Customer Reviews

Higher Ground: Preparing African-American Children for College

5 star:		(2)
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3 star:		(1)
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"Setting your sights on the best education for your children...HIGHER GROUND is written to help black parents chart an early course for the college education that will determine their future". As the cover clearly states, this book does just that, and more. It covers parenting pitfalls that can derail a child, financial considerations and sources for help, guidelines for finding the best schools for your child, how to help with bad grades and low test scores, and much, much more. Ms. Latimer's style is clear, articulate and easy to read. Many considerations are presented in an informal and thought provoking manner. In this way, Ms. Latimer is encouraging all consumers to tailor this book to the needs of their individual students and children. Options and choices are given in chart format as well as narrative. Ms. Latimer does not stop with just giving reasons for problems, but offers many paths to solve them. This book is a must for any parent, grandparent, educator, counselor, student or adult who is looking for information, sources for help, and the courage and inspiration to help all children pursue personal excellence.

If you want your child, or a child you know, to go to college, this book is a great source for a lot of important information.

Higher Ground should be required reading for parents and students.

I'm focusing on college admissions research as a summer project. In DC, many first generation college families need information to help their children be prepared for the college process and college mindset. "Higher Ground" does a good job of listing resources and ambitiously attempts to cover the entire educational path of a family from kindergarten through college. For those who actively research in this area, I don't know how much new ground is covered and the 1999 publishing date means a lot of this info is dated. In my industry for example, there are a lot more for-profit tutoring resources in black neighborhoods. Now that No Child Left Behind is in place, the landscape for student support is quite different.

Still, if your new to the college game and not looking to spend much money, this book would be a good investment as a used purchase or library pickup. The action steps suggested such as seeking out guidance counselors, staying involved in your child's school, and creating educational enrichment activities related to college at an early age are timeless.

3 stars

--SD