America's educational system is in crisis. According to the research, 47% of high school students in America's 50 largest cities drop out of high school before graduation. Of the remainder, 20% leave high school with a fifth grade reading, writing, and math competency or lower!
Twelve years ago I had suggested that American colleges and universities needed to provide more opportunities for Hispanics, Native Americans, and People of Color to earn doctoral degrees in business. Although 53% of doctoral candidates in business were minorities at that time, very few of those doctoral candidates were American-born minorities. The attached paper documents that a hybrid doctoral program in business schools could be implemented that would be profit generating while enabling students to continue to work full-time.
Why have American colleges and universities failed to address this important social policy issue -- especially when we are now in a knowledge-, wisdom-, and information-based economy and so many of those who drop out of high school desperately need role models? In today's difficult financial times, why are business schools not seeing this type of revenue generating opportunity as both financially wise and socially important?
CC
A type of affirmative action for low-income, minority students may help to increase access to Business Schools. Additionally, the financial resources Business Schools have can be refocused towards helping low-income, minority students meet their financial needs. Business schools could also use their funds to set up programs which seek to recruit promising, yet financially and socially unstable students, while they are still in high school. They should provide these prospective college students with distinct information about various funding possibilities, which they may otherwise not know. Such policy shift would require Business Schools to commit sincerely to creating greater economic equality in the enrollment process.
Paul, your ideas make sense.
In my opinion, the issue is the HUGE issue of role-modeling. Minority youth need faculty with their own ethnic background and American colleges and universities have underserved that population group in providing American-born or American-reared minorities the opportunity to obtain a DBA or PhD in most professions.
The fact is that in the fifty largest Standard Metropolitan Statistical Areas in the USA, 47% of high school students drop out before graduation -- and a huge percentage of that group are minorities who need role models.
The problem of providing opportunities for minorities to earn a doctoral degree in the academic area of Business is disappointingly bad. Unfortunately, even the Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) produce a very small number of doctoral graduates in business-related fields. Worse, they do not seem to be inclined to change their approaches.
When doctoral students at HBCUs are graduated, they write dissertations that narrow their fields of expertise to the point where their only areas of likely future employment are other HBCUs. DIssertation chairs permit doctoral candidates to write qualitative dissertations that are virtually unable to lead to a quality publication.
At least, that's my observation of the world that I see. Do you have another perspective?
CC
I agree with your views, Cam. It's a vicious circle for HBCUs because they face two difficult challenges: lack of robust funding and inability to recruit the best graduate students in the country. It seems that both problems are intertwined. Most business schools in the country have only paid lip service to issues of diversity and inclusion. Recognition and representation, in my opinion, are primary social goods. Lack of role models for minority students is not limited to business schools in the U.S., but cuts across the disciplines. It amounts to the denial of primary social goods to certain demographics, especially African Americans and Hispanics.
Paul:
I have applied for positions at several HBCUs in an effort to assist them in developing and expanding doctoral programs. Despite my academic record, I have not been viewed favorably -- although I have also co-authored more than 40 papers with minority scholars and doctoral candidates. Do you have any advice?
Cam
Cam:
As I already noted, many HBCUs are on very tight budgets. I would suggest you look for a research or curriculum development fellowship (Carnegie Mellon or others) that would allow you to teach or work at any institution of your choice for a semester or a year. That way, HBCUs can make use of your service without worrying about funding, and the administrators at such schools would have the opportunity to get acquainted with you and your scholarship. I hope my answer is helpful.
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