Recommendations for change in increased access and equity in education of African-American individuals: What do we do while we wait

Steward, Robbie J.

English

Kansas State University

Educational Considerations Volume 18 Number 1 The Academic Success of African-American Students Article 12 9-1-1990 An Editorial Comment Robbie J. Steward Follow this and additional works at: https://newprairiepress.org/edconsiderations  Part of the Higher Education Commons This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 License. Recommended Citation Steward, Robbie J. (1990) "An Editorial Comment," Educational Considerations: Vol. 18: No. 1. https://doi.org/10.4148/0146-9282.1536 This Commentary is brought to you for free and open access by New Prairie Press. It has been accepted for inclusion in Educational Considerations by an authorized administrator of New Prairie Press. For more information, please contact cads@k-state.edu. An Editorial Comment Robbie J, Steward, Ph.D. Ae<:Qmmendatlcms for change in increased accus and eQ' ulty In educaUon fo r African-American ind i . i d~al .: What do we do whi le we walt? In review ing the literature a<l<!ressing Af rican-Ame,; · can s tullenl sueeu •. researchers and thewollelan$ often op.en .,tleles by de&:,ibing instilulions of 1>1111>&. education U ,'-;ISI. cultu rally blaslKl, and/or mulHcullurally lonorant M.,.be not In these words specifically, bur I oUen hear 1nls m~ In conversaUon and see it in lileral ure. I must also ...:Imll Illid I I>iW'8 collected many e>< pe~ence. in tne role 01 stuojenl. counselor. and professor thaI mintorce IIIeW pet-captions. What Is In lrlguing to me is thaI tileS. same •• 11· cles and discussions often close with a pfeHntatlon of w~al SlIOuld be done by tl>o"" "",ist, biased. andlO' Igno-f&lll in$tilutl(H\$ 01 higoor educal ioll in order to more ethIC· tively Mlp A!~ca~ - American students. I ~ave been Ind will conl in"" to t>e <.>ne Of IheS<! ... searChers whO attempt to objectively Identlly both the posl· tlve arl(l negative Impact 01 campus l ile upon Alrl can _A· merl can $tudents l in lact upon all Sludonts) and I wil l continua to propose 'ecommendations for change arl(l reo main hOp.ful that change is possib le. I h .... e lived long enough to see that Inst itu tions .nd systems can and doo chan!)a. Howe-er. I also re<:O{jnize that in.titulional arl(l sys· tematlc cnange OCCurS slowly. For exampU!, al this tima In the ~lstOlY of tl>8 ove,all diacipline of psychOlogy, the prem-ise t~at tuting i$ culturally biased and dlscrlmlnttn .galnst t~ose from cultural heoilalJ'!s IMI dilier from lhe Euroc .... tric P8fSpective is well documenled In Iha lite .. ture HoweYe<, the use of testing lor pu.poses of selection 10' thOSe who .ccess the most attr.octi.., .duCitlon~ In'tI· tutions and the.eby galn an opportunity for position, of powe' and Inll",,_ has not been signWcantly daunted by this cu.rent Iltaratu,e. The st al~s quo hn remalned Intact. and altho~gh some Caucas ian irl(lividuals .,a n&gatlvely impactad by such practices. many mOr ... Alri can-Amerlcans h ....... lound themse lves 10 be at the mercy of a -test; and tMn by an unln/ormed test interpreter whO dO&S not accom· modale cullm. 1 d iversity in its descriptive Interpreratlons. Change 15 slo .... bu t how long can we affo rd to walt for th e social and politicil st ruc ture within the United Statas to cflange? This Is a system ... hich has not only been hl'tor~ calty In""slll", to tl>ose citizens 01 Al rlcan he.ltllO'l. but ill times has .,tl",ly deni!)" led any characteriSlic .,socl.ted with our group. Can we altord to wait? And It so. at what cost? Thl, iltIicle add .. sses Ihe Implic'tions ot waiting for institutional C~anIJ'!5. as well as the cost for doing so. The iltIlcle will close with a list ot suggestions deIltIloped by the speelallssue edItor and the nsociate ..aitorof Etluca/lon,/ Conslder,/Ions, G. Daniel Harden Ihat aim to oUe, al tern. tl'l<ls to the an xiety. anger and f!\lstl't ion that can 'nul( willie tna change slowly unlolds. We a8 African - Americans must altem pt to mainlain a hea lthy and productiy" focus as we wall lor instilutions to '·00 the right thing:' Fa ll 1990 Can we atlOId to wait? Just as we h_ appl*U<led the acknowU!dgement ot the cullural bias ot testing, we howe also lound ourselves wailing for this knowledge to be Implementad on a scale larlJ'! enough to imp.c:t societal Dalrlels that have hindered and/or discour;aged AlliCin -Americans In engaging in Up"-wardly mobile behavlofS. As tna decade_ h_ passed. we h_watched and waited as Af.lcan-Amerlcan student en· rollment on uni",<aity campuses has decreased. We h ...... watched and waited as the Alrlcan-American male has be· come labelled an "endangered SpeCHlI." We ha"" watched arl(l waited as discouraged. disil lusioned and dl,heartene<;l African -Americans h .... e Incre.slng ly moved toward sui). stance abuse and BIaCk·on·Black vio lence. We have watcned and waited as a resurla<; lng of overt racist altl · tudes and beha'l iors by Wh ite Ame ri cans escalates. My lea' is that the systematic change wil l occura! a time when the damage ,esultlng lrom thesa cur .. nt eyents ... 1/1 be so great thBt many African-AmericlW\ people will be unable to imme· diatltly res>",nd to lhe long delayed change. The boat to the promised land m"Y h .... e lInally arrived. but mati}' Alrican-Americans m"Y be SO tif1Kl. ~url. and suspiCiOUS that they llIe incapable 0, unwilling 10 DOard It Is ""' belief that we C8000t alford to only watc~ and walt. Another reason ttlollt we e .. not .Uord to wait is ttlollt do-ing SO ",info""," Iha belief that ~ at$ tul ly dep!tndent upon White Americans for whOm_r lind whate ..... ,we are. This Is a betief Ihal is hetd by ma.nyWhlte Americans today: that the African -Amencans ..no have $\IOCeeded academically Or profes si onal l ~ have doone SO on lV because 01 "atfirmat ive act ion" programs o r spec ial consideration. Af rican-Ameri · Cans might in lact lind th ems .. ly .. s strugg ling with the Iden· tif ication 01 what successes can be at tributed to comp ... · tence and wh at successas can be attributed to minority stBtuS. Wait ing lor systematic d'lI<1ge alone appears to rein-lo rce faulty be l iels abOut AI.lcan- Americans, feedi ng ster· eotypical th inking. Engagln!) In -only- wai ti ng behaYiors comes at a high coat. What th ... ? The 10ftowing altern.Ii ..... have been generated only in the 101m 01 sullUestiofls and dO not In any w".,. remove Ihe necessity of systemat ic c~antre In I>OW in$titutions respond to African-Americans. Blaming the victim is not the inlenl, no< is discounting IhI! unique expe.ten<::, of being objecls 01 indiyidual and systemle r.-;hsm . The inlent is to shan:> some IJ'!neral guideline, that mIght be useluf 10 aft Afri· can- American individual ,. It) lden l il y on-e·s personhood with some stable tran· :!-Cend .. nt moral order th at: (I) proyides the bas is lor objec· t iy .. dec is ion.mak lng: and (b) resu lts In the deye lopment and maintenance 01 an opt imistic and hopefu l at t itude. This requires the recogni t ion that a lunctional , healthy selll.elf· Image (phySica l and emotional) la at least as important as the struggle for a responsive poli tical structure. (2) DeYe lop indepenOent study prog.ams that incre ...... the knowle<lll" base ratatlng to the ~istory and cross-cultural tr"" ilions of Africa and America. (3) Acknowledge gains ~ OPPOfIunlties that haYe come to Ihis gene<atlon 01 Ahlc.,.-Am8fican$ through the ellons 01 prerious generations. 0eve10Jl a responsible atti· tude toward future gene.atlons 01 African -Americans. "What I do and how I beh..,. .fleets "'I' people, whom I value, and it 1$ my 00"1 to allect thOM who follow me in a positi .... manner." (4) WoI1< diligently to Identi ty all sourcu of supporl (emotional, f inancial. educational, etc.) and encouragement toward engagi ng in productiye and va lidating effort s. Such 35 1Steward: An Editorial CommentPublished by New Prairie Press, 2017suppOn <;MI oome from individual' in(lependent of racial or ethnic divisions. Check pef$ORlll blaHs..-d prejudices thaI mlghi l lmit access 10 viable resou'ces. (5) CllaIl&r11le and question unlai, prloCtices, beliets. aod barrl ... (interpe~aI and systematic) that reinforce bolh PO.llIve and negallV<! cullural myths regarding AI';· can-Americlll1 afld otl1er rac laUethnlc groop$. 16) Increase one's understanding 01 the dynamics of cross·cultura l interaction. prejud ices , and rac ism. Develop eflecHve interperson al sty les th at Incorporate thi s knowl · edge Into e""'Yday lite. 36 (1) Share what VOU know with someone else, panlcu· lally Olher Af,;can-Americ: ..... ..-d value learning (by 01)-NNing and/or requesled InSlructlon~ Watch _ IIIIM In Order 10 better Idenilly c leare. conneClions bet ...... n Bclions and consequence • . AYOid rejecting conl ributlons from any SOtlrce, bIIcause everyone has :IO!'nething of value to teach. Af.ican-Amerlcan univers ity students should lind tMSII ideas helpfu l In adapting tothasometimes al ienat ing env ironment of campul Ille. Blling awara of Ihese alterna· live. might not oocrene th e wa it ing t ime. but they could make the waiting time easier. Educa rional Consldera rlons 2Educational Considerations, Vol. 18, No. 1 [1990], Art. 12https://newprairiepress.org/edconsiderations/vol18/iss1/12DOI: 10.4148/0146-9282.1536

An Editorial Comment

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