Discretionary time choices and college search: Extracurricular participation as a simple indicator of the propensity of young Black men toward postsecondary education

Abstract

In The Toolbox Revisited, Clifford Adelman puts forth a compelling case for student responsibility when considering differences in educational attainment. Focusing on student postsecondary school search, in this chapter the author evaluates the way in which young Black men spend their discretionary time whether in extracurricular activities or in unstructured settings. Using the National Educational Longitudinal Survey of 1988, she finds that it is not the amount of time that matters, but the fact of participation in extracurricular activities that are positively associated with the engagement of young Black men in the postsecondary education search process. While the magnitude of this positive influence varies by type of activity, young men who are not engaged in any extracurricular participation in grades 10 and 12 are significantly less likely to engage the post-search process. The difference is so stark that she suggests that independent of scholastic performance indicators, the absence of extracurricular participation for young Black men may be a signal of a lack of propensity toward postsecondary education.

Citation

Renée Chambers, C. (2009), "Discretionary time choices and college search: Extracurricular participation as a simple indicator of the propensity of young Black men toward postsecondary education", Frierson, H.T., Wyche, J.H. and Pearson, W. (Ed.) Black American Males in Higher Education: Research, Programs and Academe (Diversity in Higher Education, Vol. 7), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 37-55. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1479-3644(2009)0000007006