In a recent article, I previewed the impact that the reduction of the US birth rate relative to the birth rate of developing country is likely to have. Irrespective of the politics being presently played out with immigration policies, the US will have to attract large numbers of skilled and educated persons to replace its aging work force. In addition to this, the shift in the sex ratio towards female dominance in educational institutions will add some interesting features. In Jamaica, females dominate enrolment at all educational levels. For every four college graduates, three are female. Among recent law school graduates the ration is even more lopsided, four out of every five graduates are female.
Race, Gender and Education in The USA
In the USA, about 75% of African Americans age 25 or older do not have a college diploma, and 80% lacked college degrees in all but two of the 15 largest U.S. metropolitan areas—Washington, D.C. and Atlanta. Whites were more than twice as likely to be college graduates in a dozen of these cities, with the largest disparities (2.5 times) in Memphis, New York City, and Philadelphia. (US Population Reference Bureau). In 2000, more than half (53.4%) of all young (14-to-24-year-old) Black men, and two-thirds of all young Black women (67.3%) who had graduated from high school also had gone on to enroll in or complete college. The year 2000 witnessed the highest recorded college enrollment and completion rate (67.3%) for young Black women with high school diplomas, a rate that exceeded the rate for young white men (64.5%). In contrast, the college enrollment and completion rate for young Black male high school graduates in 2000 (53.4%) was lower than in any year since 1993 (50.7%). Among adults ages 25 and older in 2002, 16.5% of Black men and 17.7% of Black women held bachelor’s degrees. This compares to 31.7% of white men and 27.3% of white women. Among Hispanic adults in 2002, 11% of men and 11.2% of women completed college.
The percentage of African American men with a bachelor’s degree or more in 2002 was over 3.5 times the percentage (4.5%) in 1964, and the 2002 percentage for African-American women was more than 5 times higher than in 1964 (3.4%). These substantial gains helped African American adults to reduce differences between their college completion rates and those of whites. In 1964, white men were 2.7 times more likely than African American men to hold a bachelor’s degree. By 2002, they were only twice as likely to do so. Similarly, in 1964 the percentage of white women with college degrees was twice that for black women. This ratio had fallen to 1.5 times more likely by 2002. (Joint Center Data Bank)
On Monday, April 24, 2006, another chapter in the transition process was played out in the Appellate Division First Department Courthouse in New York State Supreme Court at 27 Madison Avenue in New York City. Sixty-Eight (68) persons were sworn in based on the results of the July 2005 New York State Bar Exam. These attorneys were certified for admission based on there appearance before the Committee on Character and Fitness appointed by the Appellate Division in each Judicial District of the State to be examined as to character and fitness. The ceremony lasted all of 20 minutes. Justice Milton Reeves welcomed them all to “the 2nd oldest profession” and encouraged them to pay attention to public service and preserving a positive public image. In this illustrious groups were only 4 Black persons and they were all women. Of special note, three of them were Caribbean persons; Nicole Spooner from Barbados and Roxanne Smith and Naita Semaj from Jamaica.
The 2 Jamaican Women
Roxanne Smith is the daughter of Fred Smith, the Managing Director of Tropical Tours in Montego Bay. She graduated from Montego Bay High in 1995 then went on to earn a double major in Mathematics and Economics from Boston University in 2001. Her Juris Doctor degree was earned from Valparaiso University School of Law in Indiana. Roxanne is now an Associate at Joan Flowers and Associates, a private law firm in New York City. Naita Semaj (my daughter) took an interesting route to her law degree. After a traumatic time at the Queens School, she went on to completed her CXCs under much stress at Holy Childhood High School in 1995. Her high school experiences motivated her towards a career in which she would be able to help children who are misunderstood as she was. She completed her Bachelor of Arts Degree in Social Work at Lehman College (CUNY) in 2000. She then enrolled in the evening programme at St. John’s University School of Law in New York. Of the five Black students that started the programme with her, she was the only one to graduate. She is now an Attorney at the Family Court Legal Services in Bronx, New York. Marley was correct: Dem a go ty-ad fi si wi face.
