This is where the real cause of the problem lies--some students simply do not do the work. Many black youth do not have the motivation to stay in school and study. A number of authors have suggested possible causes of the problem and some have proposed solutions.
One of the most important factors in how motivated a student is is his parents. There has been shown to be a correlation between how much parents care about their child's education and how well the student performs in school.(Cherian p. 272) When students' parents care about their education enough to pay attention to the grades they get and make sure that they do their homework, students will at least care about what grades they get and will probably be motivated to do some of the work. It is also quite likely that such parents can instill in their children an understanding of the value of a good education. Unfortunately, many students' parents do not pay enough attention to their children's education, either because they do not think it is important, or because they are so busy with other problems.
An important part of this is how their parents perceive the educational system. John Ogbu argues that due to the fact that over the years schooling for black students has often been inferior to that of white students, many blacks do not trust the educational system to have any interest in preparing their students for desirable jobs.(Ogbu p. 145) As a result, they often do not cooperate with the schools by making their students do their homework and by teaching their students how important it is for them to get an education.
Ogbu proposes that a main reason that black youth are not motivated to learn in school is due to inequality in society. Specifically, he says that the problem of black motivation originates with black people's awareness of a bias against blacks in the job market and in the educational system.(Ogbu p. 148,149)
He describes a system of castelike stratification by which many blacks are prevented from getting good jobs primarily due to racist hiring practices. He differentiates this from class stratification, which he describes as the division of people by education and ability instead of race. He believes that class stratification has not completely replaced caste stratification. He presents three arguments for his position.(Ogbu p. 138)
His first argument is that statistics show that "blacks are still underrepresented in desirable jobs and often overqualified for the jobs that they do."(Ogbu p. 138) However, he does not make clear exactly how many whites are also overqualified for the jobs that they do and it is not clear that it is race that is causing this underrepresentation or if it is differing levels of qualification. Considering that the basis for his article is the fact that many blacks are not getting as good an education as whites are, there is significant reason to believe that at least part of the disparity is due to differences in qualification and education.
His second argument is that there is a white backlash against affirmative action.(Ogbu p. 138) However, there are many reasons for such a white backlash, such as the fact that such programs may force employers to hire less qualified workers than they would hire otherwise in order to fill quotas or goals.
His third argument is that the fact that blacks require programs such as affirmative action to enter the middle class. While it is obvious that affirmative action will increase the number of blacks in desirable positions if quotas are set high enough, the statement that blacks need these programs to enter the middle class is a very general statement that is very hard to prove, and he provides very little evidence to back it up. In addition, all that this statement would prove is that blacks cannot get into the middle class on their own, not that it was because of castelike stratification.
While Ogbu does not present a good argument for the existence of castelike stratification, it is true that many people believe that it is a problem, in particular black people. According to Ogbu, black parents complain about perceived discrimination in the workplace in front of their children and unwittingly transmit to their children the message that there is no point in getting a good education since they will be unable to gain desirable jobs regardless of their qualifications. It is only reasonable to believe that if these parents don't reinforce in their children a belief in the importance of a good education, that their children will come to the conclusion that education is not necessary.
Another important factor in the motivation of black students is the existence of ""nonconventional," as Ogbu puts it, ways of achieving success or making money such as pimping and drug dealing. Success in such careers can earn one respect and money without requiring him/her to go to school. According to Ogbu, black children learn this at a very young age and can wonder if school is really necessary.
Another possible problem affecting the motivation of black students is the fact that some high school teachers are willing to let students go on to the next grade even though they do not do the work required of them. According to Pereny, many teachers in New York will let students who have done very little work to the next grade when those students come to them at the end of the year and beg them not to make them go to summer school. He argues that this discourages students from doing the work when they can get through the twelve years without doing any.(Pereny p. 17,18) While it goes without saying that students should not be allowed to graduate without having learned the required material, it is unclear whether this would have much effect on literacy levels among black youth. It seems that this tightening of rules would increase the dropout rate by convincing many students who would otherwise try to get through high school without doing any work to give up on school altogether when it started to require work from them. However, it is quite likely that the students who do graduate would most likely learn more than they would have under lower standards.
One possible solution suggested by Kozol in his book Illiterate America, is to reach out to parents in order to convince them to take more interest in their students education. Kozol provides convincing anecdotal evidence that stopping by the parents' house on a friendly visit is a very effective way to gain their trust and help generate an interest in their child's education.(Kozol p. 216,217) In the same vein, a number of authors suggest that programs of adult literacy must be strengthened since literate parents are a lot more likely to take an interest in the quality of their child's education.(Kozol p. 212-214), (Applebee p. 21)
Getting more black children to be interested in getting a good education is a daunting task, but it is an important issue that must be addressed. Achieving success outside of dangerous careers in organized crime is nearly impossible without a good education.