Shepherd is the Georgia Athletic Association Distinguished Professor of Geography and Director of the University of Georgia’s Atmospheric Sciences Program. He hosts The Weather Channel’s Sunday talk show “Weather Geeks” and is former president of the American Meteorological Society. Knox is an associate professor of geography at the University of Georgia and national chair of the United States Presidential Scholars Alumni Association. His views do not necessarily represent those of the alumni association.
By Marshall Shepherd and John A. Knox
There was quite the furor over the lack of diversity in the Academy Award nominations this year, but the Oscars have now come and gone. Something far more disturbing happened a few months ago that will have a lasting impact on higher education and the ability to diversify the fields of science, technology, education, and mathematics — the subjects collectively known as STEM.
In September the National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC) ended its 51-year-old National Achievement Scholarship Program, but you probably heard nothing about it. No boycotts, uproar, or bold statements by celebrities.
You remember the National Merit Scholarship, right? It is the really awesome scholarship that uses high scores on the PSAT standardized test as the gatekeeper. The National Merit Scholarship Corporation was founded in 1955 and funded by the Ford Foundation to award these prestigious scholarships. According to the Journal of Blacks in Higher Education:
“data from the College Board shows that Blacks typically make up between 1 and 2 percent of the very top scorers on these types of standardized tests.”
In 1964, the National Merit Scholarship Corporation established the National Achievement Scholarship Program (NASP) to address this gap. Since then, 34,000 black students have received over $108 million dollars in scholarships. NASP recipients include a wide swath of black leaders nationally, from astronaut Mae Jemison to U.S. Poet Laureate Rita Dove.
One of the authors of this piece is an NASP recipient; the other is a National Merit Scholar and national chair of an alumni association composed of thousands of NMSC/NASP Scholars (including Rita Dove). We both know how important it is for top students to have access to college. Despite what test scores want us to believe, the building blocks for success—intelligence, effort, perseverance—do not correlate with family income. In both our cases, the NMSC scholarships gave us a boost that propelled us from lower-middle-class settings and to our careers today.
The last class of NASP scholars is now matriculating on college campus. The program has been terminated and replaced with a narrower program for graduate admissions administered by the United Negro College Fund called the Achievement Capstone Program. The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education reports that
“no longer will entering college students receive scholarships to help them pay for college. Now students who graduate from historically Black colleges or universities or predominantly Black educational institutions will be eligible to receive money to help them pay off college loans or to help them finance graduate study.”
Three concerns immediately come to mind:
One concern is that many kids will not and do not choose to go to an HBCU (historically black college and university). One of the authors of this piece chose Florida State University because of its outstanding meteorology program. Are we limiting access and opportunity to students that may want a different experience? HBCUs are great opportunities for a variety of students, but is not and should not be the only opportunity for an outstanding black student. Further, many of the very students who consider HBCUs may be first-generation students or from lower-income families who need the support of scholarship funding — not the burden of loans. In an era of diminishing access to high-quality higher education, funding for graduate school (which in the sciences is usually provided via federal grants) is not the critical chokepoint for STEM diversity. Access to and success at the undergraduate level is.
Second, one might argue that the NASP should be “sunsetted” in the 21st century, now that standardized test score bias is a thing of the past. Wrong. Recent scholarly studies continue to find that standardized test scores have a strong correlation with race and cultural norms.
A recent study by the University of Pennsylvania considered race, family income, and parental academic background. The study summary notes that “effects of family income on SAT scores, though relatively modest in contrasts to high school achievement, are substantial, non-linear, and nearly twice as large for Black students.” The bottom line is that the well-known racial income gap has a bearing on exposure, academic preparation, and nurturing environments to achieve academically. This suggests that many under-represented minorities and poor white students will lag in competitiveness for National Merit Scholarships.
And, lastly, where was the outrage? Many people are not even aware of the demise of this program. It was not in their Facebook Newsfeed. It was not trending on Twitter. It did not incite Hollywood boycotts. It raises questions about how such issues can be elevated in the public consciousness to the same level as, say, whether movie actors are being properly recognized, or whether or not a football player should be suspended from the game this week.
We were asleep at the wheel on this one, and the demise of NASP will have lasting and compounding consequences.
Perhaps someone will write a screenplay about it.