jsupop33
Loyalty & Respect
'Opting Out'
December 2, 2011 - 3:00am
By
Allie Grasgreen
The economic and educational disadvantages of low-income black students who struggle to complete college are well-documented. While black students at elite universities don’t necessarily fit into that category, a new book says they face social and institutional obstacles of their own – obstacles that ultimately drive them away from the high-status, high-paying jobs that they’re qualified for in fields such as engineering, science, finance and information technology. And while the reasons are complex, universities are partly at fault, the book argues.
Black students who graduate from elite colleges consistently gravitate toward less prestigious – though by no means less important – jobs in fields perceived as directly addressing social and racial inequities, such as education, social work and community and nonprofit organizing, the author found.
In an interview about her controversial new book, Opting Out: Losing the Potential of America’s Young Black Elite (University of Chicago Press), Maya A. Beasley explained the findings of her research and what she believes they mean for students and the colleges that educate them.
“Not everybody is going to make a great social worker…. Some are going to be fantastic brain surgeons, and we’re really missing the potential of these students because they’re not getting the information they need,” says Beasley, who is also an assistant professor of sociology and a member of the advisory board of the Institute for African Studies at the University of Connecticut. “It’s something that hasn’t been studied, and I think it’s a very important topic, particularly because I believe in people making choices that are informed and are going to fit well for them. But that’s not what’s happening, and I think there’s a systematic problem for African Americans, if a huge proportion of the population has certain types of careers that – while incredibly valuable – are also relatively lower paying, lower status, and have lower positions of power. And it’s shocking to me that students coming out of Harvard and Stanford are following that pattern.”
Read more here
December 2, 2011 - 3:00am
By
Allie Grasgreen
The economic and educational disadvantages of low-income black students who struggle to complete college are well-documented. While black students at elite universities don’t necessarily fit into that category, a new book says they face social and institutional obstacles of their own – obstacles that ultimately drive them away from the high-status, high-paying jobs that they’re qualified for in fields such as engineering, science, finance and information technology. And while the reasons are complex, universities are partly at fault, the book argues.
Black students who graduate from elite colleges consistently gravitate toward less prestigious – though by no means less important – jobs in fields perceived as directly addressing social and racial inequities, such as education, social work and community and nonprofit organizing, the author found.
In an interview about her controversial new book, Opting Out: Losing the Potential of America’s Young Black Elite (University of Chicago Press), Maya A. Beasley explained the findings of her research and what she believes they mean for students and the colleges that educate them.
“Not everybody is going to make a great social worker…. Some are going to be fantastic brain surgeons, and we’re really missing the potential of these students because they’re not getting the information they need,” says Beasley, who is also an assistant professor of sociology and a member of the advisory board of the Institute for African Studies at the University of Connecticut. “It’s something that hasn’t been studied, and I think it’s a very important topic, particularly because I believe in people making choices that are informed and are going to fit well for them. But that’s not what’s happening, and I think there’s a systematic problem for African Americans, if a huge proportion of the population has certain types of careers that – while incredibly valuable – are also relatively lower paying, lower status, and have lower positions of power. And it’s shocking to me that students coming out of Harvard and Stanford are following that pattern.”
Read more here
