Black Boys Can Make It: how they overcome the obstacles to university in the UK and USA

Author: Cheron Byfield

ISBN: 9781858564319

Price: £19.99

Quantity:

172 pages
244 x 170mm
ISBN: 978 1 85856 431 9
October 2008

This book dispels the myth that Black boys are synonymous with underachievement. It shows how a good many progress into universities, albeit against the odds, and discusses the implications for policy and practice on both sides of the Atlantic.

There is abundant research on the underachievement of Black boys but little attention has been given to their positive achievement until this author's research. Black Boys Can Make It follows Black male students in both the USA and UK who have successfully accessed higher education - at elite universities (Oxford and Harvard) and less selective institutions. It sets out to establishthe extent to which they have been exposed to the factors known to correlate with the underachievement of Black male youths, and to identify the factors that have led to their educational success and influenced their access to and choice of universities. And it gives a detailed account of the barriers they found in their path and how they overcame them.

Part One sets the educational scene in each country. Part Two looks at the obstacles they encountered, with chapters examining social class; parents' involvement in their sons' education; racism and racial identity; and the boys' own misbehaviour and negative attitudes. Part Three unravels the factors leading to success, devoting chapters to how parents steer their sons; the contributions of schools, teachers and the community projects; the effect of religion; and the students' personal qualities and navigational tactics. Part Four reviews the processes of choosing and entering university and the final section looks at the implications for educational policy and practice.

Here is a book that can be used not only to inform policy but also as a practical tool for use by parents, teachers and Black boys themselves to help gain access to higher education.

Dr Cheron Byfield is co-founder, Chair and Chief Executive of the National Black Boys Can Association, UK

Reviews

In this timely and necessary work, Cheron Byfield reverses the overwhelming attention which has been paid to the underachievement of Black boys to instead focus on the notion of academic success. Breaking away from the negative stereotyping and the self-fulfilling prophecies created by this overly cited linkage, Byfield instead celebrates the ways in which Black male students overcome social barriers in order to enter into higher education. Interviewing forty university students from the UK and the USA, Byfield sets out to explore the factors influencing their academic success, their choice of and access to university and a breakdown of any social barriers faced. The book concludes with some suggested recommendations for schools and education policy makers. - Ethnicity and Race in a Changing World: A Review Journal

This is a clear, concise and accessible piece of research which pulls no punches in addressing the sheer public misconception and negative stereotyping surrounding young black male students and involvement in the UK/US education systems. - Ethnicity and Race in a Changing World: A Review Journal

'The focus of Black males from both Great Britain and the US is an excellent way to show that students from all groups and levels of society can be successful in school. But we need to know what accounts for their success in order to help educators and policy makers do a better job of promoting success for all students. This book shows how, in spite of the many barriers, students can indeed succeed if parents and educators provide them with the appropriate cultural capital and learning opportunities. It describes clearly how all of the needed elements can come together to produce successful students.' - Raymon V. Padhilla, PhD. Professor, University of Texas at San Antonio

'As chickens come home to roost, Byfield's book helps to concentrate the mind on what the true challenge is for us and what we have to do to enable not only Black boys to achieve educationally, but all our young people: it is they who are special and who represent the future.' - Lord Herman Ousley

an extremely interesting and insightful book ...every section of the book is heavily supported by the use of extremely new and rich qualitative data. - International Journal of Lifelong Education

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