Black Americans Are Discarding “College for All”

James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal ^ | November 14, 2025 | David Randall

[karpov]

The largest changes in college enrollment by black students have nothing to do with Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard (2023), which banned affirmative action (“diversity”) in undergraduate admissions. SFFA practically only affects the narrow sliver of elite colleges. For most black students, the question remains the same as it is for all American students: Is it worth going to college at all? Many black students are saying no—because many American students are saying no.

Kimberly Wilson writes in Essence (“Where Black Women Come First”) an article about the decision to enroll in college that applies just about word for word to any American kid’s thought-process:

Does the investment actually pay off anymore (I say this as someone who also carries more than $200K in law school student loan debt)? […] [H]igher education isn’t a one-size-fits-all path anymore. Whether it’s a four-year university, community college, trade school, or direct-to-workforce training, the most important question is no longer Where are you going?—it’s What will it be worth? [emphases in original]

And fewer black students are going to college—just as there are fewer white students going to college. White student enrollment fell 22 percent from 2012 to 2022, slightly more than the 19-percent fall in black student enrollment. Even though Hispanic and Asian student enrollment rose during that time period, total undergraduate enrollment was down 8.43 percent between 2010 and 2024. American students, white and black, increasingly are unconvinced that college is worthwhile for them.

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TOPICS: Education
KEYWORDS: blacks; college

[dfwgator]

Because they chanted in the 60s “Hey Hey Ho Ho Western Civ Has Got To Go!”

[allendale]

Yep. I majored in science which is at the core of my profession. Yet the courses in literature, social science and philosophy were often the most valuable and enjoyable. Of couse that experience predated the politicization of the liberal arts. From what I gather the courses are now a shell of what they once were.

[beef]

“Because they chanted in the 60s “Hey Hey Ho Ho Western Civ Has Got To Go!”

Because they were educated by Wobblie communists. This goes back a lot further than you think.

[greenbrier]

Because they were educated by Wobblie communists. This goes back a lot further than you think.

Indeed - everyone should follow Uncle Ronnie's reading material, and read (at least once, not necessarily once-a-year like Ronnie) Witness by Whittaker Chambers.

Great insights there on how early the ivory towers were saturated with communists.

[SaxxonWoods]

The only thing I learned in college that made any difference was how to sound like I knew what I was talking about whether I did or not. The rest I learned in the real world.

[Maine Mariner]

Many if not most of the male professors that taught in various colleges in the 60s, 70s, and even 80s were veterans of WWII and the Korean War. After they retired, they were replaced by left wing anti-Vietnam Zimn raised profs.

And now if you are a conservative, it is almost impossible to earn a Ph.D. in history, sociology, or anthropology, or any other grievance studies program.

[Pete Dovgan]

I think many of them are smart in this respect. If they really want to get a ‘college education’ go into the military and have the US government pay for it. In the meantime, you could get an important life skill that could carry you in civilian life if the degree isn’t financially useful.

[central_va]

Majoring in STEM comes with a lot of perils like being replaced by an h-1b visa worker early on your career.

[central_va]

You have no problem? My God what is wrong with you?

[central_va]

Any moron can be an electrician.

[pburgh01]

Well starting in the 90s..Black “Thought Leaders” were telling Black women to load up on student debt and go get yourself a Sociology or Psychology degree then go to work for the gubbmint. That is the way out of Da Hood and your problems with your little illegitimates will be solved.

[woodbutcher1963]

The community college down the street here in NH just started an Air Traffic Controllers two year program.

Their number one placement program is Automotive Body work.
The local car dealers actually pay some of their tuition and have them work as interns. Then are hired full time after graduation.

Their second best placement is general automotive mechanical repair.

[beef]

Howard Zinn was born in 1922. There were plenty of communists in the US during WWII.

Outside of history, I don’t know why any conservative would want a PhD in any of those subjects. As for history, the best we can do now is to preserve pre-digital manipulation history books and reference material IN IT’S ORIGINAL FORM so that that future historians will have a place to start when they try to figure out what actually happened in the past.

Save those old books!

[Retain Mike]

My other major was chemistry besides accounting, which is another story. The capstone course was Physical Chemistry, which had a complicated laboratory section. Very soon my lab partner determined I could be trusted to clean glassware and write down the data. When it came to the report, I allowed him to operate the slide rule provided I gave him the numbers.

[dfwgator]

I enjoy going to newspapers.com and reading the old newspapers and what they were saying at the time. And they have so many different papers you can tell which were the conservative papers and which were the more liberal ones.

[Maine Mariner]

I have saved my high school history and government books from 1967.

[Myrddin]

As an undergrad at UCSD, I taught self paced physics classes. I held my students to a very high standard. The professor tested them with a midterm and final. My reward was 2 units with a grade of A. I was also a TA in chemistry, but I didn't have a dedicated group of students. My task that quarter was to find a better text book that embraced both quantitative and qualitative aspects. The current book was sloppy and purely quantitative. My recommendations were presented to the department and my #1 recommendation was adopted. That quarter remains one of my favorites. Being a TA for Stanley Miller was a real treat.

[beef]

Just remember, the tech needed to make those scanned newspapers say anything you want and make the changes undetectable is or will soon be here. I am afraid that in the future, the only way to know for sure that something is true is if it is written on multiple copies of something that can be carbon dated. And has a provenance. Just ask Winston Smith.