Professor speaks at D.C. briefing on educational crisis facing young men of color
Posted Jan. 27, 2010
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — A University of Florida education professor participated in a national briefing on Capitol Hill Tuesday (Jan. 26, 2010) to raise awareness of the overwhelming barriers that minority male students continue to face in education achievement.
Luis Ponjuan, assistant professor in educational administration and policy at UF’s College of Education, was one of five national experts on minority education who participated in a panel discussion at the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center in Washington, D.C.
The panel discussed the findings of a report—“The Educational Crisis Facing Young Men of Color”—released at the briefing by the College Board, a not-for-profit association of more than 5,700 schools, colleges and other educational organizations.
The report investigates the frustrations, hopes and aspirations of minority students and highlights some of the “undeniable challenges” they face, including a lack of role models, search for respect outside of education, loss of cultural memory, poverty challenges, language barriers, community pressures and a sense of a failing education system.
The College Board held the briefing in collaboration with the Asian Pacific American, Black, and Hispanic Congressional Caucuses. The report offers insights and firsthand experiences of more than 60 scholars, practitioners and activists from the African American, Latino, Asian American/Pacific Islanders and Native American communities, based on a series of four, one-day seminars in which thought leaders from each community discussed the education needs of minority males.
The report follows a challenge President Obama has issued to education leaders and policymakers to restore America, by 2020, as the world’s leader in the percentage of young adults with post-secondary degrees.
“The report offers a step in the direction of raising the visibility of a pressing problem in American society,” said College Board President Gaston Caperton. “If the United States is to achieve the President’s goals , then we will have to do a much more effective job in educating those populations with which we have traditionally failed.”
The College Board’s report makes a number of recommendations for erasing the disparities in educational attainment and finding new ways of reaching the increasingly diverse U.S. student population. The report calls on policymakers at the federal, state and local levels, as well as foundation and community leaders, to heighten public awareness and explore policy options to improve the plight of young minority men.
At UF, Ponjuan’s research focuses on equity and access in higher education for underrepresented students and faculty of color. He has published research articles on the educational pathways of Latino students and the work life of faculty of color. A first-generation immigrant from Cuba, Ponjuan was selected as the 2009 Faculty Fellow for the American Association of Hispanics in Higher Education and the 2008 ASHE and Ford Foundation Fellow for the Institute on equity research methods and critical policy analysis.
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CONTACTS:
SOURCE: Luis Ponjuan, assistant professor, UF College of Education; 352-262-1009 (cell); 352-273-4313 (office); lponjuan@coe.ufl.edu.
MEDIA CONTACT/UF COLLEGE OF EDUCATION: Larry Lansford, director of communications; 352-273-4137; llansford@coe.ufl.edu.
MEDIA CONTACT/COLLEGE BOARD: Stephanie Coggin, 212-713-8052;
