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Why Are Black Students Lagging?
New York Times | 11/29/02 | FELICIA R. LEE

Posted on 11/29/2002 11:31:28 PM PST by kattracks


The persistent academic gap between white and black students has touched off difficult and often ugly debates over the question why. Are racist stereotypes to blame? Substandard schools? Cultural attitudes?

This long-running argument may bubble up again next year with the arrival of a book that argues minority communities themselves contribute to student failure.

The book, "Black American Students in an Affluent Suburb: A Study of Academic Disengagement" (Lawrence Erlbaum Associates), is by John U. Ogbu, an anthropology professor at the University of California at Berkeley and a well-known figure in the field of student achievement for more than three decades. Indeed, it was Mr. Ogbu's research that popularized the phrase "acting white" in the mid-1980's to help explain why black students might disdain behaviors associated with high achievement, like speaking standard grammatical English.

Now Mr. Ogbu is back, arguing with renewed fervor that his most recent research shows that African-Americans' own cultural attitudes are a serious problem that is too often neglected.

"No matter how you reform schools, it's not going to solve the problem," he said in an interview. "There are two parts of the problem, society and schools on one hand and the black community on the other hand."

Professor Ogbu's latest conclusions are highlighted in a study of blacks in Shaker Heights, Ohio, an affluent Cleveland suburb whose school district is equally divided between blacks and whites. As in many racially integrated school districts, the black students have lagged behind whites in grade-point averages, test scores and placement in high-level classes. Professor Ogbu was invited by black parents in 1997 to examine the district's 5,000 students to figure out why.

"What amazed me is that these kids who come from homes of doctors and lawyers are not thinking like their parents; they don't know how their parents made it," Professor Ogbu said in an interview. "They are looking at rappers in ghettos as their role models, they are looking at entertainers. The parents work two jobs, three jobs, to give their children everything, but they are not guiding their children."

For example, he said that middle-class black parents in general spent no more time on homework or tracking their children's schooling than poor white parents. And he said that while black students talked in detail about what efforts were needed to get an A and about their desire to achieve, too many nonetheless failed to put forth that effort.

Those kinds of attitudes reflect a long history of adapting to oppression and stymied opportunities, said Professor Ogbu, a Nigerian immigrant who has written that involuntary black immigrants behave like low-status minorities in other societies.

Not surprisingly, he said, the parents were disappointed when he turned the spotlight on them as well as the schools. Peggy Caldwell, a spokeswoman for the Shaker Heights City School District, said that minority families cared deeply about their children's academic achievement and the district was working with education experts to reduce the racial achievement gap. She noted that while Professor Ogbu called most of the black families in the district middle class, 10 to 12 percent live in poverty.

Also not surprisingly, many researchers take issue with some of Professor Ogbu's latest findings.

"When we asked if friends made fun of kids who do well in school, we don't find any racial difference in that," said Ronald F. Ferguson, a senior research associate at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard who analyzed a new study of 40,000 middle and high school students in 15 middle class school districts, including Shaker Heights.

Indeed, the study, which was administered by the Minority Student Achievement Network, an organization that explores ways to close the racial achievement gap, found that African-American and Latino students work as hard and care as much about school as white and Asian students do.

Mr. Ferguson said that while minorities lag behind whites in things like homework completion, it is wrong to infer that they aren't interested in school. "High achievers are more often accused of acting white than low achievers, but it's because the low achievers suspect the high achievers believe they are superior."

"It's things like talking too properly when you're in informal social settings," he continued. "It's hanging around white friends and acting like you don't want to be with your black friends. It's really about behavior patterns and not achievement."

Mr. Ferguson speculated that what Professor Ogbu saw was a clumsy attempt by black students to search for a comfortable racial identity. "What does it mean to be black?" he said. "What does it mean to be white? The community needs to help kids make sense of their own identity."

"I would agree with Ogbu that there are youth cultural patterns and behaviors that are counterproductive for academic success," he went on, mentioning socializing in class and spending too much time watching television. "But when they engage in those behaviors, they are not purposely avoiding academic success."

Other researchers have zeroed in on other culprits, whether inferior schools, lower teacher expectations, impoverished family backgrounds or some combination.

Theories of black intellectual inferiority, too, have popped up from the 1781 publication of Thomas Jefferson's "Notes on the State of Virginia" to "The Bell Curve" in 1994 and beyond. Given that sensitivity and the implications for policies like school desegregation and affirmative action, virtually every aspect of the academic gap has been examined.

Where Professor Ogbu found that some middle class blacks were clueless about their children's academic life, for example, Roslyn Arlin Mickelson, a sociology professor at the University of North Carolina, instead concluded that such parents were often excluded from the informal networks that white parents use for information about courses, gifted programs and testing. "I believe, based on my own research, that the center of gravity lies with the school system," she said.

Claude Steele, a Stanford University psychologist, meanwhile, has hypothesized that black students are responding to the fear of confirming lowered expectations.

And Walter R. Allen, a professor of sociology at the University of California at Los Angeles, said that even when racial minorities and whites attended the same schools, they could have radically different experiences because of tracking and teacher expectations.

Professor Allen is conducting a long-term project on college access for African-American and Latino high school students in California. In his view, black students sometimes underperform because of subtle exchanges with teachers who convey the message that they find the students inferior or frightening. And, he said, minority schools still overwhelmingly lack good teachers and adequate teaching tools.

He also pointed out that comparing the income level of black and white families, as Professor Ogbu did with his Midwestern subjects, can be misleading. Black incomes might be derived from two-career families juggling several jobs compared with a single breadwinner in white households.

Professor Ogbu is no stranger to controversy. His theory of "acting white" has been the subject of intense study since he first wrote about it in the mid-80's with Signithia Fordham, then a graduate student and now a professor of anthropology at the University of Rochester. They studied an inner-city Washington high school where students listed doing well in school among the "white" behaviors they rejected, like visiting the Smithsonian and dancing to lyrics rather than a beat.

The two anthropologists theorized that a long history of discrimination helped foster what is known in sociological lingo as an oppositional peer culture. Not only were students resisting the notion that white behavior was superior to their own, but they also saw no connection between good grades and finding a job.

Many scholars who have disputed those findings rely on a continuing survey of about 17,000 nationally representative students, which is conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics, an arm of the federal government. This self-reported survey shows that black students actually have more favorable attitudes than whites toward education, hard work and effort.

But that has by no means settled the debate. In the February issue of the American Sociological Review, for example, scholars who tackled the subject came to opposite conclusions. One article (by three scholars) said that the government data were not reliable because there was often a gap between what students say and what they do; another article by two others said they found that high-achieving black students were especially popular among their peers.

"It's difficult to determine what's going on," said Vincent J. Roscigno, a professor of sociology at Ohio State University who has studied racial differences in achievement. "`I'm sort of split on Ogbu. It's hard to compare a case analysis to a nationally representative statistical analysis. I do have a hunch that rural white poor kids are doing the same thing as poor black kids. I'm tentative about saying it's race-based."

Indeed, Professor Mickelson of the University of North Carolina found that working class whites as well as middle-class blacks were more apt to believe that doing well in school compromised their identity.

All these years later, Professor Fordham said, she fears that the acting-white idea has been distorted into blaming the victim. She said she wanted to advance the debate by looking at how race itself was a social fiction, rooted not just in skin color but also in behaviors and social status.

"Black kids don't get validation and are seen as trespassing when they exceed academic expectations," Professor Fordham said, echoing her initial research. "The kids turn on it, they sacrifice their spots in gifted and talented classes to belong to a group where they feel good."



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Comment #121 Removed by Moderator

Comment #122 Removed by Moderator

To: superdestroyer
http://osr.berkeley.edu/Public/Staffweb/KW/sat.percentiles/Admits/satadmits3.html

Whthout knowing the entrance criteria its hard to tell, but this link showing admitted students SAT scores sure indicates that quotas are alive and well.

123 posted on 12/01/2002 5:00:09 AM PST by Fzob
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Comment #124 Removed by Moderator

Comment #125 Removed by Moderator

To: superdestroyer
If you look at black history you will not find much in the way of intellectual activities. Less than 25% of blacks were even high school graduates as late as 1950. those are the grand parents and great grand parents of today. Whatever the cause of anti-intellectualism is, it is separate from victimization.

I don't know what statistic you're citing, but those numbers were much, much higher in urban areas. As early as World War I, high school graduation numbers among blacks skyrocketed, as the older generations pushed for their youth - especially the girls - to go to school and get an education.

Three of my four grandparents are high school graduates - the fourth, my paternal grandfather, became a master carpenter; both of my grandmothers are college graduates. If you talk to many, those graduation rates will increase dramatically prior to Depression, then taper off again, but increasing dramatically once again during the second World War.

As I said, the higher rates were in cities. In the country, the emphasis may have been there, but it may not have been pushed as much, with youngsters choosing to become farmers or tradesmen.

126 posted on 12/01/2002 5:34:54 AM PST by mhking
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To: superdestroyer
and you can tell that there not much of a quota.

Is there a quota system is isn't there one? To me the numbers show there is still some type of quota systems in place. The number of ball players and the like just can't account for the difference in SAT scores.

BTW, IMO SAT scores are not the be all and end all to indicate ones potential. If a college whats to give substandard students a chance on the students dime, I could not care less. It's when the under-performer gets a passing grade because of the fear of being accused of racism while insisting I pay for it in taxes that grate on my nerves.

127 posted on 12/01/2002 5:43:52 AM PST by Fzob
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To: Mr. Jeeves
I had an English prof at IUP who said on the first day that we were there to work and expect to work very hard...essays, essays, essays. Unfortunately every book on his book list was about the victimization of blacks and slavery and Marxism...

I got out of there.

128 posted on 12/01/2002 6:06:27 AM PST by Benrand
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Comment #129 Removed by Moderator

Comment #130 Removed by Moderator

To: AllSmiles
You didn't refute my statements about Sowell, you just issued a personal attack based on my alleged shortage of IQ points. Does that MO remind you of anybody? A certain political party perhaps?

I'm sorry my comments provoked your outburst. But I'm not the only one around here who will comment if you call Dr. Sowell a beneficiary of affirmative action.

131 posted on 12/01/2002 6:40:16 AM PST by SBprone
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To: superdestroyer
Look it up yourself

I"m not going to get into a pissing match about the statistics. I'm speaking, based on personal experience.

Let's get back to the original point: you refuse to accept that popular culture is responsible for the lagging of black students today. I don't accept the notion that because numbers were lower historically that it is reflected today.

Today it is accepted, thanks to the poverty pimps (as well as to popular culture), to use excuses as a reason not to go to school and excel. The best way, IMO, to address this problem is to work to eliminate and marginalize the negative influences that cause this.

132 posted on 12/01/2002 6:54:05 AM PST by mhking
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Comment #133 Removed by Moderator

To: superdestroyer
But the academic problem today for black Americans has to do more with what is going on at home than what has happened at school.

Go back and re-read my original posts. My point is that parental and family involvement is key. Today's youth have substituted peer culture and involvement for traditional family involvement. Traditional family involvement points toward generational advancement.

As I mentioned, my grandfather never attended college. My father did his undergrad work at Central State in Ohio. His grad work was at Purdue. I started at Purdue and went on to Howard. I don't feel that I'm any worse off than white students.

If parents don't take the time to get involved, then you're right. The students will be behind. But my parents took the time to take us to plays; to museums; to concerts. My wife and I do the same with our children.

It's obvious from your "biggest argument" statement that we are on the same page. But we disagree in terms of what the older generations continue to emphasize.

134 posted on 12/01/2002 7:23:27 AM PST by mhking
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Comment #135 Removed by Moderator

To: superdestroyer
Go back and reread the table you cited. It is the scores of the applicants, not those admitted.

Whoops, wrong table, sorry. Here is the admission table. The median admission score for blacks is 210 points lower than the median white score (estimated by taking the midpoints of the ranges), versus a 245-point spread for the applications, which is still pretty significant

136 posted on 12/01/2002 8:23:10 AM PST by SauronOfMordor
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To: superdestroyer
The problem that has been shown over and over again is that black culture, outside of school, is anti-intellectual.

White/Asian children can easily outdistance black children because, on average, their parents spend more time, money, and effort giving their children a life experience that includes intellectual activites.

Your statement is not far off the mark, but you've excluded the segment of Black culture that mostly prefers to patronize Black bookstores and attend Black musical and theatrical events. Plenty of these folks will go see things "The Nutcraker" or attend the "main" symphony orchestra, ballet, etc., but they also like culture that reflects who they are.

137 posted on 12/01/2002 8:41:28 AM PST by mafree
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To: collectingdust
Absolutely, one never realizes their genetic IQ potential without favorable environmental factors--but there's a ceiling to that genetic IQ potential that cannot be overcome no matter what the environment.

Or more precisely, genetics will determine how much effort and resources will be needed to achieve a particular IQ, with the curve rising steeply past a point.

Now, while favorable environments can increase IQ, severely unfavorable environments (eq, malnuitrition or exposure to drugs or other substances which result in brain damage) can decrease IQ. But as the bottom-line environment for the worst-off gets better, past a threshold, we should be seeing less of this effect. The exception (and it gets bigger every year) would be for the kids that we deliberately drug into stupors in school to make them more manageable

138 posted on 12/01/2002 8:46:26 AM PST by SauronOfMordor
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To: collectingdust
aristedes wrote:
"IQ of 115 or above represents one standard deviation above the average for whites, two standard deviations for blacks: this is 16% of whites, and 2.3% of blacks. IQ of 130 represents two standard deviations above the average for whites, three standard deviations for blacks: this is 2.3% of whites, 0.13% of blacks."

and collectingdust replied:
And this is the critical level at which all of the institutions (cultural, political, economic, legal) we hold dear are created and preserved. Labor can be found in mass wherever you look, but the engineers, doctors, scientists, writers, etc., occur at the high end of the IQ curve. If, in total, only 2.313% of blacks in the US are capable of achievement at the elite level (vs. 16.3% of whites), then so be it, and let's not kill ourselves, financially and morally, trying to change what can't be changed.

Fishrrman speaks:
VERY astute comment, collecting, regarding the "threshold" of [elite] group intelligence which is required so that "institutions (cultural, political, economic, legal) we hold dear are created and preserved".

At the risk of being thrown off this board, I contend that being "below this threshold" is why black Africa was never able to progress culturally beyond the tribal level -- UNTIL they had contact with cultures from beyond their continent. No doubt there were highly intelligent African tribesmen (the Bell Curve would account for as much), but their numbers were so small, and the culture they were born into so backward, that specific individuals couldn't make a "forward contribution" that would endure from one generation to the next.

Such "forward progress" as may have been made in Africa came ONLY after being "imposed" by European colonizers. And what happens when the Europeans leave, or are forced out? One needs only to look to the devolution of civilization in Zimbabwe for the answer.

I would contend that -- if Sub-Saharan Africa had never had _any_ contact with the outside world, they would be living today in virtually the same culture that they had in the year 1200 A.D. -- to wit, that of African tribespeople. Who would argue otherwise?

I would also contend that -- if Europeans had never had _any_ contact with Africa, European Judeo/Christian culture would have continued to progress pretty much the same as it has through the centuries. Who would argue otherwise?

There is indeed "an elephant in the room" that few are willing to consider re the continual "lagging" of the overall "group achievements" vis-a-vis whites and blacks in America. This invisible elephant is why over a billion dollars could be spent on inner-city schools in Kansas City (where a federal judge took the unusual step that property taxes could be raised to cover the cost), with almost NO improvement on minority achievement test scores. It is why, following one attempt after another, every one of which ends in failure, the "experts" throw up their hands and blame the failures of blacks to "achieve" -- either at the student or employment level -- on either "inadequate funding" or "white racism".

Guess they don't -- or won't -- see that elephant in the room.

As Thomas Jefferson wrote, "There is not a truth existing which I fear or would wish unknown to the whole world". We are supposed to be conservatives, seeking and accepting of the truth, even when those truths are unpleasant and unpalatable.

When will _we_ begin to speak openly about the elephant?

Cheers!
- John

139 posted on 12/01/2002 9:51:29 AM PST by Fishrrman
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To: Fishrrman
At the risk of being thrown off this board, I contend that being "below this threshold" is why black Africa was never able to progress culturally beyond the tribal level -- UNTIL they had contact with cultures from beyond their continent.

So you've never heard of the Ghana, Mali or Songhay Empires?

140 posted on 12/01/2002 10:16:08 AM PST by Pahuanui
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