Although it was a common refrain of Black male educators and a complaint by my Black female friends, it never really hit me that there are few Black males on collegiate campuses. I attribute my relative blindness to the seriousness of this matter to the fact that Black males tend to sign up for my courses in droves.
Long ago, I came to understand that so many of the academic advisors on my campus were intentionally putting Black males in my African-American History courses that purposefully traverse across a wide swath of issues/topics that directly impact Black men. My teaching methods and subject matters are purposeful and aimed at the Black experience.
At the beginning of one semester, I arrived for the initial day of class and, for some reason, noticed that in a class of nearly eighty students, there were approximately four Black males present. Without the slightest thought, I heard myself musing, “Jesus, who are these sisters going to marry?” At this moment, the crisis of the disappearing Black male collegian leaped from theoretical studies to a real problem threatening to doom Black America.
My daily exposure to Black collegians on an HBCU prepared me for a recent study calling attention to the dwindling numbers of men on collegiate campuses. According to the survey, only 40% of collegians were males. Additionally, the disappearing male collegian accounted for more than 70% of the enrollment decline in colleges over the past five years. It goes without saying that if White male enrollment is spiraling downward, things are much worse among Black males. Unfortunately for Blacks, former Presidential candidate Ross Perot’s infamous observation that “If America catches a cold, Black America gets pneumonia” holds in this and every other matter.
I find this moment to be particularly interesting because it will provide a rare glimpse into the strategic actions of American society to reverse the trend of White males disappearing from collegiate campuses. Of course, the fairest remedy to this issue is the same one that white society rushed to the forefront to install within Black America; the alluded remedy is for Black families to reprioritize their values and place unprecedented emphasis on education when it came to their sons. After all, White America’s reading of this matter was that the lagging academic performance of Black boys/males is a by-product of social dysfunction in Black America. If only Black males would turn off the rap music, put down the video game controller, and focus on their academics, they would succeed.
Why aren’t the above remedies being applied to White males who are also disappearing from collegiate campuses? Power-brokers’ avoidance of any criticism of white culture and using a dubious socialization process transmitting dysfunction and questionable priorities is unsurprising. From the lens of white privilege, it is a given that there is nothing wrong with White America or the White males they produce. So, it must be the flawed system preventing their entrance into higher education needing correction.
The solution to the issue of the disappearing White male on collegiate campuses is the discarding of fairness in admission policies resting on GPAs and standardized test scores and a discreet, yet very powerful, embrace in preferential treatment. Yes, many private institutions are implementing Affirmative Action plans to reverse this trend of the disappearing White male collegian. Rest assured that I am not oblivious that this shrewd move to bolster the presence of White male collegians will benefit Black and Brown males as well.
Yet, the most important message coming from this slanting of admission standards in favor of males proves yet again that the unspoken mantra of powerful White males is “if you ain’t cheatin, you ain’t tryin.” However, I must tip my hat to powerful White men whose determination to maintain their position atop American society outweighs any semblance of fairness or justice. If nothing else, they are consistent in the evil that they do.
James Thomas Jones III, Ph.D.
©Manhood, Race, and Culture, 2021
