A Forgotten Promise

Introduction

In the heart of America’s urban education system lies a deep and persistent crisis—Black male students are alarmingly absent from the pathways that lead to college, vocational training, and professional careers. Despite well-funded government initiatives aimed at career readiness and vocational training, the reality is that our young Black men are systematically shut out of opportunities. This exclusion is not due to a lack of potential or ambition but is the direct result of institutional failures that begin early in their education and compound over time.?

My own action research, involving eighty middle school students in a Public School, revealed a stark truth: only ten students are at grade level, and of those, only three are boys. By the time they reach eighth grade, the vast majority are either illiterate, require Special Education Classroom Assistants (SECAs), or have been wrongly identified with learning disabilities. The educational system, rather than intervening, continues to house and socially promote these students, leaving them unprepared for any meaningful future. As vocational programs and community colleges claim to create pathways to livable wages, they fail to address the foundational issues of academic neglect and academic racism that disproportionately affect Black boys. This issue is deeply social and political, touching on race, class, and generational trauma, and the current solutions miss the mark. The problem is not only the students’ inability to meet entrance criteria for vocational programs and colleges but also the structure of these systems that ensures they never will.?

Illiteracy as a Barrier to Opportunity?

By the time, many Black boys reach eighth grade, many of these students cannot read or write at a level sufficient to keep up with the core curriculum. This academic deficiency is not the result of personal failure but a direct consequence of being shuffled through underfunded schools that lack the resources to provide even the most basic education. Overwhelmed teachers, forced to manage large class sizes with little support, often prioritize classroom management over actual instruction. As of this date, CPS has 1200 teaching vacancies. Most vacancies are at south, south-east, and west side schools. These are obviously predominantly African American community schools. Consequently, Black boys fall further behind with each passing day.

Vocational programs, which are supposed to offer an alternative to college, only compound this problem. These programs rely heavily on standardized entrance exams that assess basic academic skills, but how can a student pass such an exam if the system never gave them the tools to succeed? These exams function as gatekeepers, barring Black male students from even entering these programs, let alone succeeding within them. And when admitted under conditional circumstances, most never walk across the stage due to negative retention, repeating multiple courses, multiple times, and eventually dropping out. The graduates are always the usual suspects.

The Disconnect Between Programs and Student Needs?

Even for the few Black male students who are admitted into vocational programs or community colleges, the journey remains fraught with challenges. These programs are often designed with the assumption that students already possess a certain level of academic preparation. For students who have spent years in underfunded, neglected urban schools, this assumption is far from accurate. And we are fully aware of this academic pandemic. They are thrust into a system that expects them to overcome years of academic neglect in just a few months while navigating a complex, often educational environments lacking empathy.

The presence of racial bias within these programs only exacerbates the issue. Professors and instructors, whether consciously or unconsciously, may hold lower expectations for Black students. This can manifest in subtle ways—through lack of support, encouragement, or opportunity. Even more troubling is the bias that sometimes comes from same-race instructors, who may have internalized the same negative stereotypes that society perpetuates about Black male students. These biases, whether external or internalized, create yet another barrier to success for these young men.?

Generational Trauma and Educational Inequity?

The challenges faced by Black male students cannot be understood without acknowledging the historical and generational context of racial inequality. The education system has never been designed to uplift Black students; it was built on foundations of segregation and exclusion that persist in various forms today. The generational trauma of slavery, Jim Crow, redlining, and mass incarceration has left Black communities—especially Black men—at a profound disadvantage. This trauma plays out in every aspect of life, from mental health to educational outcomes, and is particularly evident in the failures of the public education system.?

Latino students, while also facing significant educational challenges, do not contend with the same deeply racialized and generational trauma as Black students. While Latino students have started to see gains in educational attainment, due to targeted programs and increased representation, Black male students remain at the margins, overlooked, and underserved. This disparity is a stark reminder of how deeply embedded systemic, academic racism remains within the educational system. I would know. I walk these halls and within these classrooms many hours a week. This is a firsthand account of documenting academic inequity in action.

Political Failures and the Illusion of Progress?

Politicians often champion vocational programs and career readiness initiatives as solutions to the opportunity gap in urban areas, but these efforts are little more than political theater. The root causes of exclusion—illiteracy, academic under-preparation, and racial bias—are ignored in favor of programs that merely reinforce existing inequalities. Vocational programs are held up as a catch-all solution, but without addressing the foundational issues plaguing Black male students, these programs will continue to serve only a select few, leaving the majority behind.?

Political leaders must stop selling the illusion of progress and start implementing real, systemic change. Solutions need to go beyond surface-level initiatives and address the deeper issues of systemic-academic racism and educational inequity that have kept Black male students from accessing opportunities for generations.?

Conclusion: Why Do We Watch and Do Nothing??

And here we are—watching, knowing, yet doing nothing. Why? How can we, as educators, administrators, and policymakers, stand by as the futures of Black male students slip away? We collect our paychecks, justify our roles, and continue, all while a system that was never designed to uplift these students quietly ensures their failure. The silence, the Inaction—what does it say about us? About whom we are as a society??

It is easier to look away, to drown out the uncomfortable truth with bureaucratic routines and comforting narratives of incremental progress. But deep down, we know the truth: the system is not merely broken, it is working exactly as it was meant to, funneling Black boys into the margins while we stand by, complicit in our passivity. This is not just a failure of policy; it is a failure of humanity.?

What does it mean to bear witness to this slow destruction and yet continue as if we aren’t responsible? How long can we go on managing the status quo, while another generation is lost? There is a profound existential weight here—one that forces us to question the very purpose of our roles, our institutions, and our own moral compass. In the end, what will it say about us that we saw, that we knew, and that we still did nothing??

We are all, in some way, complicit in this ongoing tragedy. If we continue to accept the comfort of inaction, we risk losing more than just these young men’s futures—we risk losing our collective soul. It is time we confronted this reality, not just for the sake of these students, but for the sake of who we are becoming as a society.?