Minority Students Fail Because They’re Raised By Single Poor Women, Professor Claims
Could being raised by in a low-income household by a single mother set a student up for failure? That’s one professor strongly believes.
Lino Gragalia, a University of Texas Law School professor, told BBC that he believed many black and Hispanic students are failing academically because they were raised in single parent homes by females who lacked the socioeconomic wealth that is necessary to push them towards success.
He told the British news organization that he could “hardly imagine a less beneficial or more deleterious experience than to be raised by a single parent, usually female, uneducated and without a lot of money.”
Gragalia also expressed his distaste for institutions that seek to increase diversity.
“How well do these kids do in maths and reading is basically it and they do less well. No doubt the race and segregation may have a lot to do why that’s the case, but it is the case and what to do about it now? And admitting them into selective schools with large gaps in qualification is not the answer.”
Representatives from the League of United Latin American Citizens were offended by the comments, calling for the resignation of Graglia from his UT position.
“Graglia believes that minority students come from a culture of failure. He knows nothing of our culture and has never crawled down from his ivory tower to find out.”
Graglia’s outspoken banter on race and success is not the only story to arise from the Lone Star state. The University of Texas is currently dealing with an affirmative action case in the Supreme Court after Abigal Fisher, a white student who was rejected from UT, filed a complaint claiming that her race was the reason why she was forced to attend a second-tier college.
I dont know but there might be some truth to this if he had of left out the word minority. I can see how someone whose raised in a single “poor” parent home (whether its a single dad or mother) fail more in school. After a single parent comes home from work and feeds their kids their tired they don’t have someone else to “pass” the torch too so they can rest.
I grew up in a two parent home. When I got home from school at 3 my mom would come home from work bring us a after school snack, give us a list of chores and go through our backpacks and agenda planners to see what we needed to complete for the evening then go back into work for another few hours. We had a home office full of encyclopedias and a computer and a laptop; things that someone who’s parent is “poor” might not have.
My father and my mother were very involved in school. My school offered weekly progress reports and every Friday my parents would go over them. They went to every parent teacher conference. When my brother was having problems at school my mom and dad took turns sitting in his classes (he’s really smart; but disruptive).
Part of the adversity many single-mom parented college bound kids face is the stigma associated with coming from that background, especial if it’s a low-socio economic background; and especially if the single-parent isn’t involved in their child’s academics or has played a major part in disrupting cultivation and healthy relationships for their child outside the home, with other people related to the child, or with the child’s father.
It’s not just that single-mom parented stigma coming from white main stream society that one has to deal with, but they face the same stigma from other blacks, too.
Many single-mom parented children want to attend and do well in college, but they simply don’t have a ‘support system’ that will allow them to evolve in away that makes them capable of doing so But anyone, no matter their background, can lack the same thing and end up in the same place of not achieving higher eduation.
His comments are not surprising but it will have the baby mommas and those raised by one in here on the defensive pretending the exception is the rule.
I cannot cosign on the fact that minority students [exclusively] fail because of being raised by single poor women. If that is the case, no child from a single parent home will never exceed or everhas in the past. So we can safely conclude that it is conditions in which determines how a child will academically perform. Two-single parents – one parent’s job has been downsized – the other parent has to work two jobs to cover the bills. A two-parent home now has the same problematic conditions of a single parent home. Financial hardship is the problem and not the child’s family arrangement. The child doesn’t have help with homework, cannot attend tutoring (which offered free at more affluent schools) and attending extra-curricular activities is problem. The financial challenged child may or may not have problems succeeding. Since single parents are faced with more financial challenges, then it is more of a possibility “to believe” that those children may not succeed.
Within this scenario, are family members helping the single parent with her children? What is the relationship she has with her child’s school? Car-pooling with neighbors to take her children b&f from extra-curricular activities? Depending on the single parent’s desire for her children to succeed, her children will. I won’t deny I’ve seen too many failures within single parent homes. At the same time, I’ve seen plenty of success. The parents were 100% dedicated to their child’s success. If they couldn’t make it happen, they seek out assistance to make it happened. And this is how we hear of academic success from students residing in single-parent homes.
*successes
Depending on the single parent’s desire for her children to succeed, her children will.
I’m sorry but what kind of princess fairytale world are you living in because if it were that simple then every kid would succeed. 70 percent of inmates come from single parent homes. Are you saying these inmates’ mothers did not desire for her children to be successful?
None @SMH
You don’t have to apologize. I expected this response from someone. What I’m saying is depending on the single parent’s desire for her children to succeed, her children will. She will find a way around her situation to make it happen. Simple and plain…that’s all!
Clutch posters have made it clear of the statistic of the 70 percent.. Even with that, I will [never] believe because of a child’s situation, he or she will not succeed. That’s the problem with society now, people believe because of statistics that one individual will not make it out. Surely that is not always the case as the article will have us to believe.
For the most part a parent’s education, financial status and access to resources play a big part in a child’s success.
When they do studies, family structure and size is one element they are going to examine. In a lot of urban improvised neighborhoods the majority of the children are raised by single mothers . I’m not saying single mothers aren’t capable of being great parents, or raising great kids, but it’s a fact that they are the majority in a lot of these improvised communities .
Money, education and opportunity: in these communities the high school drop out rates out high and even if a student graduates , the graduation rates are low and even when they do graduate , the rate of hs graduates going to college , trade school etc… Isn’t very high. There’s a great chance that if your parent did not graduate high school, or barely made it out, they will have a hard time assisting you with homework, reading writing etc… On top of that the parent probably doesn’t have the financial resources to provide their child with outside help.
Attitude: it’s not that these women don’t want their children to succeeded , but it can be very frustrating and depressing to want to help yourself and your child, but not know where to go or what resources to use to get out of a certain situation.
Yes there are exceptions to the rule. Yes there are success stories of poor minority children , raised by single mothers who make it out of poverty and are successful. But those stories are not the majority of the stories that are coming out of these neighborhoods. Those children are the exception. We need to find a way to make success in these neighborhood the expectation and not the exception. We also need to stop placing blame and create a solution to the issue at hand.