Urban Combat: The Effects of Trauma on Educational Attainment for African Americans

Abstract

As an alternative to previous remedies for address the gap in educational attainment of African Americans, I assert in my research that the different types of trauma African Americans are systemically exposed to cause severe limitations on educational attainment. Because many African Americans attend community college as a first step toward a fouryear degree, I designed a survey that was administered to Skyline College in San Bruno, California to test whether trauma was a significant factor in the lives of its African American students. My survey population included all students in order to draw comparisons between African American students and other racial and ethnic groups. After analyzing and interpreting the data, policy recommendations on how to address the needs of students who suffer from trauma‐related illness impairing educational attainment will be supplied.