A flood of emails from various list serves filled our in-boxes with the shocking news: One of the world’s most prominent African American scholars, Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. of Harvard University, had been accused of breaking into his own home. After America’s psychological honeymoon prompted by election of the first President of African descent, some were forced to grapple with questions of whether racism still exists. The aforementioned incident answers these inquiries with a resounding, “Yes.” Examples of accounts of continued racial prejudice and discrimination suggest the need for support systems and advocacy groups such as minority academic and professional organizations to level the social playing field

Olayinka, Olufemi

Owoso, Joseph

Oyenuga, Anthony

English

Fort Hays State University

Academic Leadership: The Online JournalVolume 8Issue 3 Summer 2010 Article 127-1-2010Effect Of Simulation On Technical College Auto-mechanics Trade Students Academic AchievementIn Lagos State Nigeria.Olufemi OlayinkaAnthony OyenugaJoseph OwosoFollow this and additional works at: https://scholars.fhsu.edu/aljPart of the Educational Leadership Commons, Higher Education Commons, and the TeacherEducation and Professional Development CommonsThis Article is brought to you for free and open access by FHSU Scholars Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Academic Leadership: TheOnline Journal by an authorized editor of FHSU Scholars Repository.Recommended CitationOlayinka, Olufemi; Oyenuga, Anthony; and Owoso, Joseph (2010) "Effect Of Simulation On Technical College Auto-mechanicsTrade Students Academic Achievement In Lagos State Nigeria.," Academic Leadership: The Online Journal: Vol. 8 : Iss. 3 , Article 12.Available at: https://scholars.fhsu.edu/alj/vol8/iss3/12academicleadership.org http://www.academicleadership.org/477/to_educational_leaders_the_continued_need_for_race_and_gender-based_academic_and_professional_organizations_in_the_obama_age/Academic Leadership JournalA flood of emails from various list serves filled our in-boxes with the shocking news: One of the world’smost prominent African American scholars, Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. of Harvard University, had beenaccused of breaking into his own home. After America’s psychological honeymoon prompted byelection of the first President of African descent, some were forced to grapple with questions ofwhether racism still exists. The aforementioned incident answers these inquiries with a resounding,“Yes.” Examples of accounts of continued racial prejudice and discrimination suggest the need forsupport systems and advocacy groups such as minority academic and professional organizations tolevel the social playing field.In fact, an inherent need exists for both race and gender based organizations as current political,educational, and work force climates continue to maintain oppressive attitudes and actions towardpeople regarding race and gender. President Barack Obama’s victory may imply to some thatoppressive structures and systems negatively influencing racial and gender minorities have dismantled,suggesting neither race nor gender as problematic within contemporary America. On the contrary, bothrace and gender persist as sensitive topics or “difficult dialogue” (Maher & Tetreault, 1993) for manyindividuals and groups. The election of President Obama could not change policies nor personalphilosophies that separate individuals based upon race and gender. Understanding the prevalence ofboth racism and sexism proves particularly important for educational leaders K-20, who often possessthe influence to educate students and their communities on how to address these social ills or possessfinancial means to support organizations charged with this goal.Cornell West and other scholars contend that racism is an intractable issue, far from being defeated.This assertion undergirds critical race theory (Delgado, 1995; Taylor et al, 2009) and other frameworksused to understand the experiences of marginalized populations. We believe that this standpoint onracism equally relates to sexism and argue in this article that there are two primary reasons for thecontinued need and support for organizations based on race and gender during the current Obamaera.First, the importance of both race and gender based organizations centers upon the United States ofAmerica’s continued patriarchal structure. Individuals continue to be marginalized because of race orgender due to systematic and institutionalized racism and sexism (Smith, 2004; Kivel, 2002; Shaw &Lee, 2009). American society continues to promote racial attitudes and sexist positions as evidencedby a number of contemporary issues, including the Ledbetter versus Goodyear case where a femaleexecutive was grossly underpaid as compared to her male peers, the New York Post publishing aracist cartoon in reference to President Obama, Don Imus’s sexist remarks towards the RutgersUniversity women’s basketball team, and the disputed arrest of African American teenage boys in theJena Six case. Illustration of these examples demonstrates that the election of President Obama couldnot eradicate years of embedded racist and sexist beliefs. His election only solidifies the need tocontinue investing in and creating organizations that support marginalized individuals, particularly inacademic and work settings, as well as developing a social system more strongly rooted in socialjustice and equity.Understanding the need for minority or diverse academic and professional organizations leads to thefurther complexity of intersectionality, where race, class and gender merge. The experiences of womenof color serve as examples as they continue to combat issues related to both race and gender.Research suggests that the concerns for African American women may differ from their non-Blackcounterparts (Collins, 1998; Davis, 2009; Holmes el al 2007). Discrimination towards women basedupon race and gender are illuminated within the workforce as evidenced by disparity in compensation(Dey & Hill, 2007) and underrepresentation in leadership positions. These inequities exist not onlybetween women in general and male colleagues, but between Black women and their White sisters aswell. Some groups continue to have power and privilege in society based on their social location inregards to race, gender, or class. The need for continuing and expanding organizations geared towardaddressing race and gender concerns, thereby, influencing social trends and changing policies tomirror our ideal democracy, holds true even amidst an Obama presidency.Secondly, in this post-civil rights era, it is quintessential to understand the confines and constructs bywhich President Barack Obama was elected. In the article, “Black Politics, the 2008 Election, and the(Im)Possibility of Race Transcendence,” Valeria Sinclair-Chapman and Melanye Price argue that“beyond the race of the candidate, the Obama campaign [was] remarkably mainstream” (2008, p. 739).They maintain that he “deftly crafted a public persona as the embodiment of the American dream” (p.739). As a Black man, he epitomizes the “American Dream” based upon the assumption that a strongwork ethic, personal achievement, moral wholeness, fiscal conservatism, and obtaining an educationwill lead to substantial rewards. Some would even argue that President Obama’s candidacy andpresidency places him in the position to transcend the Black community into mainstream America. Ifthis is the outcome of his presidency, it may leave some to question the contemporary relevance ofracism and sexism in the U.S.In the early stages of Barack Obama’s campaign to become the 44th president of the United States ofAmerica, the media suggested that we were not only in a post-civil rights era, but a post-racial one.This perspective can be seen as either progressive or detrimental to the current status of Blacks inAmerica. The latter view calls us to critique surface progress. When women earned the right to vote, itdid not end sexism nor result in equal occupational compensation for women. Although the Civil Rightsera generally refers to the late 1950s to the mid-1970s, civil rights violations continue to occur on adaily basis. Brown v. the Board of Education has not eliminated de facto segregation from publicschools (Orfield, 2001), nor has the nullification of “Jim Crow” eliminated racism as evidenced incontemporary “sundown towns” (Loewen, 2005).In today’s challenging economic climate, university leaders have struggled with making decisions onwhich programs to maintain and dismantle. Some of these programs are instrumental in maintainingthe diversity of predominantly White student campuses. Academic diversity and minority programs playa key role in the successful retention and graduation of students, most notably, underrepresentedstudents whether they are racial minorities or women. The commitment to diversify campuses andgarner the subsequent intellectual richness yielded (Gurin et al, 2002; Milem & Hakuta, 2000) shouldnot go unrecognized.Supporting race and gender based academic organizations also play a role in the retention andpromotion of faculty (Davis, 2008). Black and Latino faculty continue to be underrepresented on collegecampuses (Holmes el al 2007). Those that exist face marginalization and experience racial battlefatigue (Smith, 2004). Race and gender based organizations may serve as support mechanisms forthese members of academe, aiding in their subsequent interest in continuing with and contributing tothe professoriate.Universities can form partnerships with minority academic organizations by pooling their resources tomaterialize common goals. These goals may meet the needs of both the academic institution, thecommunity it serves, and broader society. University partnerships with minority organizations fall in linewith the idea of universities as a public good. Such an approach to leadership promises to contributeto making our nation meet democratic ideals, while chipping away prevailing racist and sexist attitudes,policies, and structures.ReferencesSinclair-Chapman, V., & Price, M. (2008). Black politics, the 2008 election, and the (im)possibility ofrace transcendence. PS: Political Science and Politics. doi: 10.1017/S1049096508080992Collins, P. H. (1998). Fighting words: Black women and the search for justice. Minneapolis: Universityof Minnesota Press.Davis, D. J., & Sutherland, J. (2008). Expanding access through doctoral education: Perspectives fromtwo participants of the Sisters of the Academy Research Boot Camp. Journal of College StudentDevelopment, 49(6), 606-608.Delgado, R. (Ed.). (1995). Critical race theory: The cutting edge. Philadelphia, PA: Temple UniversityPress.Dey, J.G., & Hill, C. (2007). Behind the pay gap. Washington, D.C.: AAUW Educational Foundation.Gurin, P., Dey, E. L., Hurtado, S., & Gurin, G. (2002). Diversity and higher education: Theory andimpact on educational outcomes. Harvard Educational Review, 72(3), 330-366.Holmes, S. L., Land, L. D., & Hinton-Hudson, V. D. (2007). Race still matters: Considerations formentoring Black women in academe. The Negro Educational Review, 58(1-2), 105-125.Kivel, P. (2002). Uprooting racism: How White people can work for racial justice. Canada: New SocietyPublishers.Loewen, J. (2005). Sundown towns: A hidden dimension of American racism. New York, NY:Touchstone.Maher, F. A., & Tetreault, M. (1993). Frames of Positionality: Constructing Meaningful Dialogues aboutGender and Race. Anthroplogical Quarterly, 66(3), 118-126.Milem, J. F., & Hakuta, K. (2000). The benefits of racial and ethnic diversity in higher education. In D.Wilds, Minorities in higher education: Seventeenth annual status report (pp. 39-67). Washington, DC:American Council on Education.Orfield, G. (2001). Schools more separate: Consequences of a decade of resegregation. Cambridge:Harvard Civil Rights Project.Shaw, S. & Lee, J. (Eds.). (2009). Women’s voices: Feminist visions. New York: McGraw-Hill.Smith, W.A (2004). Black faculty coping with racial battle fatigue: The campus racial climate in a post-civil rights era. In D. Cleveland (Ed.), A long way to go: Conversations about race by African Americanfaculty and graduate students (pp. 171-190). New York, NY: Peter Lang.Taylor, E., Gillborn, D., & Ladson Billings, G. (Ed.). (2009). Foundations of critical race theory ineducation. New York: Taylor & Francis.VN:R_U [1.9.11_1134]

Effect Of Simulation On Technical College Auto-mechanics Trade Students Academic Achievement In Lagos State Nigeria.

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Effect Of Simulation On Technical College Auto-mechanics Trade Students Academic Achievement In Lagos State Nigeria.

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