They keepin' it REAL! Don't want no suckah-jive EDJEECATION..!
The CREAM will rise to the top! The schoolyard bully/jive talker will be asking the geek for a job later in life.......
Fo' shizzle, yo!
I don't think the low numbers for black students has to do with them not wanting an education. My experience as a black female academic in a state w/no affirmative action for public universities has exposed me to many black students who will not apply to schools where there is no affirmative action. They equate it with racism and assume that they won't be welcome.
I have tried to get these students to understand that if they have the grades (and most do), they can compete with anyone. But, they can't get past the implied racism. In Washington state, there are still financial aid programs for minorities, so they can't say that no AA means no financial aid.
Personally, I'd rather compete and show myself that I can get in anywhere, even if, for some bizarre reason, I thought that no AA means the Klan is running the campus. But many students take what I consider to be the easy way out and don't apply. I think the low numbers of admitted black students is not because they can't compete with white students, but because fewer of them apply; the pool is smaller.