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African-Americans
and Education
Educational Attainment
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The percentage of
young ( 25 to 29-year-old ) African Americans and whites who have completed
high school (including GED's) has risen dramatically since 1960. Among
young African Americans, the percentage of high school graduates rose
from 39% in 1960 to 86.8% in 2000. During the same period, high school
completion among young whites grew by nearly a third, from about 62% to
near universality (94%).
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High school completion
rates for 25-to 29-year-old Hispanics have not risen as much as those
for other groups over the past 30 years, and they remained much lower
than the rates for others in 2000 (62.8%). This may largely reflect the
relatively high percentage of immigrants without high school diplomas
among Hispanics.
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The percentages of
white and Hispanic women aged 25 to 29-years-old who completed high school
have equaled or surpassed the percentages for white and Hispanic men,
respectively, since 1981. During that period, black men and women have
reversed positions several times.
-Sources: United
States Census Bureau
College and Advanced
Degrees
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Among adults age 25
and older, about 78.5% of African Americans had at least a high school
diploma in 2000, and 15.5% had a bachelor's degree or a higher degree.
The parallel percentages for whites were 88.4% (high school diploma) and
27.6% (bachelor's degree or higher).
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In 2000, blacks were
almost as likely to have earned associate's degrees as were whites (6.4%
versus 8.1%); the percentage for Hispanics (4.7%) was lower. Gaps in attainment
were larger among those with bachelor's degrees: 10.9% of African American
and 7.8% of Hispanic adults had B.A.'s in 2000 compared to about 18.5%
of whites.
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In the total population
25 to 29-years-old, college completion rates for women (30% ) exceeded
those for men (28% ) in 2000. (Not illustrated on chart-Bureau of Labor
Statistics).
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Relatively small percentages
of adults had advanced degrees in 2000, and the percentage of whites who
held them (9.1%) was more than twice the percentage of blacks (4.6%) and
three times that of Hispanics (3.1%). African Americans (3.7% ) and Hispanics
(1.9% ) were only one-half and one-third as likely as
whites (6.2% ) to hold masters degrees in 2000. Professional degrees were
four times more prevalent among whites
(1.6%) than among blacks or Hispanics (0.6% and 0.7%), and whites were
twice as likely to have doctorates (1.3% vs. 0.3% and 0.5%).
International Comparison
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Among 25-to-34-year-old
African Americans in the United States are more likely than young adults
in Canada, France, Italy, and the United Kingdom to have completed high
school, and more likely than those in Italy, the United Kingdom, Germany,
and France to have completed college.
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Despite their educational
disadvantages in the United States, particularly in completing college,
and important differences in the educational systems of different nations,
it may surprise some that African Americans are among the more highly
educated groups of workers in the industrialized world.
References
Bureau of Labor Statistics, College
Enrollment and Work Activity of 1997 High School Graduates
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/hsgec.nws.htm
Changing America: Indicators of Social and Economic Well-Being by Race
and Hispanic Origin
http://www.access.gpo.gov/eop/ca/charts/index.html
Conrad, C. and M. Lindquist, "Improvements in Educational Attainment,
but Little Reward" Focus, September 1997.
Harrison, Roderick, "Working on the Educational Gap", Focus,
June 1999.
National Center for Educational Statistics, U.S. Rank in Educational Attainment
http://www.nces.ed.gov/pubs/esn/.
Prepared by Cassandra
Cantave and Roderick Harrison for the Joint Center for Political and Economic
Studies. December 2001.
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Last updated: December 18, 2007
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