Page 8
Portland (DbserUer
January 27, 2010
Rising to Your Full Potential
Community colleges offer a path
by
A lgie
C. G atewood
“During the last eight years,
the poverty gap in America has
w id e n e d ,” w rite s M arcu s
Mundy, president o f the Urban
League o f Portland, in the intro­
duction to the League’s recent
report on The State o f Black
Oregon.
“It has been said that when
America gets a cold, African
Americans get pneumonia. If
there’s a poverty gap for Ameri­
cans g en erally , the A frican
American poverty gap widens
to chasm proportions.”
Sage words from Mr. Mundy,
and sobering words as well. The
hard fact o f the matter is that
despite the many and manifest
strides our society has made in
the direction o f equality - not
the least o f which is the election
o f the first African American
president o f the United States
- a substantial gap persists be­
tween the relative positions o f
communities o f color and the
mainstream population.
Whether it’s in educational
attainm ent, econom ic status,
health, representation in the
criminal justice system, even
quality o f the local environment
- people o f color consistently
come out on
the losing end
in c o m p a ri­
sons with the
majority.
C onsider
the following
fin d in g s
from the Urban League’s re­
port:
with $46,800 for mainstream
households.
• By the time they reach the
1 Oth grade, 60 percent African
American students in Oregon do
not meet reading standards. Sev­
enty-five percent do not meet
math standards, and 63 percent
to not meet writing standards.
• 3 7 percent o f African Ameri­
can-headed families own their
homes, compared to 68 percent
o f mainstream families.
the more likely he or she is to
attain professional success, own
a home, maintain good health,
stay out o f prison, and - perhaps
most importantly - pass on the
importance o f education to his or
her children, thus ensuring that
future generations can share in
the American dream.
Again, there are a host o f
reasons why the American edu­
cational system produces a dif­
ferent set o f outcomes for dif-
Regardless o f background,
one’s economic security is a
direct function o f one’s level
of educational attainment.
underrepresented students en­
rolled in community colleges are
the first people in their families
to seek higher education, com ­
munity colleges offer an acces­
sible, less-intimidating environ­
ment than many four-year insti­
tutions.
For example, at Portland Com­
munity College’s Cascade Cam ­
pus, where I am campus presi­
dent, minority students are rep­
resented at a higher rate in the
student body than they are in the
general population. This is due in
part to demographics - the cam­
pus lies in one o f the most di­
verse neighborhoods in Oregon
- but also because costs are
reasonable and systems are in
p la c e
to
su p p o rt
underrepresented and first-gen­
eration students.
My intention here is not to
suggest that the deck is n ’t
stacked against some students -
the Urban League’s report is full
o f examples o f the pernicious
persistence o f inequality. Rather,
my objective is to show that the
pieces are in place at community
colleges for students o f all back­
grounds to rise to their full poten­
tial.
Over the course o f my career,
I have seen too many examples
to count o f the transformative
power o f higher education. The
road may at times be difficult,
but the opportunities exist. It only
remains for one to rise up and
seize them.
• Median income for African
American-headed households in
• African Americans are six ferent segments o f the popula­
Oregon is $30,000, compared times more likely to be incarcer­ tion, and again, I’ll leave it to
ated in Oregon than members o f others to spell out those reasons.
the mainstream population.
As much as the educational sys­
Much ink has been spilled over tem needs reforms to improve
F ill O u t & Send To:
the decades in an attempt to access and quality for minority
explain the root causes o f these students, these same students
disparities, as well as their stub­
| Ann-. Subscriptions, PO Box 3137, Portland OR 97208 I born persistence even in an age are faced with the reality o f the
moment - they need education
I s u b s c r i p t i o n s a r e j u s t $ 6 0 p e r y e a r I that has been described by some and job training now, not at some
J
(please include check with this subscription form)
I as “post-racial.” I w on’t re-cross far-off point in a rosier future.
that well-traveled ground; most
There are many barriers be­
N ame :
people, in any event, can come tw een
tra d itio n a lly
T elephone : _______
I up with their own, quite accu­ underrepresented students and
I
rate, explanations for the linger­ higher education, most notably
I A ddress :
ing social and economic divides c o st and a v a ila b ility o f
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between Americans o f different coursework. So in many cases,
I o /' em a il su b sc r ip tio n s@ p o r tla n d o b se r v e r .c o m I backgrounds. Rather, I would
a great option for minority stu­
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — j
propose a simple, elegant solu­ dents is com m unity college,
Algie C. Gatewood. Ed.D.,
tion - education.
where these barriers are signifi­ is president o f Portland Com­
The common denominator that cantly reduced if not eliminated
m unity C ollege s Cascade
undergirds the statistics above is entirely.
Campus. You can read the
education. Regardless o f back­
Community colleges offer the Urban League o f Portland’s
ground, one’s economic secu­ most affordable tuition, and the
report on The State o f Black
rity is a direct function o f one’s greatest variety o f scheduling
Oregon
at
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level o f educational attainment. opportunities. And given that a
StateofBlackOregon.
The more educated a person is, s ig n ific a n t p ro p o rtio n o f
Q I , h o p r i h p I 503-288-0033
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Marines in Haiti
The M arines have landed. Not a new expe­
rience for Haiti.
While Americans are focused on the natural
disaster, many o f us are unaware that much o f
Haiti’s disaster is manmade. Made in the USA.
From the early days o f the republic, when the
U.S. imposed a trade embargo for 60 years
(fearing a spread o f the slave revolt), Haiti has
been economically crippled by American impe­
rialism. U.S. corporate interests in Haitian sugar
and coffee plantations were enforced by a Ma-
rine occupation from 1915 to 1934.
More recently, subsidized U.S. agribusiness
products have flooded Haitian food markets,
driving small farmers o ff the land to work in
American-owned industrial sweatshops.
In2004, the U.S. military removed the elected
president, Jean Bertrand Aristide, who had
dared to raise the minimum wage in those sweat­
shops.
Beware whose interests are served by the
“humanitarian” Marines.
Jamie Partridge
Northeast Portland