The Disfactor

Despite assertions of education as a means of social mobility, many students of color experience a different reality. According to Saras Chung writer for NPO, Nonprofit Quarterly (et al March, 2012); in March of this year, America’s Promise Alliance released a study stating that through 2001 to 2009 the national graduation rate increased from 72 % to 75.5 %. Collectively including both whites and minorities more than one million U.S. students drop out per year.  Thus, over one million students within the U.S. do not experience education as a means of social mobility. What may be so striking is that despite the emphasis upon minority dropout rates, we are consistently feed statistics that cause minorities to be overrepresented among dropout as opposed to actual numbers.  This lack in pinpointing actual numbers in terms of minority dropout rates may cause a perpetuation of “Deficit Thinking” amongst educators that are not part of minority or low income groups. Deficit thinking is