Business
Tech Entrepreneur Talks About Success and Lack of Blacks in Technology
Why are there not more African Americans in STEM, and what can we do about it?
There’s still not enough emphasis placed on these early development STEM programs. My kids are 10 years old and they’re in several development programs and I know several families that want to continue to provide that infrastructure and base so their kids can go on to do something technology related. But by percentage, there are still so few families that put emphasis on that. I think that’s part of the problem. I think the public school system is also part of the problem.
I truly believe that kids are socialized so they will see a handful of folks who look like them that are successful in a particular segment of technology. But then they go home and it’s not reinforced. So there’s still a chasm. I think until we reach critical mass of parents and families that are reinforcing on a daily basis, we’re still going to have a deficit. Because the programs are there but we’re not graduating enough kids through the programs that want to stay engaged.
Copyright Black Enterprise Magazine 2014
