Continuing to read the SAGE Article written by two professors at the University of Miami, I get more information about the four theories presented as to why there is an achievement gap.
In the victim-blame approach (or person-centered approach)there are three subclasses:
1. African-Americans lack the language skills needed for academic success, are unable to think in abstract terms, or have difficulty with perceptual discrimination.
2. African-Americans have personality deficits from the emotional scars of being discriminated against and living in poor conditions. Some of these deficits include the mistrust if authority, self depreciation, defensiveness and inward-directed stress reactions.
3. Motivational deficits are the cause of the poor performance of African Americans in academia.
The cultural difference approach reasons that the culture from which African- Americans originate, as compared to the culture in the school, primarily determines the student's self-concept (belief in your abilities). A positive self-concept is determined by how well or completely the behaviors shown by the person are congruent with their culture's norm. By putting someone in an enviornment (school) that is different or degrades their primary culture might result in the person not using the different rewards and punishments of the enviornment in evaulating theirself and in improving their behavior.
The cultural deficiency approach suggests that maladaptive and inappropriate behaviors and attitudes acquired from the impoverished backgrounds of African-Americans conflict with the attitude and behaviors that are needed to excel in school. It also suggests that because schools' cirricula are not adjusted to accommodate to African-American culture, African-Americans are performing poorly.
The social structure suggests that the school system's teachers relate to black students according to the negative stereotypes that the larger society holds of African-American students. Teachers have low expectations of their students and this have a negative impact on how the student believes in their ability to succeed in school, which therefore influences their performance.
Each theory I believe is a reason for the academic achievement gap in a school system such as Brookline, Newton, or Wellesley (towns that are a majority white) versus a school system such as Boston, Lawrence, or Lynn (a city where minorities are the majority).
I'm curious about this. How does this explain AA students who grew up in Brookline? They come from the same culture and (in many cases) the same background as white kids in the district. Racism on the part of teachers might be a factor, but I wonder how much of a factor. How can you find out about this? Perhaps "culture" needs to be defined carefully. Perhaps a person's culture is not simply where she is brought up.
ReplyDeleteAre AA students in Boston, Lawrence, and Lynn doing better in school than AA students in B, Newton, and Wellesley? What environment seems to be allowing AA student to best succeed? where are the test scores highest?
Assignment complete = 15/15
I believe there are different cultures within Brookline itself. White families and African-American families can differ tremendously - this can include how the house is run (rules or lack of rules), amount parental influence, what parents stand for in terms of education (including the level of education parents have received, etc). Also, Brookline is very diverse in terms of economic status. Minorities (Hispanics, Blacks, Asians) make up a large portion of public housing - which is primarily for people who don't have a large income coming into the household. This can influence the achievement gap, for example - a wealthier family may be able to afford to provide their child with a math tutor versus a family who lives in Brookline Public housing who is not able to afford this luxury - yet both families live in the town of Brookline.
ReplyDeleteAlso "African-American" or "Black" is often used as a general umbrella term for all people with a close connection to African decent - often times including foreigner groups i.e. Haitians, Jamaicans,Hondurans,Cape Verdians, etc. These groups aren't technically "African-American", but this is the group they most closely relate with. They all have extremely different cultures than White Americans and also Black Americans as well. I often times hear that Black Americans have more culture in common with White Americans than they do Jamaican born blacks or even people for the continent of Africa for example. Many of these groups live in Brookline and although they grew up (for the most part) in Brookline alongside their White peers, their heritage and culture differ greatly from their White neighbors.
Also, in general terms, Blacks in predominately white schools, i.e. Brookline, Newton, Wellesley are doing much better (in terms of test scores) as compared to Blacks in predominately Black or Hispanic schools i.e. Lynn, Lawrence, Boston. I believe this is due to the school system generally being much better and the mentality around education is much better.
I remember from the last Boston Magazine School rating, Weston High students had the highest SAT scores in the state. Therefore I believe that Blacks in this district or others like it most likely have the highest test scores because of the strong learning environment.