NSBE - Convention 2014 - (Page 33)

"We have to let our young people know: through hard work, they can achieve." - Dr. Irving P. McPhail, NACME When she was in elementary school and expressed interest in becoming a nurse, her mom told her to be a doctor instead. Wood, 25, has a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from the University of Pittsburg and decided to get a doctorate there when she learned she could contribute to people's health as an engineer. With a Ph.D. in bioengineering, she can work on products such as artificial pacemakers. The idea of improving the iPhone didn't interest her, she says, but, "I thought it was neat that the things that we were developing would help people." A NEED TO HELP Wood, who is heading a NSBE initiative called "Empowering African-American Women in STEM," is like many young black women who become engineers. African-American women, in general, feel "a greater need to help their community through the types of things that would be done in engineering," says Norman L. Fortenberry, Sc.D., executive director of the American Society for Engineering Education. "(Many African-American women) see things in (their) neighborhood that need to be fixed that deal with infrastructure, clean water. Those are the things that engineers would create. You might not see the need as much if you were Caucasian." Black girls are brought up with a strong sense of self-reliance, which may drive them into higher education and fuel them through the challenges, says Wood. "You're raised to stick it through, no matter the circumstances." Studying engineering "is pretty brutal," and it weeds out a lot of would-be engineers, Wood says. Some of her black women classmates who found engineering too difficult stayed in college and got a degree in another subject. Or, if they left for financial reasons, they finished their engineering degree elsewhere. Many of her black male classmates, on the other hand, dropped out and didn't complete any degree if they found the course load too grueling or that their parents couldn't afford that university. BROAD DISPARITY Educational attainment of African-American men has long been troubling. In 2011-12, according to the National Center for Education Statistics, the number of bachelor's degrees awarded to black men in the U.S. lagged behind the number conferred to black women by almost 48 percent: 63,610 for the men, 121,908 for the women. Many sources attribute this well-known educational gap to a slew of factors that collectively chip away at the numbers of black boys who are ready for college. In fact, girls of all races outshine boys academically, as Christina Hoff Sommers wrote in "The War Against Boys," the title of her book and an article in The Atlantic. "They get better grades. They have higher educational aspirations. They follow more-rigorous academic programs and participate in advanced-placement classes at higher rates. According to www.nsbe.org the National Center for Education Statistics, slightly more girls than boys enroll in high-level math and science courses. Girls, allegedly timorous and lacking in confidence, now outnumber boys in student government, in honor societies, on school newspapers and in debating clubs," she writes. Girls are concerned with pleasing their teachers, and boys have other priorities, like going out to play, Sommers says. "By the twelfth grade, boys are four times as likely as girls not to do homework." Although he agrees that boys of all races are under attack, Dr. Fortenberry says, "I think the effects are more significant within minority communities." Black boys face low expectations in school, says Dr. McPhail. As a result, without someone to look out for them and push them into higher-level classes, black boys haven't taken the courses in middle school and high school that they need to get into and be successful in college, he says. NEED FOR NURTURING Then there's racial profiling and the overrepresentation of blacks in the criminal justice system. "I think the degree to which this is really engrained in our African-American youth has got to be a factor," says Dr. McPhail, who grew up in Harlem with working-class parents who told him he had to be 10 times better to succeed. "We have to let our young people know: through hard work, they can achieve." In the African-American culture, girls tend to be more protected and sheltered, which may shield most from being pulled into the gang culture, Dr. McPhail says. In a macho culture, "I think maybe too often we let our male children fend for themselves. I think we need to make sure that we're giving our male children the same sense of security and attention as we do our little girls." In the African-American community, academically successful boys are called nerds and considered uncool. Dr. McPhail says he tells kids that it's cool to be a nerd and introduces students to "the outstanding engineers and scientists who are making new discoveries." Despite all of the obstacles, writes University of Pennsylvania professor Shaun R. Harper, Ph.D., there are still young men beating the odds: taking rigorous classes, scoring well on standardized tests, becoming engaged with their high schools and going to college. These boys, whether from single-parent or dual-parent homes, share the resources that make girls successful: parental support for education, teachers who set high expectations and parents and teachers who tell them that college is within their reach. ■ Theresa Sullivan Barger is a freelance business writer and a former editor and business writer at The Hartford Courant. NSBE MAGAZINE * C ONVENTION 2014 * 33 http://www.nsbe.org

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NSBE - Convention 2014