Education secretary Arne Duncan is absolutely correct in his essay, “Education: The Path to Success for African-Americans”, for the National Urban League’s State of Black America 2010 report that education is critical to not just African-American success but the overall success of the nation itself. When it comes to minority groups in this country, education has, without argument, served as an equalizer. But most importantly, ensuring that all groups receive adequate education allows the nation as a whole to be more efficient and ultimately more competitive.
Determining what “education” entails is challenging, however. Duncan and many other leaders imply that seeking a college education after high school is the only viable option for African-Americans and thus narrowly define education in those terms. Please believe that a “college education” refers to four-year institutions only, i.e. public institutions like the UCLA or Ivy League ones like Harvard.
Although I like to think of education as a tool for personal enrichment, the fact is most people go to college to get a job. Consequently, we are often presented with statistics constantly emphasizing that college graduates earn more than high school graduates (and dropouts). Somehow we never really learn what electricians and plumbers earn in relation to college graduates. Making matters worse, plumbers and electricians are rarely viewed as intellectually capable in other aspects of life. Yet, one of the main reasons Reconstruction remains a remarkably unprecedented period of growth for African-Americans has a lot to do with the abundance of skilled labor. Former slaves were able to create their own cities because they were extremely self-sufficient. They could build their own homes, make their own clothes and grow their own food. They possessed practically everything needed to create a successful community.
Still that message hasn’t filtered down. Booker T. Washington was much maligned for his support of trade education. Never mind that, at Tuskegee, students could major in English and Music as well. Washington, however, understood that black America could not survive on just proper grammar and well composed tunes alone. He was very much engaged in the process of nation building. That’s why he understood the importance of George Washington Carver as well as the local Alabama farmers whom Carver schooled in better farming techniques through his mobile farming school. Carver was highly educated in the traditional sense and filtered that education to others who were not.
One of my brothers attended the University of Colorado briefly but decided is was not the right fit for him; culinary arts school was. Although he had always cooked, no one around him, including myself, made the connection that he should pursue a culinary career. When he enrolled at a school in Chicago, he was surprised to find that he was just one of three African-Americans in his class. Long before the Food Network and Top Chef, a segment of the country always knew that there was great money in food. Actually, Delilah Winder, the popular female chef from Philadelphia left a very good, respectable job to pursue her talent. Yes, she’s done very well for herself but how much further along would she already be if food was presented as a viable option for her early in life? The same goes for my brother.
A few years ago, one of my Columbia classmates decided to pursue a spa career. She had always enjoyed spa treatments and made a point to seek them out during her travels. It never occurred to her to pursue it as a career, however, until much later. Perhaps it never crossed her mind because, when you are considered among the talented tenth as we are, certain occupations are not deemed acceptable. We went to Columbia so we are supposed to be the President of the United States and the head of the NAACP (just like famous alums Barack Obama and Ben Jealous). Although my friend had excelled at Columbia and worked very successfully in various fields after college, she still had to attend school for two years because there’s an expertise in every field and she had to master this one.
So, as the National Urban League continues its hundred year tradition of advocating for jobs for African-Americans, let us hope that it will broaden its term for education and earnestly work to present as many career options to our youth as possible. In the ever so hot pursuit of the green economy, for example, “farmer” is now a very viable career. And while a degree in agriculture at a four year institution is indeed an option, it’s doubtful that’s the education Duncan deems appropriate for African-American youth in his essay. If we wish to better the future, we must acknowledge that not every opportunity comes in the same package. Education is as multi-faceted as life itself.
