Black male students face long odds
By Abbey Doyle The Herald Bulletin
Bright-eyed and energetic, the 10 students lined up on the steps at Anderson Elementary all say, without a doubt, they will graduate from high school. The children — hopefuls in the classes of 2021, 2022 and 2023 — have aspirations of becoming teachers, police officers or basketball players.
But if Anderson Community Schools’ graduation rate doesn’t change, averages suggest six of them will never walk across that stage. Six won’t toss their caps in the air. And six will likely suffer insurmountable setbacks in the pursuit of their goals.
Less than four of 10 eligible black male students graduated from Anderson Community Schools in 2010. Not only is the system’s graduation rate for black males 21 percentage points lower than it is for students overall, it is the lowest in the state for traditional public schools.
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Although that may be the case in the past, I do believe that things change one person at a time. It's not impossible for our Black boys to succeed in this life. More parents of boys need to stand firmly and challenge the current system of Education that has lowered expectations for our boys. We as parents have to challenge that notion with high expectation and the pursuit of excellence in all areas of our boys lives.