The U.S. Department of Education has issued a new report on racial and gender differences on how high school students regard the study of mathematics and the sciences. According to the data, 64 percent of Black male high school graduates said they liked mathematics compared to 55 percent of White male high school graduates. Some 56 percent of Black male high school graduates said mathematics was “one of my favorite subjects.” Only 46 percent of White males said mathematics was one of their favorite subjects.
For women high school graduates, 55 percent of African American said they liked mathematics and 45 percent said mathematics was one of their favorite subjects. For White women high school graduates, 51 percent said they liked mathematics and 40 percent said that mathematics was one of their favorite subjects.
The full report, Gender Differences in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Interest, Credits Earned, and NAEP Performance in the 12th Grade, can be downloaded by clicking here.
What this report fails to show after Black/African-American students matriculate to the HWCUs and experience institutional and departmental racism (ok, racial micro-aggressions) in the STEM field which results in their permanently losing interests in such areas. In fact, when Black/African-American students pursue STEM fields at HWCUs, they are not privy to significant portions of the “out of sight” intellectual nurturing others (e.g., White, Asians, Latinos, and foreign students) receive during their time pursuing their respective degree.
In my view, until “others”(i.e., individuals, groups, and societal) change their perception of Black/African-Americans students in STEM or non-STEM fields, their will always be a scarcity of Black/African-American students.
Michael: This is the price of integration.
This report may have more meaningful information if this report included the top math course Black students completed in high school and the grades they received in math. The information stated that science was taken but there is no report on the findings.
Finally if a report included their SAT/ACT and if taken their AP’s. Yes, it is a lot, but if our students are liking math because they dislike Science, languages, history and English. I believe you are getting the picture.