The problem, of course, is that black culture just does not emphasize academic achievement. Plain and simple. Liberals can scream all they want to about "institutional racism," and I'll just keep on laughing in their face.
And those black families that do emphasize academic achievement routinely find themselves the brunt of ridicule in many black communities.
I think another factor is that ethnic background and race are being diluted as more and more people intermarry among different cultures and races. I don;t know what UCLA considers 'black,' and the other alternative is self identification of race/ethnic background. If a person is 1/4 black, for example, 1/2 native american, and 1/4 Italian, they might not self identify as 'black,' and the school might not identify them as 'black,' either.
I know a very attractive black woman in NYC. Actually, she just looks black, she isn't all that black. Her ethnic background includes Jamaican, German, Native American, Irish, and Asian. Her father has lighter skin than I do (I'm Full Blooded Italian, Sicilian actually), and he is more 'black' than she is when it comes to ancestry.
Not that long ago it wasn't unusual for a person in the USA to be a full blooded Italian, Irish, German, Greek, whatever. In a relatively short time, that's changed.
I don't tend to think any of this is a bad thing in the least. But a 1970s concept of race & ethnic background already has problems cutting it in the early 21st century, and will grow increasingly meaningless in the decades ahead.
Yes, academic achievement is not something black youngsters consider important. They see it as a "white thing"; thus, to be avoided.
Bill Cosby tried to point this out and was nearly run out of the country by the NAACP.
Until there's a basic change in attitude on the part of the MSM and Dem party, who glorify this debased subculture, it's going to go on.
In my high school there was an acceptable level of mediocrity that was set up. If you go above it, then you're a sell-out/brown-noser/ass-kisser (the black folks call it being an "Uncle Tom"). Academic achievment means that you get ostracized for not being cool. You're not hip. You don't get to hang with the cool kids and the girls, ironically enough, think you're a loser. They'd rather go hang with the rebel partier types. You're blindly accepting the BS that your parents are shoveling. It starts right around 5th grade. Getting good grades, deciding that you want to be in a profession instead of work manual labor, and not constantly voicing how much you hate or are bored by everything is automatically equated with being a nerd, a sheep, and a butt-kisser.
I see the same stuff among the mechanics where I work. If you have an education beyond high school, you're a butt-kisser automatically. You're selling out your manhood for a paycheck. I see a lot of guys who have worked the same drudgery for 40 years, while complaining that they hate every minute of it, what a-holes the bosses are, how the engineers are a bunch of brown-nosing faggots, etc., because being "one of the guys" is more important that moving up or doing something else for a living.
In order to achieve, you have to be sort of an outsider because the black community would most likely shun you.
It is difficult for young black people to resist massive pressure.
Actually, I must say that there's a turn around. Black culture is finally starting to embrace education. Everybody in the old 'hood is now in some kind of college and they want to do something with their lives instead of go clubbing and drinking crystale all day and smoking pot.