05/30/12: Plugging back into the power of college

This op-ed appeared in The Virginian-Pilot on the date shown.

WHEN I WAS growing up, going to college was a given. It seemed everyone was on the same page: family, church, community and school encouraged all of us to do so.

Of course, college didn’t cost what it does today. Growing up poor, I managed to graduate owing $500, the cost of tuition for my last semester at Old Dominion University.

Lack of resources wasn’t considered a complete barrier to higher education. Instilled in us was the overarching fact that education was the key to our future. In many ways, we adopted the tagline of Tidewater Community College, “From here, go anywhere,” before the school did. It seemed that there were no limits on what we could achieve.

Perhaps it was just the time. I came of age in the late 1970s. Virginia’s colleges and universities had become fully open to blacks and women in 1972. I have little doubt that my elders were quite aware of this and used it as motivation to urge us on.

At some point, though, this idea that education was a ticket to success lost its luster, particularly in the black community.

A recent report on blacks in Virginia by the Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service points out the increasing gap between blacks and whites who have obtained a college degree. “By 2010,” the report states, “37 percent of whites age 25 or more had a college degree compared to 20 percent of blacks.” The gap of 17 points is almost double that of 1970, when it was 10 percent.

While it is true that the number of college graduates for all races has increased, the gap is troublesome. What is keeping young blacks from attending college? And is there a way to reverse the trend?

One answer lies in increasing the number of blacks who graduate from high school. The report offers some good news on that front: The gap between whites without a high school diploma (11 percent) and blacks (19 percent) is the smallest it has ever been.

Programs such as that of the Hampton Roads Committee of 200+ Men Inc. provide role models and an annual recognition of young black men graduating from high school with a 3.0 grade point average or better. The latest group to earn the honor was its largest, with 527 honorees.

Another answer is provided by TCC. As reported by The Virginian-Pilot’s Elisabeth Hulette, the community college has proactively pursued increasing its black enrollment. TCC is 10th in the nation among two-year colleges in producing associate degrees for blacks and has the largest undergraduate black enrollment of all Virginia colleges and universities.

Perhaps the biggest answer, though, lies in those closest to these youngsters. The parents, the churches, the communities and the schools have to get back to teaching that education is a priority.

“Education serves as a key engine in social mobility in the United States, and the importance of education in the increasingly competitive labor market has only grown over time,” according to the Weldon Cooper report.

In other words, nothing has changed since I was a kid about the importance of education. We just need to say it — and then say it again.