First Reading Assignment

For my first reading assignment on the academic achievement gap between African-American (and maybe Latino students) and white students, I decided to read the book Keepin' It Real by Harvard University Professor, Prudence L. Carter.  This book has a primary focus on minorities (excluding Asians) who live in low-income communities in New York and other urban cities across the country.  Carter uses these students as a platform for the rest of the minority population of students in the country.  She believes that outside and societal views and impressions are hindering Black and Hispanic students from reaching their full potential. I have learned many new things about the academic achievement gap from the first 50 pages I have read thus far.  The most significant aspect of the book so far is that despite a general assumption, most African-American and Latino students believe that education is extremely important and beneficial to the progress of their life.  They believe that education is the ticket for success.  Sixty-four out of the sixty-eight students in Professor Carter's study said that "getting a good education is a practical road to success for young Black and Hispanic persons like them" (23).  Carter then goes on to say that according to a 1998 national survey by Douglas Downey and James Ainsworth-Darnell, "Black students report more optimistic occupational expectations, view education as more important to their future, and maintain more pro-school attitudes than do their White counterparts" (25).  This was shocking to me.  It seems that Blacks believe more in the value of an education as compared to White students, but are seemingly not achieving at the levels of White students overall.  How could this be?  This seems really ironic to me.   I look forward in continuing to read this book and explore her other possible reasons for this achievement gap and possibly some of her plausible solutions for the United States chronic problem.