<p>I’m the only person of African descent in the top 10 students out of a class of 245, and the only immigrant Haitian in the AP group. While some people will say that immigrants do have a higher level of achievement, I’ve got to disagree. I know far too many Haitians (and will use them as an example throughout) who have fallen by the wayside and settled for far less than their African-American peers. Earlier in this thread, someone mentioned that a lot of immigrants have parents who were professionals. That may be true for some, but it is certainly not true for most Haitians. I was lucky that my parents were among the educated elite (my father owned a school and my mother was a teacher/radio host), but there weren’t too many people like them to begin with, and not all of them came here. A good deal of Haitians, once here, take on menial jobs to eke out a living but do not pursue self-betterment in the form of professional degrees. My father himself worked three jobs for 10 years and earned 2 bachelors degrees. His first degree was in computer science, and when the dot-com bubble burst, all of his work was reduced to nothing since no jobs were available. As a result, he went back to school to pursue a nursing degree. My mother did something similar to that, first becoming a certified translator, then a paralegal, and finally a registered nurse despite a life-threatening health condition. Not many parents would be willing–or able–to do something like that, and that lack of extraordinary willpower means many, if not most, immigrants do not rise above a certain glass ceiling they’ve set for themselves that can only be shattered with nearly inhuman perseverance. Many second-generation Haitians I’ve observed display the same level of achievement or less than their African-American peers. </p>
<p>And one more thing.</p>
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<p>A lack of hope is never any excuse for giving up. Many blacks I know are too complacent in their culture, and have given up on believing that straining every muscle in their body will lead to some form of success. I believe that rather than giving up on the idea that hard work will pay off, they have fallen prey to the notion that the only form of success is that which can be measured by material goods and not personal fulfillment. Thus, when earning good grades in school earns them nothing but derision from their peers, African American students are discouraged since they cannot grasp a tangible reward.</p>
<p>And I know my post is rife with all sorts of logical fallacies, especially hasty generalizations. Please be forbearing in your thoughts of and references to this post. ^_^</p>