| Author |
Message |
    
Yvettep
Veteran Poster
Username: Yvettep
Post Number: 1997
Registered: 01-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, April 26, 2007 - 01:12 pm: | 
|
The article is available here: http://chronicle.com/weekly/v53/i31/31a01001.htm
Excerpt: ...Across the country, graduate students' debts have grown significantly in recent years. They have been among the first victims as state support for universities fell off in the early 2000s, as some federal grants have flatlined, as operating costs have burgeoned, and as campuswide enrollments tick upward. Among doctoral programs, money often flows first to the so-called "highly fundable" fields of science and technology. For many students in other fields, borrowing is the only way forward.
The toll on black doctoral students like Ms. Lee and Ms. James has been especially severe. Not only do African-Americans enter universities with more economic hardships, but the academic fields that have faced the greatest financial strains in the past 10 years — and hence have generated the heaviest doctoral debt burdens — are also those with the highest African-American enrollments: the social sciences, the humanities, and, above all, education.
The situation is particularly grim for young black scholars in education, not because their average debt is the highest — it isn't quite — but because the field is home to so many of them. More than a third of black Ph.D. students earn their degrees in education. No other racial or ethnic group is as strongly concentrated in one field. So the fortunes of a vast proportion of African-Americans in academe sink or swim in a discipline that is itself barely afloat.
How did this happen? Many African-Americans see their presence in education as a proud legacy — a sign that those who have succeeded academically are turning their attention back to a sector where others have failed. But it is a legacy that brings serious costs for its inheritors, and there are no comparable lines of ascent into other fields. Moreover, history shows that the earliest generations of black scholars did not venture into education entirely of their own accord. Often it was simply where they were welcome. Often it was where they were pushed...
A nice summary and commentary here:
http://www.blackprof.com/archives/2007/04/is_there_such_a_thing_as_too_m.html
|
Chrishayden
AALBC .com Platinum Poster
Username: Chrishayden
Post Number: 4249
Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, April 26, 2007 - 01:52 pm: |
|
The American Dream is coming true-- |
Cynique
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Cynique
Post Number: 8441
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: 
Votes: 1 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, April 26, 2007 - 02:05 pm: |
|
Teaching has always been a "safe" profession for blacks because there is always a shortage of teachers and this makes finding employment easier. Obviously blacks should diversify their fields of endeavor. They are few and far between in the engineering and science fields. There are a lot of opportunites in the nursing profession but many are too squeamish to go into this vocation. |
Ntfs_encryption
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Ntfs_encryption
Post Number: 2169
Registered: 10-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, April 26, 2007 - 02:28 pm: |
|
"Obviously blacks should diversify their fields of endeavor. They are few and far between in the engineering and science fields."
This is so true. Black people have an abysmal representation in the field of hard physical sciences and mathematics. Asians and whites dominate the aforementioned area in research, occupation and Phds. It's sad.
|
Mzuri
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Mzuri
Post Number: 4642
Registered: 01-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, April 26, 2007 - 05:54 pm: |
|
There's a simple solution. Career counselors must do a better job of providing relevant guidance. More Blacks should get doctorates in the other disciplines, practice in those fields for a few years, and then become teachers if they are still inclined to do so in their later years - if the teaching positions are even available then.
Because I foresee that over the next couple of decades, all of our educational systems will undergo a radical change. There will be much more home schooling in the elementary grades, and more college courses being taught online and thru teleconferencing. This will create a major shift in the availability of teaching positions as many will become obsolete.
This will come to pass due to time management issues, more people working their way thru school, transportation costs, and the latest consideration of the classroom no longer being a safe haven.
For those who aren't aware - college courses are already being taught in the virtual world of Second Life and this trend will expand exponentially once it catches on.
The Black community needs to change their thinking, get out from behind the eightball and stop putting all their eggs into one basket. We need to look to the future and get with the program.
|
Troy
Veteran Poster
Username: Troy
Post Number: 611
Registered: 01-2004
Rating:
Votes: 3 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, April 26, 2007 - 10:55 pm: |
|
Has any one considered that obtaining a PhD in education is easier that obtaining one in Physics?
And I know this is off topic but; why is it, that with so many Black PhDs, in education, running around, that I can't pick up a paper without reading how poorly they our doing in failing schools?
|
Yvettep
Veteran Poster
Username: Yvettep
Post Number: 2000
Registered: 01-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, April 27, 2007 - 10:29 am: |
|
Yes, Troy, it is easier to get an advanced degree in education than in physics. Partly because of the long-term foundational skills that must be mastered before ever even getting to the PhD level. The courses that teach these advanced skills are, unfortunately, lacking in many inner city schools--as are teachers with the subject knowledge to teach them. (Full circle!)
There is a push in some schools of education to take a different track to training teachers: less of a focus on what was called when I was training to be a teacher "methods and materials" and more emphasis on specific subject areas. Also, many schools are making strides to increase the rigor of their training programs.
At the same time, there are more extreme calls in higher ed for the total eradication of schools and departments of education. In this model, future teachers would have to get a subject degree first (e.g., history, art, math, English) then take additional training for licensure or even on-the-job licensure.
I think the last scenario would not be wise in most instances: Just because someone knows their stuff in a particular subject area doesn't mean that they will be good with children. But clearly some changes are needed.
Mzuri, many of those changes include just the things you are talking about. As a matter of fact, Blacks and "non-traditional" students (e.g., older, parents) are the fastest growing consumers of for-profit institutions, including on-line universities.
|
|
Email This Page