It is true that the US continues to make remarkable gains in promoting racial justice and equality. Today, minority communities enjoy access to a wide range of resources and opportunities that they were previously denied. However, there are many areas where the country continues to lag behind. Education is among the spaces where inequality persist. For such minorities as African Americans, access to affordable and high-quality learning remains elusive and limited. The very education system has been implicated in contributing to the inequalities that plague the nation. Available research literature clearly demonstrates that for many minorities in the US, the education system is a hindrance to further learning.
Already, a tremendous amount of research on the role that the education system plays in fueling inequalities in the US has been conducted. In addition to exploring the scale of these inequalities, the existing research has also shed light on the specific mechanisms through which the system perpetuates injustice and robs minorities of the opportunities to pursue higher education. The literature that outlines this research relates to the question that the present study seeks to answer: how is education a barrier to further education for minorities in America? As this question indicates, the purpose of the study is to shed light on the specific ways through which education functions as an impediment to further education for minorities like African Americans. It is expected that when completed, the study will add to the volume of literature that is already in place and offer insights into some of the interventions that the US can adopt as part of its efforts to make higher education more accessible and transformational for minorities.
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Scale and Manifestations of Inequality in Education
The extent and the manifestations of inequality in American higher education is among the subjects that have received attention from researchers. Taylor and Cantwell (2018) are some of the scholars who have performed research with the goal of establishing the scale of inequality and the various ways that this problem is made evident. For their study, Taylor and Cantwell (2018) relied on publicly available information to explore such issues as the admission protocols that the colleges and universities in the country have adopted as well as the racial composition of their student populations. While these researchers observed that it is now easier for minorities and other disadvantaged groups to access higher education, they continue to face hardships as a result of the selective admission procedures that educational institutions have implemented. Essentially, Taylor and Cantwell (2018) acknowledge that the US has made commendable progress but racial disparities persist. Naylor et al. (2018) also examined the reality of American higher education. In arriving at the conclusions that they make, Naylor et al. (2018) conducted a brief literature review with the goal of determining the experiences of African American males. The key observation that these researchers made is that in addition to finding college education to be unaffordable, for many African American male students, access is limited and the academic outcomes are sub-par.
In addition to confirming that minorities are severely under-represented in higher education, scholas have also investigated the specific outcomes that the inequalities in education have created. Baker et al. (2018) have led the research community in providing insights into some of the impacts that the inequalities have had. Following an analysis of data provided by National Center for Education Statistics on the state of American college education, Baker et al. (2018) found that Hispanic and African American students have fewer college choices, often perform poorly than their white counterparts, and as a result of the hardships that minorities face, their earnings tend to be lower. Essentially, Baker et al. (2018) found that the consequences of inequalities spill beyond the classroom and into the workplace. Colen et al. (2020) also explored the effects that inequalities continue to have on minority students. Using National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health panel data, Colen et al. (2020) set out to establish the hardships that African American students endure and the crucial role that historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) play in providing these students with spaces that allow them to thrive. According to Colen et al. (2020), as a result of unequal access to higher education, black students report poor health outcomes and that HBCUs offers some insulation against some of the worst outcomes of inequality. Basically, in addition to undermining efforts by minority students to obtain an education, inequalities also reinforce the hardships that these students already face, thereby further perpetuating injustice and deprivation.
How the Education System Serves as Barrier
The mechanisms through which the education system perpetuates inequalities in education is yet another question that researchers have attempted to answer. Harper (2015) is among the scholars whose study focused on the specific challenges that make it difficult for minority high school students to pursue and obtain college education. The observations that Harper (2015) made are indeed enlightening. After tracking the progress and performance of 325 black students drawn from 40 public schools in New York City, Harper (2015) noted that for a majority of these students, exposure to violence, family instability, and inadequate resources are among the most pressing hardships that confront them. Furthermore, Harper (2015) also found that the American education system has failed to empower these students and guide them to develop the resiliency necessary to overcome the hurdles that they encounter. Essentially, according to Harper (2015), the American system was not built with the needs and circumstances of minority students in mind. Eisenhart et al. (2015) reached a similar conclusion. These scholars gave particular attention to eight high schools in Denver and Buffalo that were set up primarily to meet the needs of black students interested in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) courses. Eisenhart et al. (2015) examined how well these schools satisfied these needs and the challenges that their students face. While they determined that the schools generated an initial increase in academic outcomes and college enrollment, Eisenhart et al. (2015) also observed that in the long run, the institutions were unable to sustain the positive impact. To explain this result, these scholars argue that the STEM schools are not fully aligned with the unique circumstances and hardships that plague education among African Americans and other minority groups. Basically, these schools fail minority students by delivering one-shoe-fits-all solution that do not respond directly to the particular situation of the students that they target. It is therefore not surprising that the performance and enrollment rates for minorities remain low.
The fact that high schools in minority neighborhoods are under-resourced and therefore unable to guarantee college enrollment is another factor that has been implicated in the poor outcomes that minority students continue to record. Fletcher and Tienda (2010) sought to determine if there is any significant association between the high school that one attended, their race, and their college outcomes. To test this relationship, these researchers examined the test scores of students from three high schools in Texas. As one would expect, Fletcher and Tienda (2010) observed that race and high school attended are among the most important determinants of college student performance. They report that in general, minority students are less likely to find places in college and when they do, their performance tends to be disappointing. Fletcher and Tienda (2010) explain this observation by contending that the American education system does not invest in the success of minority students. Being poorly resourced, schools that serve these students position them for failure in such future pursuits as higher education. Kim et al. (2013) also noted that minority students often attend schools that are inadequately funded and therefore incapable of supporting their educational ambitions. Similar to Fletcher and Tienda (2010), Kim et al. (2013) also joined forces for the purpose of shedding light on how the high schools that minority students attend influence their outcomes in college. They used data from the Educational Longitudinal Study as part of their investigation into the impact that disadvantages and injustices that minorities endure have on their experiences. Unsurprisingly, Fletcher and Tienda (2010) concurred that many minorities are forced to attend high schools that are inadequately funded and ill-equipped to prepare them for the challenges and opportunities of higher learning. Basically, the American education system is fundamentally unequal and does not seem interested in providing minority students with the resources and support that they require in order to flourish when they join colleges and universities.
Promising Solutions
While researchers have focused their attention on the problems ailing the American education system, they have also proposed some solutions that the nation can implement in its quest to create a more equal climate for learning. Noguera (2017) authored an insightful article in which he identifies some of the most promising interventions that could hold the key to helping the US to eliminate the barriers that limit the achievement of minority students. Taking the form of expert opinion, Noguera’s article begins with an overview of some of the problems that have made it difficult for minorities to excel in the classroom. For example, he notes that poverty is one of the factors that continue to hold back these students. Noguera (2017) then proceeds to recommend that public schools should be supported in their efforts to promote the performance and college enrollment of minority students. For example, Noguera (2017) urges local and federal authorities to increase the budgetary allocations for public schools and address such fundamental issues as poverty. The solutions that Noguera (2017) presents are echoed by Carter (2018) who also discusses some of the programs that the nation can harness to alleviate the hardships faced by minorities as they seek education. Carter (2018) sets the stage for his discussion by decrying the ineffectiveness of the measures that the US has in place. He describes them as failing to address the root causes of inequality. Furthermore, Carter laments that these solutions do not recognize that in order to eradicate inequality in American education, all concerned stakeholders should be encouraged and provided with the opportunities to take part in the implementation of innovative strategies. Carter (2018) promises that a multidimensional and multidisciplinary approach holds the key to making American education more equal. He states that instead of being narrow in their focus, the answers that the US adopts should be broader and more comprehensive if the nation is to achieve sustainable progress that drive the success of minorities.
In closing, researchers have conducted robust investigations into various aspects of racial inequality in the American education system. However, there are some gaps and shortcomings that should be addressed. For example, most of the existing research is overly specific and it is therefore difficult to draw all-encompassing conclusions. The different scholars reviewed above conducted studies that focused on individual schools and particular groups of students whose experiences do not necessarily represent the encounters of all minority students. Another limitation of existing research is that it bundles all minorities into general groups instead of recognizing that the experiences of different groups vary. Furthermore, during the literature review, it was observed that such minorities as Native and Asian Americans have been largely ignored. The proposed study will seek to address these weaknesses as it sheds light on the various ways that the American education system compounds inequalities and denies minority students opportunities and resources.
References
Baker, R., Klasik, D., & Reardon, S. F. (2018). Race and stratification in college enrollment over time. AERA Open, 4 (1), 1-28.
Carter, P. L. (2018). The multidisciplinary problems of educational inequality require multidimensional solutions. Educational Studies, 54 (1), 1-16.
Colen, C. G., Pinchak, N. P., & Barnett, K. S. (2020). Racial Disparities in Health Among College-Educated African Americans: Can Attendance at Historically Black Colleges or Universities Reduce the Risk of Metabolic Syndrome in Midlife? American Journal of Epidemiology. https://doi.org/10.1093/aje/kwaa245
Eisenhart, M., Weis, L., Allen, C. D., Cipollone, K., Stich, A., & Dominguez, R. (2015). High school opportunities for STEM: Comparing inclusive STEM‐focused and comprehensive high schools in two US cities. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 52 (6), 763-89.
Fletcher, J., & Tienda, M. (2010). Race and ethnic differences in college achievement: Does high school attended matter? The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 627 (1), 144-66.
Harper, S. R. (2015). Success in these schools? Visual counternarratives of young men of color and urban high schools they attend. Urban Education, 50 (2), 139-69.
Kim, D., Nunez, A. M. (2013). Diversity, situated social contexts, and college enrollment: Multilevel modeling to examine student, high school, and state influences. Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, 6(2), 84–101.
Naylor, L. A., Wyatt-Nichol, H., & Brown, S. L. (2015). Inequality: Underrepresentation of African American Males in U. S. Higher Education. Journal of Public Affairs Education, 21 (4), 523-38.
Noguera, P. A. (2017). Introduction to “racial inequality and education: Patterns and prospects for the future”. The Educational Forum, 81 (2), 129-35.
Taylor, B. J., & Cantwell, B. (2018). Unequal higher education in the United States: Growing participation and shrinking opportunities. Social Sciences. doi:10.3390/socsci7090167
