This week's speaker, Leslie Fenwick, introduced the class with a questionnaire that she has given students before. The questionnaire asked questions like "What percentage of crack cocaine users are white?" and "What subgroup of twelfth graders deem drug use unacceptable?" The answers amongst the class varied. The people we were sure about their answers were wrong, and very few were correct. The point of this questionnaire was to prove to ignorance of college freshman to their community, as well as to inform us on the information that we should know.
The facts were shocking. As it turns out, sixty-eight percent of crack cocaine usage is among whites, and seventy-two percent of powder cocaine usage is among whites. This question shows the under estimation of our people in society because people a quick to refer to blacks as "crackheads" and "crack babies". Another fact is that mostly African American twelfth graders deem drug use unacceptable; In addition, African American males tend to score higher on the SAT (and other standardized tests) than African American females. This raises another question in our society that continues to go unanswered. If boys are scoring higher on these tests, why are they underrepresented in college?
A lot of people, black or white, like to blame the downfall of today's society on African Americans. However, these people fail to know the facts of their community. We have to teach our young children the FACTS, so that we can push against misconception in our country.
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