensitivity are components that need to be a part of the equation for assisting Black students through universities’ academic maze.

The power for student acquisition of knowledge is a two-fold process. The professor has a responsibility to present subject-content in a manner that Black students, as well as, white students can comprehend. Likewise, students have a moral obligation to take some responsibility for their learning. Some students do not know how to ask for help; therefore, as professors we need to be able to recognize the gestures and cues that Black students sometimes send-out.

In another situation, I had a 27 year old Black male student named Ashton (pseudo name). Ashton grew up in foster homes and is a ward of the state. Ashton was in one of my foundation education classes. He always appeared to be “up-tight.” After I initiated a few conversations with him, I learned the cause of his apparent frustration.

Ashton (student): “I have been at this university for seven and a half years. I am not getting anywhere. I have changed my major twice, and it just seems that more courses are added to the requirements to graduate. My advisors seem to know less than me and the professors don’t seem to care. Just the other day, I went to see my psychology professor. She told me that she felt that my comment in class was radical. We were talking about opportunities in education. I just said that we get passed over and not out. I needed to pass her Education Psychology Class. I am staying at this university because I am too old to transfer somewhere else. I am a sophomore.”

Higher Education has a choice to help Black students, or see them flounder in a university world that is sometimes perceived by students as not “student friendly.”

Further, who can say that a HBCU or a white institution of learning provides a better nurturing environment for Black students to obtain a degree? The answer lies with the professors and their “Legitimate Commitment” is defined as one’s ability to look beyond self and see what the Black student needs to survive. No HBCU or white university will hold the same values or beliefs. Some universities will have a mission that articulates that the education climate and the quality of professors are essential components for student learning.

HBCU’s award more degrees to Black students than white universities because of their large enrollment of Black students. It should not be misconstrued that Black students are able to get the individual nurturing at Black universities and not at white universities. J. Landsman (2006) articulates:

“All it means is that the best professors never lose sight of their students potential. Good professors believe in the brilliance and ability of all their students” (p.27).
In addition, it is my contention that the awarding of a degree is connected to power and timing. W. Bennis and B. Nanus (1985) suggest that power is the basic energy to initiate and sustain action or, to put capacity to translate intention into reality and sustain it [the bachelor’s degree] (p.6). J. Pfeffer (1998) articulates that issues and events have the quality of ripeness-there is a time to act and a time to delay (p.244). Timing is everything.

Then, there was Affirmative Action saying loudly to give a Black person a chance for higher education and a “good” job. The message is clear that if opportunity should prevail for Black college students; then, it will have to be a professor/mentor pushing and pulling a brother or sister along. Finally, the professor/mentor is an educational “champion” who has the power to help. The person is a motivator to the Black college student and he/she can take advantage of all academic enabling conditions at his/her university.

Claudia Joplin Assistant Professor, University of Tennessee at Martin Doctorate from Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee. .

References:
B. Warren, and B. Nanus (1985). Leaders: The strategies for taking charge. New York: Harper & Row.
M.N. Cohen (1998, April). “Culture, not race, explains human diversity,” Chronicle of Higher Ed., B4-B5.
W.E.B. DuBois (1903). “The talented tenth.” In P. James (Ed), The Negro Problem: A Collection of articles by African Americans (n.p.). New York: James Potts.
S.T. Gladding (2002). Counseling a comprehension profession (5th). Merill Prentice Hall.
J.W. Guthrie and J.E. Koppich (1988). “Ready, a.i.m., reform: Building a model of Education reform and “high politics” (chapter 2). In W.L. Boyd and C.T. Kerchner (Eds), The polities of excellence and choice in education. New York: The Falmer
Press, p.12.
J. Landsman (2006, February). Bearers of hope. Educational Leadership, p.26-27.
R.K. Merton (1972). “Insiders and outsiders.” The American Journal of Sociology. 78 (1) p.9-47.
J. Pfeffer (1998). “Managing with power: Polities and influence in organizations.” Boston: Harvard Business School Press.
Tennessee State Department of Education. Data Center. Nashville: Author
C. West (1998). Race Matters. Boston: Beacon Press