The National Science Foundation recently released its annual data on doctoral degree recipients in the United States. The Survey of Earned Doctorates showed that for U.S. citizens and permanent residents of this country, 2,725 African Americans earned doctorates from U.S. universities in 2023. This is the highest number ever recorded.
But not all the news is good. In 2023, 890 doctoral degrees were awarded in the fields of agronomy, developmental biology, cellular biology, human genetics, biomechanics, plant pathology, zoology, biological medical engineering, structural engineering, nanotechnology, geochemistry, climatology, oceanography, medicinal and pharmaceutical chemistry, astronomy, nuclear physics, elementary particle physics, theoretical and mathamatical physics, physical and biological anthropology, environmental economics, archeology, English literature, and Spanish language and literature.
None of these 890 doctorates were awarded to African Americans.
While we should encourage African Americans to further their studies, I don’t believe that this is the path to success. We should be focusing on entrepreneurships, leadership, innovation and creativity.
Does one understand that a person of color can pursue a scientific discipline and still become an entrepreneur. The discussion we need to have with our children is the importance of being well prepared, flexible and multifaceted.
Last evening someone in conversation mentioned the White House Fellowship Program. I looked at the names listed as the 2024 – 2025 Fellows and wondered if any one of them shared my skin hue?
We do our children a disservice not to introduce them to as many options as possible because everybody does not want to dance, sing, play football or basketball.
We need both studies in entrepreneurship, leadership, innovation and creativity but also challenge the historical narrative that was contructed against Africans and African-Americans.
What is the pattern and trend from previous years? Was 2024 an outlier or par for the course?
You can search JBHE.com for results from previous years.
None of these are going to be very popular until we dismantle and deconstruct from the religions we have been taught to believe. Science tells us Noah’s Ark didn’t happen… As a person of strong FAITH who was raised in the bible I was told most of those careers listed are sacrilegious and playing God through science was frowned upon. Research is constantly evolving and if you want to share research most church people are stuck in their traditional dogma. Also we don’t have the luxury of financial stability some do to be unemployed with a doctorate degree and still housed and traveling and without financial support they choose higher paying careers. But we can change this. My question is without mentorship and people putting a foot in the door. How do we create our own door into those careers? Because honestly, if you don’t have people going to the schools in the urban and rural neighborhood and telling the kids what their options are and getting them excited about that kind of career you might not be reaching out to the people who would be interested. I know for a fact, I have never heard of a person coming to visit a school that is predominantly black kids tell them about biochemistry and careers in biochemistry when they can create and make new drugs to save lives. They must expect us to sell the drugs they create. We are lucky if anyone even recruited us to be a pharmacist. But they will recruit us all day to be a CNA. Higher education is powerful and I believe when you get higher education, and you have a family and a higher education, you have a predisposition to more higher education. What we believe is possible is our only limitation. Look at the real engineer behind Tesla. I really want a doctorate degree. I’m not gonna lie finances are a factor. I have four disabled kids. Raising the money toward my education currently. I believe if organizations like the NAACP have to give out scholarships to non-students because they don’t have enough applicants then they can raise the age limit and allow older students to go and get those scholarships as well.