According to a SurveyUSA poll, 53% of adults in North Carolina give the public schools a passing grade, and 38% give the schools a failing grade. These numbers are consistent among most categories, including gender, age, party affiliation, and ideology.
What stands out is that 62% of blacks give the schools a passing grade but only 33% give the schools a failing grade. Yet, it is clear that black students are not fairing well in our public schools. According to the 2003-2004 Dropout Data Report, blacks, which make up 31.5% of the state’s membership, account for 35.1% of the state’s dropout events. Black males (2.31%) drop out at rates that surpass the state average (1.71%). In almost all dropout categories, blacks are over-represented.
What accounts for this? The late Dr. John Ogbu’s controversial book Black American Students in an Affluent Suburb: A Study of Academic Disengagement argues that, among other factors, black parents generally have a lack of involvement in their child’s schooling. According to this model, the high passing grade that black adults give to the public schools in North Carolina is a product of their disengagement with the realities of schooling for the state’s black children. It should be noted that Ogbu was a black anthropologist of the liberal/collectivist persuasion who spent much of his career trying to find the link between racism and low achievement among blacks. In the end, it was the disposition of the black community itself that explained why blacks were falling behind, not racism.
School choice is urgently needed to correct this problem. The first step is to show the black community that the public schools do not deserve a passing grade. The second step is to turn that fact into action. Fortunately, a grassroot school choice movement has begun within North Carolina’s black community.
