negro education: the false faith

Clark Atlanta University

Negro Education: The False FaithAuthor(s): James A. GeschwenderSource: Phylon (1960-), Vol. 29, No. 4 (4th Qtr., 1968), pp. 371-379Published by: Clark Atlanta UniversityStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/274021 .

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By JAMES A. GESCHWENDER

Negro Education: The False Faith

ITHERE HAS BEEN a recent reemergence of belief in what Lomax called a "faith that failed." I He described this faith as a belief that edu-

cation would serve as the lever for progress toward ultimate equality for Negroes. This creed apparently rested on the belief that education has successfully performed this role for other minorities in the past. It took various forms but was primarily manifested in an emphasis upon industrial education. For a time, it appeared that scholars, if not laymen, were becoming increasingly aware of the fact that education is a road leading nowhere if major structural changes in American society are not made. However, it now appears that the belief that "everything would be fine, if only Negroes had the same level and quality of education as whites" is gaining support among both laymen and scholars.

This new birth of faith is exemplified by Vivian Henderson when he states: "The extent to which changes and improvements occur in educational opportunity for Negroes will determine for the future the degree to which there will be a widening or narrowing of the economic imbalance."2

An even stronger statement is made by Leonard Bloom and Norval Glenn as they conclude: "A shortage of skills and educational qualifications may soon become a much greater obstacle to Negro advancement than a dearth of available jobs. Indeed, such may already be the case."3 (Author's Italics.) Roy Wilkins demonstrated in a recent syndicated col- umn that at least one civil rights leader has accepted this position.4

The time has come to examine data to determine the extent to which this new birth of faith is justified. The best technique of predicting the course of the near future is to examine the experiences of the recent past. The year 1940 has been selected as the base line year for com- paring census data in order to determine the changes that have taken place during the first two decades since the beginning of World War II. A review of some of the recent literature bearing on this problem and a discussion of data not previously published will be presented to docu- ment these changes. Recent Research

The first relevant study was made by the author.5 Census data for

1 Louis E. Lomax, The Negro Revolt (New York, 1963), p. 42. 2 Vivian W. Henderson, "The Economic Imbalance," Journal of Negro Education, XXX (Winter, 1961), 4-16.

8 Leonard Broom and Norval Glenn, Transformation of the Negro American (New York, 1965), p. 128.

' Roy Wilkins, "Education is Key to Negro Advance," Detroit News, April 16, 1966. James A. Geschwender, "Social Structure and the Negro Revolt: An Examination of Some Hypotheses," Social Forces, XLIII (December, 1964), 248-56.

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1940 and 1960 were examined to provide a measure of the changing status of Negroes and whites in terms of occupation, income, and education. While it was discovered that both Negroes and whites had im- proved their status on all three dimensions, the relative amounts of gains experienced by the two racial groups were dissimilar.

In the period from 1940 to 1960 Negroes raised their median years of schooling more rapidly than whites but most of this gain was in the proportion having moderate levels of education (between 7 and 11 years of schooling), while the major advance made by whites was in the proportion having higher amounts of education (high school graduate and college education). On the occupational dimension there was no satis- factory measure of relative advances by the two groups, but it is im- portant to note that the major portion of occupational upgrading of Negroes was found in increased representation in middle status occupations (upper blue-collar and lower white-collar), while the major portion of occupational upgrading of whites was found in increased representation in the higher status occupations (upper white-collar). In terms of the third dimension, a comparison of incomes showed that the size of the dollar gap, in terms of constant dollars, between the earnings of whites and Negroes increased steadily during this period.

A more striking finding resulted when increased representation in the highest educational category was compared with increased representation in the highest occupational category for both whites and Negroes. This comparison resulted in the observation that whites were about one and one half times more successful than Negroes in translating gains in higher education into gains in better jobs. This ratio was for all occupations of all employed persons. When the analysis was restricted to non-agricultural occupations, it was found that whites were twice as successful as Negroes in translating gains in higher education into gains in better jobs. This finding certainly does not lend much credence to the faith in the power of education to solve all ills.

A second study analyzed similar kinds of changes in the South from 1940 to 1960, and focused primarily on the relationship between desegregation and occupational opportunities for educated Negroes.6 It noted that in 1940 educated Southern Negroes had a better chance of being professionals than educated Southern whites.7 But the South experienced the same pattern of changes from 1940 to 1960 as did the entire nation, which meant that whites were considerably more successful than Negroes in translating educational gains into occupational gains.

Because the advantage held by educated Negroes in 1940 was in- terpreted as resulting from the system of segregation, the changes from

James A. Geschwender, "Desegregation, the Educated Negro, and the Future of Social Pro- test in the South," Sociological Inquiry, XXXV (Winter, 1965), 58-68.

7Ralph H. Turner, "Occupational Patterns of Inequality," American Journal of Sociology, LIX (March, 1954), 437-47.

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NEGRO EDUCATION: THE FALSE FAITH

1940 to 1960-when these advantages underwent a process of deteriora- tion-are likewise seen as resulting from the beginnings of desegregation. If this interpretation is correct, the future does not look good for educated Southern Negroes. It is clear that relatively small steps have been taken to date toward desegregation, and it is almost as clear that greater steps will be taken in the future. The trend, therefore, should continue where advantages held by educated Southern Negroes will disappear. One might expect that eventually the South will become similar to the North of today, where the advantage is held by educated white men. Once again, there is little support for faith in the power of education to bring racial equality.

A third study that is particularly relevant is one in which Siegel used 1960 census data regarding 1959 income in order to determine the cost of being black.8 He compared the average earnings of Negroes and whites with the same level of education, the same occupation, and living in the same region of the country. He discovered that the average "cost of being black" in terms of reduced income was $1,097. But more im- portant, he found that the greater the level of education the higher the cost. The cost grew from $696 at seven or less years of schooling to $3,800 at four or more years of college. These findings provide little support for the belief that education will bring equality. Discrimination

This leads to a discussion of relevant new data. Turner developed an expected cases technique of determining that proportion of lower occupational status of Negroes which could be attributed to a lower level of education, with the residual amount being assigned to discrimination.9 He found that in 1940 39 percent of lower occupational status of Negroes could be accounted for by a lower level of education and he assigned the remaining 61 percent to discrimination. This same measure has now been applied to 1960 census data, and it was found that lesser amounts of education accounted for 31 percent of lower occupational status of Negroes, with the remaining 69 percent attributed to discrimination.

It might be argued that this Index of Discrimination is not a valid measure because it treats all years of schooling as equivalent, without taking into account the fact that eight years in a Southern Negro school provides a lesser quality of education than eight years in a Southern white school. This point may be well taken. However, it seems reason- able to assume that from 1940 to 1960 the average discrepancy between the quality of education received by whites and Negroes would have decreased. This would be predictable by the simple fact that much larger proportions of Negroes than whites have migrated from Southern

8 Paul M. Siegel, "On the Cost of Being a Negro," Sociological Inquiry, XXXV (Winter, 1965), 53. 9 Ralph H. Turner, "Foci of Discrimination in the Employment of Non-Whites," American Journal of Sociology, LVIII (November, 1952), 247-56.

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to Northern and Western cities. If this is true, then one would expect the Index of Discrimination to decrease in size even if the objective amount of discrimination remained constant. However, the index became larger. This would indicate that occupational discrimination against educated, qualified Negroes has increased from 1940 to 1960. Once again, this shows that faith in the power of education is not founded upon an experiential base. Occupational Concentration

The more detailed picture of the relationship between race, education, and occupational concentration should now be examined. Turner con- structed an Index of Occupational Concentration, which measured the extent to which a minority group had more or less than its proportionate share of jobs in a particular occupation, given its educational distribu- tion.10 This index is not affected by variations in total numbers of persons in various occupational categories nor by variations in the total size of the minority group. The upper limit of the index is 1.00, indicating complete monopoly by the minority, and the lower limit is -1.00, indicating complete exclusion of the minority. All index values reported below have been multiplied by 100.

Table 1 presents the Index of Concentration for ten occupational categories for the United States and for the South. Data on Negroes have been standardized by educational levels of whites. The table shows that for the United States, Negroes are over-represented in the occupational categories of labor, farm labor, service, operative, and clerical. They are under-represented in the categories of craftsmen, sales, managers, farmers, and professionals.

TABLE 1 INDEX OF CONCENTRATION

UNITED STATES AND THE SOUTH, 1960* Index of Concentration United States South Professional -04 03 Farmer -42 -56 Managerial -57 -70 Clerical 12 14 Sales -57 -76 Craft -30 -31 Operative 10 06 Service 50 52 Farm Labor 32 18 Labor 52 50 *Table 1 and Table 2 computed from data in United States Census of Population, 1960; PC(2)- 7B: Occupations by Earnings and Education, Tables 1 and 3.

Two occupational categories deviated from the general tendency for Negroes to be most over-represented in the lowest occupational categories and most under-represented in the highest occupational categories. Negroes are over-represented in the clerical occupations de- spite being under-represented in the craft occupations. This could easily 1o Turner, "Occupational Patterns," op. cit., pp. 437-40.

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be a consequence of the fact that many skilled occupations provide the potential for much higher incomes than do clerical occupations and thus whites tend to reserve these occupations for themselves.

The table indicates that Negroes are only slightly under-represented in the professional occupations. This could be the result of two factors both of which are direct consequences of the system of segregation. The first is the relative shortage of the number of Negroes with the educational qualifications for these positions. The second factor is the number of professional positions available to Negroes which results from the need for professional Negroes to serve other Negroes within the context of a segregated society.

The Index of Occupational Concentration for the South shows a similar pattern of over- and under-representation of Negroes by occupational categories, but the magnitude of the index differs from that for the nation. The one striking exception is found in professional occupations, where Negroes were slightly over-represented in the South and under- represented in the nation. This lends credibility to the explanation suggested above that segregation, by limiting the numbers of educated Negroes and by restricting certain professional positions to Negroes, insures high status positions to educated Negroes. The advantages that segregation provides for educated Negroes are stronger in the South where the system of segregation is more rigid.

Table 1 also indicates three other major differences between the South and the nation as a whole. The Southern pattern has a lesser over- representation of Negroes in farm labor and a greater under-representation of Negroes in sales and managerial occupations. The latter two differences are probably indicative of a stronger Southern belief in the maxims of discrimination that whites will not work under Negroes or buy from Negro sales personnel.

The nature of the relationship of education to opportunities for Ne- groes becomes clearer with an examination of the more detailed pattern of occupational concentration by level of education. Table 2 presents the

TABLE 2 INDEX OF OCCUPATIONAL CONCENTRATION BY LEVEL

OF EDUCATION-UNITED STATES, 1960 4yrs.

0-7 yrs. 8 yrs. 1-3 yrs. 4 yrs. 1-3 yrs. or more Occupation Elem. Elem. H. School H. School College College Professional -37 -16 -39 -32 -16 06 Farmer 09 -61 -44 -46 * * Managerial -56 -58 -66 -59 -50 -50 Clerical -27 -13 -01 13 27 35 Sales -67 -57 -63 -52 -59 -58 Craft -42 -34 -34 -26 -03 -03 Operative -08 06 09 20 40 41 Service 30 47 50 56 63 72 Farm Labor 35 30 37 29 * * Labor 41 49 59 62 67 69 *Number of Negroes in this cell too small to permit computation of meaningful index,

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values of the Index of Occupational Concentration for ten occupational categories by level of education for the United States.

When the indices for each occupational category are examined by level of education, it is found that Negroes are over-represented in the occupational category of labor at all levels of education. More signifi- cantly, the extent to which they are over-represented increases as level of education increases. In the category of farm labor, Negroes are over- represented at all levels of education, but in this case education bears no meaningful relationship to the degree of over-representation. In the service occupations Negroes are over-represented at all levels of education, and once again the degree of over-representation is greatest at the highest levels of education.

Table 2 indicates that Negroes with less than eight years of education are under-represented in the category of operatives. They are over- represented in operative occupations at all other educational levels, with the degree of their over-representation being greatest at the highest level of education. In a contrasting situation, Negroes are under-represented in craft occupations at all levels of education, with the degree of their under-representation being smallest at the highest level of education. In sales occupations Negroes are once again under-represented at all levels of education, but in this case the degree of their under-representation bears no apparent relationship to level of education.

Negroes with eight years of education or less are under-represented in clerical occupations; Negroes with between one and three years of high school are almost proportionally represented; and Negroes with a high school education and beyond are over-represented. The overall pattern is that Negroes in clerical occupations are most under-represented at the lowest level of education and most over-represented at the highest level of education. In the managerial occupations Negroes are under-represented at all levels of education, with the degree of under-representation bearing no apparent relationship to level of education.

Table 2 further indicates that Negroes are under-represented in farming at all levels of education, with the degree of under-representation being greatest at the highest levels of education. And finally, Negroes are under-represented in professional occupations at all levels of education, with the singular exception of their over-representation at the level of four or more years of college. This latter finding is probably the result of the system of segregation operating in the manner discussed above.

The general pattern, then, for all levels of education is that of over- representation of Negroes in the lower status occupations and under- representation in the higher status occupations. The one consistent exception to this pattern occurs with the clerical occupations, where opportunity for Negroes appears to be out of proportion to the relatively

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high status of this category. This might result from the fact that clerical occupations are at the bottom of the white-collar hierarchy and carry with them less financial rewards than many upper blue-collar occupations.

It is clear to see from these data that the fact of being Negro carries with it occupational handicaps regardless of level of education. It is equally clear that the size of the occupational handicap for Negroes increases as level of education increases. There are three occupational categories which deviate from the general pattern of race constituting a greater handicap at the higher educational levels. They are the professional, managerial, and sales occupations. The professional area has been amply discussed above, and the latter two are apparently the consequence of a general belief in the pair of maxims of discrimination that whites will not work under or buy from Negroes regardless of the level of education of the Negroes.

Summary and Discussion The data under discussion have demonstrated conclusively that im-

proved education for Negroes will not by itself bring about racial

equality. Negroes have raised their educational, occupational, and income status over the past two decades. In addition, they have closed the educational gap somewhat relative to whites. But there is no evidence that they have closed the occupational gap, and the income gap has clearly widened. Negroes are less likely than whites to be able to translate educational gains into occupational gains. The Index of Dis- crimination shows that occupational discrimination against qualified Negroes has increased. This is possibly due to increased opportunities for whites to discriminate because of increased numbers of educated Negroes. Negroes with more education experience the greatest handicap in both employment opportunities and income. The latter handicap is so strong that in 1959 Negroes with a college education could expect lower life-time incomes than whites with eight years of schooling.l'

The greater handicap in employment opportunities is documented

by the Index of Occupational Concentration and is explained by Siegel as follows:

In both 1950 and 1960 there was a tendency for dissimilarity to increase with level of education and taper off at the highest level. .. . Persons with so much education are qualified for supervisory, craft, sales, and managerial duties. These are, however, the very occupations denied to Negroes by social mores governing race relations, especially the norm which proscribes the supervision of white workers by Negroes. Nonwhites who complete college can take up professional occupations servicing Negro clienteles. Both Negroes and whites at lower levels of education cannot achieve much more than operative level jobs. It is at the high school and some college

n Herman P. Miller, Rich Man, Poor Man (New York, 1964), p. 155.

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levels that nonwhites are most segregated from whites. Yet these are the very educational levels which Negroes are now reaching for the first time.... Thus in each of the last two decades a consider- able proportion of young Negroes have been able to upgrade themselves educationally, only to arrive at the very educational levels where occupational segregation is the greatest.12

This statement requires only two modifications. The data show that as segregation wanes the number of educated Negroes increases, while the number of professional positions servicing Negro clienteles de- creases relatively. Thus, opportunities for college-educated Negroes are diminishing. This is indicated by the fact that the Index of Occupa- tional Concentration for the South in 1960 shows a smaller over-representation of Negroes in professional occupations than Turner found for either the urban or rural South in 1940.'3 The index for 1960 was +03, while it was +09 for the urban South and +19 for the rural South in 1940.

Conclusiong

The best predictor of the near future is the experience of the recent past. Education for Negroes has not tended to bring about greater racial equality during the past two decades, and there seems to be no justifica- tion for the faith that more and better education will accomplish this goal in the future. Rather, it seems that raising the educational level of Negroes to one similar to that of whites will increase the amount of discrimination and thereby increase the amount of racial inequality. Glenn has demonstrated that Negroes do not make their greatest gains at the relative expense of whites.14 It is only when whites move up to still higher occupations that they vacate middle and upper status jobs and allow Negroes to fill them. This process does not reduce inequality. It merely pushes everyone up a little.

It should not be concluded because of this analysis that efforts to encourage Negro youth to get as much education as possible should be abandoned. Instead, care should be taken not to put too many eggs in one basket. Perhaps Miller states it best:

Is it wrong then to urge the poor, particularly the nonwhites, to get more training? Obviously not. They may be lost with training, but they are surely lost without it. It is not the desire for education or the training programs which provide it that are wrong. The trouble lies with the discrimination. Efforts to improve the economic lot of the Negro must, therefore, be carried out simultaneously and with equal force on the two fronts-education and the elimination of barriers to employment. One without the other might do more harm than good.15

It is strongly suggested that efforts to encourage Negro youth to get ' Siegel, op. cit., p. 45. 18 Turner, "Occupational Patterns," op. cit., p. 441. 14 Norval D. Glenn, "The Relative Size of the Negro Population and Negro Occupational

Status," Social Forces, XLIII (October, 1964), 42-49. 1 Miller, op. cit., p. 160.

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NEGRO EDUCATION: THE FALSE FAITH NEGRO EDUCATION: THE FALSE FAITH

as much education as possible be continued. But it is urged that care be taken not to think that this is the answer and that it, by itself, will bring equality. It is still necessary to work for more and stronger equal opportunity legislation. Legislation with teeth, and legislation which will be enforced.

By ANTONI GRONOWICZ

A Long Postscript to My Short Will

now when moths fly their soundless nightly round over my rest in in

i make my vow never will i deny this luminous hope this deep revolt make black hypocrisy my cause

i know too well not all this blood will drench one pocket with gold

as much education as possible be continued. But it is urged that care be taken not to think that this is the answer and that it, by itself, will bring equality. It is still necessary to work for more and stronger equal opportunity legislation. Legislation with teeth, and legislation which will be enforced.

By ANTONI GRONOWICZ

A Long Postscript to My Short Will

now when moths fly their soundless nightly round over my rest in in

i make my vow never will i deny this luminous hope this deep revolt make black hypocrisy my cause

i know too well not all this blood will drench one pocket with gold

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negro education: the false faith

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