Contents

CHAPTER IV. Education

CHART

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IV. Education

School Attendance

According to historical accounts, very few Blacks attended school in the 18th century and during the early part of the 19th century; educational instruction was received by a relatively large number of Blacks during the latter part of the 19th century. According to the 1890 census, enrollment levels among Black children and youth were very low; at that time, only about one-third of the 3.0 million Blacks 5 to 19 years old were attending school.1

Impressive gains in school attendance have been noted for Blacks in the 20th century. In 1910, about 45 percent of Blacks 5 to 20 years old were enrolled in school; by 1940, the rate had climbed to 65 percent; and in 1975, 87 percent of the 8.7 million Blacks 5 to 20 years old were enrolled (table 63).

In the late 1800's and early 1900's, Blacks were much less likely than Whites to have been enrolled in school. For example, in 1890, the enrollment rate of 33 percent for Blacks 5 to 19 years old lagged 25 percentage points behind the 58 percent for the comparable group of White youth. However, the gap in school attendance between Blacks and Whites has been almost eliminated in recent years, partially as a result of compulsory attendance laws for persons of elementary and secondary school ages. In 1975, the proportion of Blacks and Whites 5 to 20 years old enrolled in school was about the same-about 86 percent.

In 1890, enrollment rates for Blacks 5 to 19 years old were lower in the South (where over 90 percent of Black school-age youth lived) than in the remainder of the Nation-31 percent in the South versus 48 percent in the North and West, a difference of 17 percentage points. Historians report that this education lag in the 19th century for young Blacks living in the South was due to several influences, including the limited acceptance of a public school system in the southern rural areas and the opposition to the education of Blacks. The differentials in school attendance between the South and the North and West have decreased significantly over the decades as rapid progress in

1 Statistics on school attendance were first collected in the 1840 census. However, school attendance data collected in the 1840 census and in the 1850 to 1880 censuses have serious limitations and defects not comparable with data derived from the 1890 and and are subsequent censuses. Thus, enrollment data for the 1840 to 1880 censuses are not included in this chapter.

school enrollment has been made by Blacks in the South. Just prior to World War II (1940), the difference had been reduced to 11 percentage points; by 1970 (when 53 percent of Black school-age youth were in the South), the enrollment rate for Blacks in the South lagged only 3 percentage points behind that for the North and West (table 63).

Census data presented in tables 64 and 65 show that each age group has shared in the increased school enrollment among Blacks. Moreover, in the past 25 years (1950 to 1975), substantial increases have been noted in the proportion of Black youth enrolled in school above the compulsory attendance age (generally age 16). The growth in enrollment experienced by the age group 5 to 13 years old is due both to the increased availability of kindergarten classes to Blacks, since more public school systems, especially those in the South, now include kindergartens, and to increased participation rates at the compulsory school ages, 7 to 13.

The recent progress in school enrollment made by Blacks is also revealed by the increase in the proportion enrolled in college. The proportion of Black men and women 18 to 24 years old enrolled in college increased only slightly in the 1950's and then rose sharply in the 1960-70 decade. This upward movement has continued into the early 1970's. By 1975, the college enrollment rate was about 21 percent for Black men and women 18 to 24 years old compared with about 5 percent in 1950. This gain undoubtedly reflects the widening educational opportunities at the college level for Blacks, which resulted from the U.S. Supreme Court's historical decision in 1954 (Brown v. the Board of Education). Despite this gain, college enrollment rates in 1975 for Blacks were still much lower than those for Whites of comparable age partly because fewer Blacks of college age had completed high school (table 66).

Modal Grade

As recently as 1950, there were substantial numbers of young Black students below the modal grade for their age.2 In 1950, about one-half of Blacks of high school age (14 to 17 years old) were 2 or more years below the modal grade for their age. Since 1950, grade retardation has been reduced, but is still somewhat high, with about one-fifth of Black

2 Modal grades are: 14-year-olds, high school 1; 15-year-olds, high school 2; 16-year-olds, high school 3; 17-year-olds, high school 4.

youths (14 to 17 years old) being over age for their grade of enrollment in 1970 (table 67).

Illiteracy

The measure of educational attainment first used in a decennial census was literacy, i.e., the ability to read and write in some language. In the 19th century, when relatively small numbers of Blacks received any educational instruction, illiteracy was widespread. The extension of and advances in formal schooling in the 20th century have resulted in a dramatic decline in illiteracy. In 1890, the majority (61 percent) of Blacks 15 years old and over could not read or write. By 1910, that proportion had been reduced by almost one-half to 33 percent. In 1969 (the most recent year for which data are available), only 4 percent of Blacks 14 years old and over were reported as illiterate.

The illiteracy rate among Blacks has been higher in the South than in the North and West, and for older persons (45 years old and over) than for the younger age groups (tables 68 and 69).

Educational Attainment

The importance of education to the Black community is reflected in the tremendous strides made by young Blacks in achieving higher educational levels. Hurley H. Doddy has noted that as members of a minority group that has suffered economic and cultural disadvantages, Blacks have always placed a special significance on acquiring higher education. It provided them with economic and social advantages. 3

The proportion of Black young adults who have completed high school has been growing steadily since infor

3

Hurley H. Doddy, "The Progress of the Negro in Higher Education" Journal of Negro Education, Vol. 32, No. 4, Chapter XV,

mation was first collected on this subject in the 1940 census. The increases since 1960 have been especially marked. Only about 1 out of 10 Blacks 25 to 34 years old was a high school graduate in 1940; the proportion was approximately 3 out of 10 in 1960; by 1975, the proportion had risen to 7 out of 10 (table 71).

The proportion of Black young adults completing high school has increased more rapidly than that of Whites during the 35-year period (1940-1975), substantially narrowing the educational differentials between the two population groups since 1940. Yet in 1975, the percentage of Blacks 25 to 34 years old who were high school graduates was 13 percentage points below the figure for Whites.

The proportion of Blacks 25 to 34 years old who have completed a college education has increased considerably since 1940, from a minute proportion (2 percent) in that year to 11 percent in 1975. However, the proportion of Black young adults who are college graduates has consistently lagged behind that of Whites, so that in 1975, Whites were still twice as likely as Blacks to be college graduates (table 71).

Some variations in the level of schooling completed are evident between Black young adults living in the South and those in the North and West. The proportion of Blacks in the South completing high school has been persistently lower than that in the North and West; in fact, the disparity has remained unchanged over the past 35 years (1940 to 1975). In 1940, only 8 percent of Southern Blacks 25 to 34 years old had completed high school, as compared to 20 percent in the North and West. By 1975, the proportions were 63 and 75 percent, respectively, for the South and the North and West. Contrary to the patterns for high school graduates, percentages of Blacks 25 to 34 years old who were college graduates in the South were generally about the same as