Crime and College: A Second Look at the Numbers

Algernon Austin presents an excellent, concise, and wonderfully read scholarly examination of the complicated landscape of race, class and popular perception. Besides the prison industrial complex, black strides in education, poverty rates, crime and other indices contradict claims that blacks are “moving backward.”
--Jeffrey O. G. Ogbar, Director, Institute for African American Studies, University of Connecticut and author of Black Power: Radical Politics and African American Identity (The Johns Hopkins University Press), 2004 and Hip-Hop Revolution: The Culture and Politics of Rap (University Press of Kansas), 2007.

Purchase Getting It Wrong: How Black Public Intellectuals
Are Failing Black America by Algernon Austin
Barnes & Noble.com Amazon.com
________________________________________________________________________

Is the Black Teen Murder Rate Increasing?

I agree with James Alan Fox that we should be spending more on preventing crime in black communities and that we need to find ways to keep illegal guns off the streets. But Steven Levitt makes a convincing argument that Fox is exaggerating the increase in the number of homicides by black teens. Fox is mainly capturing the fact that their are more black teens today than seven years ago. There has been only a very slight increase in the homicide rate for black teens. Will the homicide rate increase as the economy worsens? Sadly, I think that it will. Let's hope that I'm wrong.

Has the Growth in Higher Education Stalled for Hispanics and Blacks?

The American Council on Education claims that this is the case but I'm not convinced. See the piece below. I do think that we need to work to increase the rates of Hispanics and blacks obtaining college degrees, regardless.

35 Years Old and Still in School

For many Americans, their formal schooling years do not end in their twenties. The failure to recognize this fact was the source of an error made in a new report by the American Council on Education (ACE). In a press release and newsletter, ACE incorrectly claims that younger adults are obtaining less post-secondary education than their parents. The report compares 25 to 29 year olds to adults 30 and older and finds that for some racial groups, the older adults have a higher percentage of college degrees. The supposed decline was observed for Hispanic Americans and American Indians. African Americans showed no difference between older and younger adults. For whites and Asian Americans, the younger group had a higher share of college degrees.

The full report Minorities in Higher Education 2008 contradicts the claim of declining educational attainment. ACE finds that college enrollment among African Americans rose by 46 percent between 1995 and 2005. For Hispanics it was even higher, up 66 percent. These increases suggest that black and Latino young adults today should have more college education than in the past, not less. This is in fact the case.

The best way to assess the trend in post-secondary education is to compare 25 to 29 years olds year-to-year. By comparing different age groups, ACE creates an apples-to-oranges comparison. If there was a decline in minority youth seeking higher education, an analysis of individuals in the same age group would reveal it.

The tables below show that for Hispanics and blacks there has been an increase in the percent of 25-to-29 year olds with an associate's degree or higher from 2000 to 2007. We see no signs of a stalling when we restrict the analysis to individuals of the same age. It is also worth noting that for 2000 and 2007, the highest rate of college degree attainment is not 25-to-29 year olds. This is the first problem with comparing 25-to-29 year olds to older adults.




The second problem is that the growth in college degrees by age category from 2000 to 2007 is not largest for the 25-to-29 year olds. For Hispanics, the biggest growth in college degrees is among the 50+--4 percentage points. For blacks, it is among the 35-to-39 year olds--7 percentage points. Simply, what we are seeing is not a decline in degrees earned by 25-to-29 year olds, but large increases for minority adults 30 years old and above.

Since the 1980s, about one-in-four students enrolled in America’s colleges and universities have been 30 years old or over. It would be nice to think that all of these older students were in school simply for the love of learning, but it is more likely that they were trying to find a way to increase their earnings.

In the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, Americans without a college degree could find a job that paid a good wage. Additionally, over these decades, the wages of these jobs increased significantly. Once one had a good job, there was no need to obtain more education as a means to higher earnings.

Since the 1970s, good jobs for those without a college degree have been harder and harder to find. The danger of being stuck in low-wage occupations is acute for Hispanics, blacks and American Indians. As a result, many Americans return to school as a step in trying to improve their financial situation. Many people need to find a new job requiring a higher educational credential to experience any significant increase in income. Low wage growth is ultimately the likely reason why Americans in their 30s are better educated than Americans in their 20s.


Share this article with a friend. Use the email icon below.

--Algernon Austin, Ph.D.

Copyright © 2005-2008 by Thora Institute, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

NYTimes: A Plea for Sensible Gun Regulation

From the New York Times, December 23, 2008:

"For years, the gun lobby has defeated new gun control laws partly by arguing that stronger laws do not deter crime. A study prepared by Mayors Against Illegal Guns, a bipartisan group headed by Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York and Mayor Thomas Menino of Boston, should finally put that myth to rest.

"The study analyzed trace data for guns used in connection with crimes during 2007. The data reveal a strong correlation between weak state gun laws and higher rates of in-state murders, police slayings and sales of guns used in crimes in other states."

Read the full editorial.

How Black Public Intellectuals Are Failing Black Students

Algernon Austin presents an excellent, concise, and wonderfully read scholarly examination of the complicated landscape of race, class and popular perception. Besides the prison industrial complex, black strides in education, poverty rates, crime and other indices contradict claims that blacks are “moving backward.”
--Jeffrey O. G. Ogbar, Director, Institute for African American Studies, University of Connecticut and author of Black Power: Radical Politics and African American Identity (The Johns Hopkins University Press), 2004 and Hip-Hop Revolution: The Culture and Politics of Rap (University Press of Kansas), 2007.

Purchase Getting It Wrong: How Black Public Intellectuals
Are Failing Black America by Algernon Austin
Barnes & Noble.com Amazon.com
________________________________________________________________________


For the past 20 years or so, the leading black public intellectuals have used their command of the national media to condemn black students for supposedly not valuing education. For example, the NPR and Fox News correspondent, Juan Williams’ recent book claims that there is a “culture of failure” among black students.

There are two tragedies here. First, black students are being falsely condemned. The attitudinal data, the test-score trends and the college enrollment trends all show black students to value education at least as much—if not more than—white students. The second tragedy is that all of the energy the black public intellectuals have expended beating up on black students has not been used to help black students cope with the many educational disadvantages that they face.

Generally, black students do worse in school than white students because they are raised in families and communities that are socioeconomically disadvantaged relative to white students. Additionally, these disadvantaged students are then sent to schools that are of lower quality than the schools white students attend.

Thankfully, there are educational leaders and policy makers who don’t bother to listen to the misinformation about black students. Maryland, for example, has recognized that teacher quality matters and has made investments in recent years with the goal of improving teacher quality. There appears to have been a big payoff to black students. For example, in 2004, 53.2 percent of black six-graders were proficient on the state reading test. By 2008, the proficiency rate had increased to 72.4 percent. In math, the 2004 proficiency rate was 30.2 percent. By 2008, it had increased to 61.2 percent. These are very large gains in a short period of time.

I have not seen a very careful analysis of the data, so it is possible that factors other than the increased spending on teachers may have led to these increases. The academic research, however, generally does show a strong positive relationship between teacher quality and student achievement.

Although, black students have posted big test-score gains in a short period of time in Maryland, they are still the lowest scoring student group. It appears that all students have benefited from better teaching. Blacks were the lowest scoring racial group in 2004, and all groups increased their test scores—not just blacks. The reforms were statewide; they were not targeted to black students. Because all groups advanced, black students were not able to close the achievement gaps. Even with better schools, black students still come from families and communities that are disadvantaged.

People like Juan Williams should be drawing attention to the very impressive increases in test scores among black students in Maryland. They should be using their media power to move the other 49 states and the District of Columbia to improve teacher quality for black students in those states. Additionally, Williams should be pointing out that not only do black students need better schools, they also need other programs to reduce the socioeconomic disparities between black and white families and communities.


Share this article with a friend. Use the email icon below.

--Algernon Austin, Ph.D.

Copyright © 2005-2008 by Thora Institute, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

How to Combat Housing Segregation; What the Auto Bailout Means for Blacks

Algernon Austin presents an excellent, concise, and wonderfully read scholarly examination of the complicated landscape of race, class and popular perception. Besides the prison industrial complex, black strides in education, poverty rates, crime and other indices contradict claims that blacks are “moving backward.”
--Jeffrey O. G. Ogbar, Director, Institute for African American Studies, University of Connecticut and author of Black Power: Radical Politics and African American Identity (The Johns Hopkins University Press), 2004 and Hip-Hop Revolution: The Culture and Politics of Rap (University Press of Kansas), 2007.

Purchase Getting It Wrong: How Black Public Intellectuals
Are Failing Black America by Algernon Austin
Barnes & Noble.com Amazon.com
________________________________________________________________________

Combat Housing Segregation and Support Diversity

by Margery Austin Turner

"Research strongly suggests that Americans want more residential integration than we are getting. But a self-perpetuating combination of inequities, fears, and inertia work against this goal. Given the complexity of the factors sustaining residential segregation in urban America today, the federal government should take the lead on a three-pronged strategy: (1) enforcement to combat persistent discrimination, (2) education on the availability and desirability of diverse neighborhoods, and (3) incentives to encourage and nurture residential diversity. Each is essential to achieving the full potential of the other two."

[Read the full statement]

African Americans are especially at risk in the auto crisis

by Robert E. Scott and Christian Dorsey

"African Americans earn much higher wages in auto industry jobs than in other parts of the economy, and the loss of these solid, middle-class jobs would be a devastating blow. Hourly wages for African Americans in the motor vehicle industry averaged $17.08 (excluding fringe benefits) in 2007, versus economy-wide average wages for African American of $15.44 per hour."

[Read the full article]

William Raspberry Gets It Wrong

Algernon Austin presents an excellent, concise, and wonderfully read scholarly examination of the complicated landscape of race, class and popular perception. Besides the prison industrial complex, black strides in education, poverty rates, crime and other indices contradict claims that blacks are “moving backward.”
--Jeffrey O. G. Ogbar, Director, Institute for African American Studies, University of Connecticut and author of Black Power: Radical Politics and African American Identity (The Johns Hopkins University Press), 2004 and Hip-Hop Revolution: The Culture and Politics of Rap (University Press of Kansas), 2007.

Purchase Getting It Wrong: How Black Public Intellectuals
Are Failing Black America by Algernon Austin
Barnes & Noble.com Amazon.com
________________________________________________________________________


Sadly, William Raspberry has to be added to the too-long list of leading black public intellectuals who have their facts wrong about black America. In November, the Washington Post published an op-ed by Raspberry in which he argued, "Many black children -- and too many of their parents -- don't value education" and "Black communities are beset by crime and violence but, again, less because of racism than because of lack of discipline in those communities." Raspberry is wrong on both counts.

First, black students and their parents value education at least as much as white students, if not more than white students. I've been trying to get the punditry and the media to look at the actual data for a few years now. For example, in a recent lecture that I gave to the Education Policy Forum in Washington D.C., I pointed out that data from the Monitoring the Future survey, the National Educational Longitudinal Study, the Survey of Income Program Participation, Public Agenda's Reality Check survey and a number of other surveys all show black students to value education at least as much as white students. Most of these surveys, in fact, show black students to have stronger pro-school attitudes than white students.

The test-score trends also support this view. Although black students still have significantly lower test scores than white students, the gap has declined since the 1970s. The long-term trends National Assessment of Educational Progress, the General Social Survey vocabulary test, National Assessment of Adult Literacy and a variety of cognitive tests all show that black students standardized test scores have increased at a rate faster than white students over the last 40 years. If black students were rejecting education as much as Raspberry and others believe, it is not likely that this closing of the gap would have occurred.

Finally, black students have had strong growth in their enrollment and completion of college. Years ago, in the book, The Black-White Test-Score Gap, Christopher Jencks showed that when black and white students have equal levels of academic achievement in high school, black students are more likely to graduate from college. This result is what one would expect if black students valued education more than white students--which is exactly what the attitudinal survey data suggests.

Where this generation of black punditry goes wrong is that they fail to appreciate the degree of socioeconomic disadvantage the average black student faces relative to the average white student. A large black-white achievement gap already exists by first grade. This is because relative to white students, black students are much more likely to grow up in poverty, live in families with much less wealth (as opposed to income), have less-educated parents, have been born with a low birth weight, have a mother who is suffering from depression, and I could go on and on. These and other factors put black children behind from the earliest days of formal schooling. And then, to add insult to injury, we put these disadvantaged students in schools that are of significantly lower quality than the schools white students attend. This school-quality disadvantage increases the black-white achievement gap. And then to add further insult to injury, a generation of black public intellectuals decide it is black students who need to be condemned in this picture.

Raspberry is also wrong in his take on crime in black communities. Raspberry assumes that crime in black communities has been increasing because of a lack of discipline due to absent fathers. There may be lots of real and fictional crime stories in the media, but the facts are that from 1993 to 2004 we saw a strong and steady decline in violent crime in black communities. The data is also fairly strong that, again, black socioeconomic disadvantage lies at the root of the higher crime rates in black communities. See the list of references below for some recent research on this issue.

Raspberry's larger point was that we need to begin to shift our energies away from a focus on civil rights concerns like equal quality education and criminal justice reform to the issue of moral uplift in the black community. If one looks clearly at the evidence, it is clear that he is wrong on that point too.

Socioeconomic Disadvantage and Crime: References

• Eric D. Gould, Bruce A. Weinberg and David B. Mustard, “Crime Rates and Local Labor Market Opportunities in the United States, 1979-1997,” The Review of Economics and Statistics 84(1), February 2002: 45-61.


• Jeff Grogger, “Market Wages and Youth Crime,” Journal of Labor Economics 16(4), October 1998: 756-791.


• Morgan Kelly, “Inequality and Crime,” The Review of Economics and Statistics 82(4), November 2000: 530-539.


• Jens Ludwig, Greg Duncan and Paul Hirshfield, “Urban Poverty and Juvenile Crime: Evidence from a Randomized Housing-Mobility Experiment,” The Quarterly Journal of Economics 116(2), May 2001: 655-679.

Share this article with a friend. Use the email icon below.

--Algernon Austin, Ph.D.

Copyright © 2005-2008 by Thora Institute, LLC. All Rights Reserved.