Blog 3-

Last week’s class was very active. We started off by writing a letter to our future selves. In this letter e had to describe what our goals were for our future. We had to write short term, mid-term and long term. When we all came back to share our goals as a class, we all agreed that finishing school and getting out degrees was definitely one of our short term goals. The other activity that I also enjoyed was going around the room answering questions about the No child left behind act and how it affected us. It’s always nice to read what others had to say about how this act impacted their lives. Although the act was flawed, it did have positive outcomes to students in schools that had good resources.

This week’s readings talked about education in the African American community. It was good to get more insight on why is it that many African Americans pursue higher education as opposed to other minority groups. In the article by Toby S. Jenkins talks about the role of African-American men in America. Jenkins offered some historical background to make his point that after the civil war, life for an African American man did not get any easier. Jim Crow made it impossible for black men to walk the streets without being terrorized or being publicly humiliated. Jenkins also commented on how hip-hop was a way for African American inclusion of “intellectual thought and growth”. Since Black males were being silenced at school they found a way to express their emotions through lyrics that others could relate to. He talks about Tupac Shakur, who was a black man who dropped out of high school but managed to have a successful hip hop career by singing about his life. Tupac had developed a way to encourage the younger generations to focus on gaining knowledge and become the best they can be. Of course people always take this idea the wrong way but the intention was there. The song “changes” mentioned in this reading is an example of how Tupac decided that it was time to quit the negative stereotypes and begin making those changes for a better world.
In the second reading the IHEP goes over some of the historical facts that lead to how African-Americans have come a long way since the abolition of segregation in schools. Also how they are motivated to go for graduate degrees in order to be successful. The way I see it is that in order for minorities to be taken seriously now a days is that we need to have the fanciest degrees, to prove intellectual capabilities. It is possible for anyone to achieve a university degree but some struggle more than others. This struggle depends on gender, socioeconomic status, ethnic background, educational foundation, etc. in today’s society we are seeing a shift on how many minorities are being motivated to continue higher education and who knows maybe one day in the future the future generations will finally be able to see everyone’s contribution to history in those history books!