More than 50 percent of young black males enrolled in the public education system leave before obtaining their secondary school certificate.

The statistic was revealed in a study into the Island’s young black males released this morning.

The study, completed by Columbia Professor Ronald Mincy, is titled ‘On the Wall or on the Margins? A study of employment, earnings and educational attainment gaps between young black males and their same age peers’.

It is believed to be the first time statistics on young black males’ educational successes and failures have been made public.

At one unnamed public school the Professor found the graduating class this year had only 52 males in it by May, compared to the 111 who started.

Of those students who left the school before graduation, 55 percent obtained their GED, 22 percent went abroad, 15 percent went to a technical school and 7.4 were home-school or transferred to private schools.

The study also revealed that black Bermudian males have higher unemployment rates, lower earnings, and lower employment rates in high-paying industries than white Bermudian males.

Black Bermudian male teenagers are also less likely to be enrolled in school than their white male peers and black males aged 19 to 30 had less educational attainment than both black Bermudian females and white Bermudian males.

As well as looking at the educational attainment and earning potential of young black males the study found that: “Black Bermudian children are less likely than white Bermudian children to be raised in married families, and marital status is positively associated with enrolment among teenagers and educational attainment among young adults.”

It added: “Young Black Bermudian men are highly over-represented among the incarcerated population in Bermuda and they are much more likely than their same-age peers to commit drug-related offences and violent crimes...

“Many in Bermuda believe, with good reason, that these are the same young men who are “On the Wall,” an expression that, we believe, essentially means idle. Put differently these young men are not working, not in school, and not making any meaningful contribution to society.”

This morning Dr. Brown said: “As this report highlights, too many young black men are not reaching their potential in school. In a knowledge based economy as we are, that’s a recipe for societal disaster. In Bermuda, black men are disproportionately concentrated in industries that pay less. Black men, therefore, earn disproportionately less than any other group within our society.

“The days when we can simply say that Michael likes to work with his hands and is not academically inclined are over. As Professor Mincy has said to us repeatedly, even doctors work with their hands.

“Their potential must be realised, for them as individuals, and for the whole community. We can no longer afford to squander that potential. We have all seen the consequences of that approach for far too long.”

The 222-page report made three recommendations to prevent young black males from dropping out of schools and two for youths already out of school.

Dr. Brown said Education Minister El James has already chosen one of the programmes to be implemented, which will be announced in Friday’s Throne Speech.

Professor Mincy pointed out that the programmes recommended are cost efficient for the Island as they cost no more than $16,000, and those that leave school are essentially leaving between $8,000 to $12,000 “on the table”.

Members of the public have been encouraged to attend a meeting on the study tonight at the Berkeley Institute where Professor Mincy and his team will share more of their findings.

The meeting starts at 7 p.m.

* See full story and analysis of the report in tomorrow’s Royal Gazette.