The Economic Policy Institute recently released a study telling us all what we already knew but still needs to be emphasized to our children, especially the males.
It says that college grads earn 56 percent more than non-college grads, and since the Great Recession ended in 2009 college grads have been getting almost all the good paying jobs as well as the growth jobs.
Now where do Black people fit in this equation?
During the Bill Clinton administration and during the Barack Obama administration and even the George Bush administration more and more college doors were open to Blacks than at any other time even though the Right Wingers tried everything they could to close or keep the doors closed by trying to block affirmative action. However, by fighting for diversity in the workplace as well as on college campuses, progressives and moderates were able to get more Blacks in both, the workplace and on campus.
But with the new Donald Trump administration, as well as a conservative U.S. House and U. S. Senate as well as many states dominated by conservatives will these gains hold?
Many Americans, as the last election testifies to, are looking back to the old America when a White man could graduate from high school and still get a good paying factory job with excellent health benefits. But even though most of those jobs are gone to never return, the uneducated White America still believes these jobs are available, that they have been shipped to other countries and can be shipped back to this country if more things were made in this country.
This may be partially true, but only partially. Other countries have caught up with America and are demanding higher pay, which means goods are going to be more expensive cutting into the profits. And profits are why businesses are in business.
It’s like the Green vs. Fossil energy controversy. America became great behind coal, wood, natural gas and others but now a new breed is pushing green. Well, why can’t we have both? Let them compete against each other. It doesn’t have to be all or nothing. Give the consumer a choice. This would keep many of the jobs in the old fossil industry as well as the cleaner green industries. The horse and automobile co-existed for a long time.
But back to Blacks and college.
More and more community colleges as well as major universities are seeking that middle ground student. There are many jobs in this country that pay well and have benefits that don’t require four years of college and all the debt it creates. But these jobs still need training that should come from community college as well as high schools.
Blacks must find out where the jobs are and what kind of training is needed for these jobs and not get caught up in the W. E. B. DuBois, Booker T. Washington dilemma. A college degree or nothing. Washington said Blacks must do whatever necessary to survive. If it means college then college it is. If it’s a trade school then there’s nothing wrong with that. The money is still green. But we must make sure our schools are preparing our kids for the job market, and not just college, because there are thousands of kids with college degrees struggling to find jobs to pay off those school loans, who can’t leave home because they don’t make enough. But they are nothing like the thousands of young high school dropouts that are mostly Black males, dying on the streets caught up in gangs and drugs.
Parents and students must sit down with schools at all levels and evaluate the job market. What is available, what is it paying, how much will the education cost, and what is the likelihood of finding a job that will pay the kind of money that will allow that person to live comfortable. And what is the school doing to make sure there is a job at the end of the 2 or 4 years? We must start making the schools accountable, not just paying our hard earned money and accepting their word. There’s a lot of competition out there.
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The Black Political Coalition recently released their blueprint for collective neighborhood driven effort to transform underserved minority communities in the city.
My suggestions are eliminate high school drop outs, make sure every child finishes high school and either goes to trade school or college, and make sure that every government or private employer in those communities include residents from those communities.
Bottom line. Make sure the community is educated and aware of job opportunities available to them. Oh, get a copy of the Economic Policy Institute study and hand it out to all students and parents.
(Ulish Carter is the managing editor of the New Pittsburgh Courier.)
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