Have the chances for success for young black men improved since you were one?
Not only have things not improved, in many ways things have gotten worse. When I was in high school I was in a position where I could drop out, go to the steel mills and make more money than my teachers. Today, if you are an African-American male professional and your name sounds African, you are 50 percent less likely to be called in for a job interview with the same work credentials as a white person. That’s what a study by The University of Chicago found.
Globalization has changed things a lot. The Program for International Student Assessments [PISA] ranks countries in education categories like problem solving and reading. If we look at the 2012 results, In math the U.S. is ranked 31st, in reading we are 17th, in science we’re 23rd. That’s pretty bad in itself, but if you disaggregate the data, African Americans on average are ranked 46th out of 65 countries assessed. Who would hire these kids?
What are the hopes for the future of the Black Star Project in helping to tackle these problems?
We are going to continue working with the aim of providing life skills that will give young people the common sense, confidence and empowerment to make a life for themselves. And with that, we will show them how to raise their own communities up as they pull themselves up.
Article Appeared @http://www.chicagoreporter.com/tcr-talks-revamping-education-community-not-classroom#.U3DIbIFdVuD