Spelman College’s Graduation Rate: First in Its Mainstream Category

By

Sherman N. Miller

 6/25/2006

As an African American child growing up in the Nineteen Forties and Nineteen Fifties in the midst of America’s segregation epoch, it was understood that you had to be twice as good as a white person to be considered equal in the economic mainstream. The pursuit of excellence was a Black American expectation. However, an unintended consequence of the civil rights epoch is somehow mediocrity displaced Black American yesteryear’s excellence zeal, thereby offering credence to some closet white racist teachers to find little value in educating black children in today’s desegregated public schools.

In an article, How White Teachers Perceive the Problem of Racism in Their Schools: A Case Study in "Liberal" Lakeview, Julie Kailin shares the white teachers’ perception of black children when considering issues of racism. “Research findings indicate that most white teachers operated from an impaired consciousness about racism; that a majority ‘blamed the victim,’ assigning causality for racism to Blacks. Findings further indicate that of those who witnessed racist behavior by their white colleagues, the majority remained silent and did not challenge such behavior. Because teachers play a pivotal role in the sum total of race relations in education, it is critical to consider how they perceive the problem of racism in their schools. Their perceptions may influence decisions about how to interpret and respond to racial inequality.”

            Kailin offers a strong case for the need of today’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities because racial desegregation has meant a hostile attitude in some white teachers’ minds against African American children or tacit approval of racism of other white teachers by remaining silent when witnessing racist actions perpetrated against black children. As a college mathematics instructor, I have found over the years that students respond positively to your academic demands if they feel you truly believe in their capability.   

            We hear a great deal of discussion about the poor performance of minority students in the public schools but we do not hear enough on the economic impact of white teacher racism on the upward mobility of Black America. Today, the bachelor level degree from an accredited college is a key requirement for full participation in the economic mainstream. Its financial value is estimated at roughly two million dollars over a lifetime of earnings. Thus, today’s poor black academic performance under the tutelage of white racist teachers may be helping to close college doors to Black America. If Kailin’s comment is right, then today’s white teacher racism may be tantamount to creating an entry barrier to the economic mainstream that may be as potent as yesteryear’s legalized racial segregation laws in limiting Black American upward mobility in America’s Economic Mainstream.  

            In reading the history on some Historically Black Colleges and Universities, you may find that their creation was to offer access to higher education, especially since it had been against the law during slavery to educate blacks and White America was not ready to embrace any hint of racially integrated schools in the late Nineteenth and early Twentieth Centuries. However, fallout of the civil rights movement is that today’s black colleges must now compete against traditionally white colleges for black students.     

            In an article, A Call for Articles-Educational Foundations, Special Issue on Historically Black Colleges and Universities advertised in the TCRecord, we get a feel for the HBCUs loss of control of today’s Black college students. “Currently 300,000 students attend the nation’s 105 historically Black colleges (40 public four year, 11 public two-year, 49 private four year, and 5 private 2 year). This amounts to 24% of all African American college students (National Center for Educational Statistics, 2004).” This statement suggests that 76 percent of African American college students are now going to traditionally white colleges. There was an additional statement to the above comment that calls attention to the need of black colleges today: “.  .  .However, at a time when Black access to historically White institutions is once again in decline, we need additional research to treat more comprehensively the basic assumptions and questions behind the African American institutions that might fill the gap.”

            In this competitive environment, HBCU Spelman College shows that it is normal to be a first rate Historically Black College with a 100 percent black student body and be number one of all colleges in its mainstream category  in the nation in graduating its students. Spelman College’s four-year graduation rate is approximately 24 percentage points higher than the University of Georgia in the state where it is located.  On the other hand, HBCU Delaware State University’s four-year graduation rate is approximately 38 percentage points below the University of Delaware.

The sad commentary here is that Spelman College’s four-year graduation rate is roughly twice Delaware State University’s six-year graduation rate.  I will make a controversial assumption that graduation rates are tantamount to graduation probabilities, so if a student enrolled at Delaware State University there may be an approximately 67 percent chance he may not get a degree in six years.  Jeanne Sahadi, in a June 22, 2004 article for CNN, College in 4 years? Try 5 or 6, offers four-year graduation rates for UCLA – 46.9%, Boston University – 61.6%, and the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor – 63.8%. It is clear that Spelman College has a higher graduation rate than these well-known universities.

Spelman College’s mainstream competitiveness is highlighted in, One Step from the Finish Line: Higher College Graduation Rates are Within Our Reach, reported by the Education Trust in January 2005. “.  . . A number of high performing institutions also can be found among the ranks of the nation’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities. HBCUs are, in this sense, no different than any other sector of higher education – some perform exceptionally well; some don’t and most are somewhere in between. The institutions … [Fisk University, Claflin University, Elizabeth City State University, South Carolina State University, Spelman College, Alcorn State University, North Carolina Central University, and Xavier U of Louisiana] have very high graduation rates relative to similar institutions, and not just compared to other HBCUs.  They include Spelman College, whose 77 percent graduation rate is the highest among other, similar liberal arts colleges, most of which educate predominantly White students.” This comment suggests that Spelman College understands that its mission is to help its students to earn the degree in the shortest time possible.

It is incumbent to bring some prospectus to this discussion by sharing a couple of the college graduation rate goals of the State of Massachusetts. A Massachusetts Task Force on Graduation Rates of the Board of Higher offers five year goals. Two Massachusetts goals should be pondered by many colleges today:

·        Graduate over 50% of first-time, full-time students within six years and aspire to rank within the top ten states nationally, without compromising academic standards.

·        Improve first-year retention of first-time, full-time students by five percentage points, one point each year for five years, resulting in 80% of state college freshmen returning to their initial institution for their sophomore year.

What is troubling here is that Massachusetts is hoping for a six-year graduation rate of 50 percent. This suggests that 50 percent of the people entering their colleges may leave with no degree yet have unpaid college loans. Even if the low Massachusetts college graduation goal was to evolve into a national college graduation standard, Historically Black Colleges and Universities with graduation rates comparable to or lower than Delaware State University’s graduation rate may find tomorrow’s ability to survive very tough as competitive pressure continues to intensify to improve college graduation rates. Today’s low graduation rate Historically Black Colleges and Universities might ponder that merely keeping students around for long periods of time with nothing to show for their time and money may morph into tomorrow’s bankruptcy hearings.