Update (9/6): What I don’t like about white liberal social engineer types and their black counterparts is their unseemly compulsion to hand-wring and point fingers at nameless and faceless third parties when it comes to explaining the black-white academic achievement gap. No matter whose fault it is, parents and students themselves have more power than they think. But blacks have become accustomed to having white benefactors slam their own race as the great enemy of humanity. It’s a ready-made, pitiful excuse for failure.
The physical chains may be broken, but the mental chains are bound so tightly that some people can’t even think like reasonably intelligent human beings. It’s really disgusting.
Anyway, let’s get to the reason for the update: From Gene Expression:
Before getting into the nitty-gritty of the article, though, a few words are in order on ST [stereotype threat]. First, psychologists have already pointed out that it is a non-starter for explaining the Black-White IQ gap: while being told that a task is an IQ test lowers performance among Black subjects on average (by hypothesis, because it induces greater stress), absence of this threat does not eliminate the Black-White IQ gap, which remains the same. Think of the effect of anti-depressant drugs — to the extent that they work at all, they bring the person to their “true” happiness level, rather than transform them into sprightly, sanguine souls.
Emphasis added. Perhaps one day people will follow the advice of conservative types and work on building, fortifying, and emphasizing strong, intact families and cultivating a love for learning. Absent these things, the black-white academic achievement gap will remain and continue to grow.
(Via Discriminations)
Related post: The Mission: Middle-Class vs. Lower-Class Families
———————————————————————————————————————-
In an increasingly futile effort to blame something or someone besides parents of underperforming students and the students themselves for their underperformance, yet another group of researchers has released a study purporting to show that black students perform worse than their white counterparts because of stress associated with stereotypes of lower intelligence.
Unfortunately, the study is behind a subscription wall at Science magazine, but an article at Medical News Today probably summarizes it pretty well. Since there is nothing new under the sun on this or any topic, don’t expect to learn anything enlightening.
The study suggests, in a nutshell, that black students would do better in school if only people wouldn’t mention that they tend to score lower than white students. Strangely enough, their performance conforms to the stereotype. Imagine that!
The so-called self-affirmation test used in the study (reminiscent of Stuart Smalley’s “I’m good enough, I’m smart enough and doggonit, people like me!” affirmation?) supposedly helped test subjects fight racial stereotypes and perform better. According to the study, the black students improved their end-of-term grades by three-tenths of a grade point.
Claude Steele, brother of Shelby Steele, postulated the stereotype threat theory years ago. (Also see his PBS interview)
So if the theory is true, blacks would perform as well as whites on the SAT and in the classroom if we all agreed not to mention low scores and grades ever again, because doing causes stress, which in turns causes low scores and grades. That’s a classic and irresolvable chicken-or-the-egg loop if I ever heard one.
Actually, one could argue that the stereotype threat theory is itself “racist.” What is it about blacks that cause them to break under pressure? Why would researchers want to prove that blacks are incapable of functioning normally in society, and more important, why do blacks allow them to do it? What happened to the idea of proving critics wrong and defying stereotypes? Are blacks really that weak-minded and helpless?
It depends on who you ask, a white liberal social engineer loaded down with “white guilt” or a normal person. 
(Photo: Atlantic Monthly)
Related posts:
{ 2 trackbacks }
{ 41 comments }
Seems like most of this theory is the same as a self fulfilling prophecy, which has been studied for years. If you tell someone something long enough, they believe it.
As a parent of two children in the public school system I have to say the lowering of standards in American public education is shameful.
I find this “study” appalling. If these children actually do score lower than white children, why not tell them? Why not let them know they are scoring lower, and give them the message that there is no excuse and we as adults, parents, educators, etc. expect more from them because we believe they are capable of achieving at the same level?
Making excuses and lowering standards tells them that we don’t expect as much from them because we don’t feel they are capable of as much, which I would think would be a blow to their self esteem and would seem to negate the “affirmations”.
What about the good-old-fashioned “I expected better from you”?
The problem isn’t the mentioning of scores, the problem is the assumption (which I DO think exists, it’s the “soft racism of low expectations”) that these “poor kids” can’t do any better because of whatever the flavor-of-the-month reason for blame is.
when I was a kid and did poorly on a test or in a class? My parents’ first reaction was “We expect better from you – you are smarter than this.” Their second reaction was to ground me or something and require me to study more….
Granted, kids from an unstable home situation or where the parents don’t value education won’t hear that from their parents, but perhaps they could be hearing it from their teachers? Aren’t there enough stories (like Stand and Deliver) of disadvantaged, supposedly-low-performing kids pulling themselves up when someone comes in and says, “You’re smarter than this. You can do better.”
actually, that philosophy – you can do better than this, you can be responsible and make good choices – is probably a good treatment for a lot of the social ills we have right now.
I think the problem, dana, is that this is a double edged sword. Consistently telling black kids that they score below white kids can, and does, establish this as something normal. Thus, when black kids score below white kids, it is often not seen as a failure. White kids are “supposed to” score better. Scoring lower is just becomes a part of being black. Also, pride tends to be a more adult thing. Kids tend to be less pridefully motivated by such statistics as an adult would. Once they reach adulthood, they don’t have the educational foundation and are often too far behind to catch up.
I think that the key is to put black academic success more at the forefront. Seeing other blacks achieve academic success makes it harder to make excuses. It becomes a case of “if they can do it, so can you.”
La Shawn:
These guys are not aware of the latest information on the pursuit of “self esteem”.
Criminals and low achievers of all types do NOT have low self esteem – they have inflated self esteem. They believe they can “make it” without much effort, because “the system” tells them “I’m good enough, I’m smart enough and doggonit, people like me!†Their teachers tell them so, because they don’t want to be called “racist”. Likewise for prison wardens – they also are deathly afraid of being called “racist”.
I well remember my senior year in high school. I had been cruising with great grades for 3 years and then I encountered (required) Chemistry! I hated it. Just flat hated it. And resolved to continue to cruise and my final grade point average be damned. My chemistry teacher (who also happened to be my home room teacher and senior advisor) had other ideas. The rule in our school was that if you got a grade below 70 on any grading period, you had to pick up that particular grading slip from the principal’s office. Our principal was a special friend of mine. When I got a 68 for Chemistry (based on total lack of effort), and picked up that grading slip for the first 6 weeks of the senior year, the principal looked at me with such sad eyes, that I was absolutely destroyed! Needless to say, I studied my butt off the rest of the year and never repeated THAT experience again!
Teachers aren’t allowed to “motivate” students the way that senior year chemistry teacher motivated me – more’s the pity! And parents are not demanding of their children the way my parents were demanding of me either!
We’re raising a nation of way too many underachievers (of all races and faiths) and we will pay for that down the road!
And by the way – to Sister Joan Acker (then Sister Mary Myles) of the Holy Humility of Mary order, thank you for teaching me a valuable lesson that has served me all my life. I have not cruised through any part of life since that time!
Sounds very much like Miss England’s claim that Muslims are turning to terrorism because everyone expects them to.
I am not saying to tell them repeatedly they are scoring lower. They know they are. No one has to tell them. I am saying just what Ricki said, if you don’t tell kids you expect more from them, then they don’t have any expectations to meet.
Lowering standards does not help. Neither do affirmations. Not only do they excuse poor academic achievement they also downgrade the importance of responsibility.
My beef with these “studies” is that they are so, so loose with the designation of “black.” This country is chock-a-block full of “blacks” who are as smart and productive as any other “group.” There are millions of smart, productive “blacks” throughout the world and many of them would love to come to the United States and get a piece of the pie.
Somehow, though, these studies are always loaded with a socio-economic class of “blacks” that have so many indicators for failure that it is impossible to know where to start.
Hogarth chronicled the gin soaked, mind-numbed, reprobate poor “whites” of London in the 1700’s. Indonesia teems with people who are “untouchable” to the rest of the population.
The point is, you have to make do with what you have. It takes responsibility, a positive attitude and determination. These “studies” lead nowhere. They only “succeed” at pointing a finger of blame elsewhere. If you are inclined to slide by on an excuse and a prayer, then the “study” is your friend. Fie on all of them. They are racist to the core.
Liberals truly don’t have a clue. Children that come from broken homes tend to be more likely to do worse in school then their counterpart that come from well adjusted families. To researchers this might as well be rocket science. “Stress associated with stereotypes of lower intelligence” I would like to meet a black student who actually thinks this. I think I would have a better chance at finding a pot of gold first. Since this was a study, where did the find the black students in order to conduct this study? Oh course it can’t have nothing to do with either the parents not pushing their kids to succeed or the children not caring one way or the other. In the real world, it has nothing to do with race. Oh course the elites who think they know more then everybody else are living in their own world.
If white kids were required to study as much as Asian kids do, their scores and school performance would probably improve to the same level as Asians. When I say “required”, I mean by their parents, their culture, etc. You have to want to succeed and you have to be raised and schooled in an environment that expects it of you. If anyone told my biracial grandaughter that because she is half black, she wouldn’t do as well in school as white kids, I would be furious.
Boy oh boy……when you think that Liberals can’t get any lower or dumber, they come up with these pathetic excuses for Black Students underachieving!!!
I agree also with the above poster….this reminded me instantly of that braindead muslim beauty queen in England last week that hilariously blamed muslims turning to terrorism because we are pointing out that muslims are prone to terrorism!! Gee……it couldn’t have anything to do with Muhammed’s actual teachings could it I asked sarcastically….
I expect more and more of these boneheaded statements coming from our academia in these dangerous days of moral relativism and no accountability….
Let’s face it folks….it is always easier to blame someone else then ever look in the mirror!
I think it’s hard for kids who grow up in dysfunctional situations to do well. However, from mine and other teachers’ experiences, it’s clear that a number of those types of non-white students have plenty of self-confidence, but have been told by the brainwashers that everything is the white man’s fault. So they’ll proudly blame white people and the “system” for everything, but won’t do their work, while their self-esteem remains unscathed. It’s not like they’re working so hard, and then some Evil White Man comes into their lives and takes everything away–they’re not doing the work in the first place, and if they are doing the work, their homes are so messed up they can’t improve. So the community and politicians blame the system instead of the families dropping the ball.
Seems like most of this theory is the same as a self fulfilling prophecy, which has been studied for years.
Sam, you are correct. The stereotype threat is a specific application of a general idea. If it was just an idea, I could understand the naysayers, but since it is backed by specific studies and since the general case is accepted theory, “I wonder why” the stereotype theory is poo-pooed. (That’s actually a rhetorical wondering).
Bush’s speech writer co-opted the often repeated saying by Blacks concerned with education that little is expected of Black students and turned it into “bigotry of low expectations.”
I am not saying to tell them repeatedly they are scoring lower. They know they are. No one has to tell them.
The reason they know it is because it keeps being said. And I’ll write this again: those who are saying it are sending the message that Black kids can’t excel, no matter what they state to the contrary, because they are expecting them to not excel. When they do excel, they are surprised. I see it as normal.
Does that mean don’t mention it as the hostess mocks when she writes: So if the theory is true, blacks would perform as well as whites on the SAT and in the classroom if we all agreed not to mention low scores and grades ever again, because doing causes stress, which in turns causes low scores and grades. That’s a classic and irresolvable chicken-or-the-egg loop if I ever heard one.
No. But why are the successes rarely, if ever, stated?
<flashback>
When I reached the age of 25, a relative “congratulated me” on reaching that age. He said, “Congrats! You know many Black men don’t reach your age.” I said nothing but seethed. There was, and is, NOTHING about me that suggested I would not reach that age.</flashback>
Recently, he was mentioning that to his grandson and I felt compelled to speak up with some force. I told him that his grandson is not involved in the lifestyle that would increase his chance of not living long, so why put for the message, unintentionally, that you are not expecting him to reach it? His wife echoed what I said. Evidently, I hit a sore spot between those two.
Duke University had a situation where Black students, who had high school grades and SAT scores around the average Duke entering student, weren’t performing well. Someone addressed the situation by using an affirmation type of class along with a “what to expect in college” during a freshman summer program. The result was the performance of Black students at Duke improved signficantly. So much so, the program was “opened up” to all students. William Raspberry wrote about this a few times and tied it into the Stereotype Threat theory.
They know they are underachieving because they know what their grades are and how prepared they were for the test, the class, etc. Don’t be naive. No one is in the school building announcing “black children cannot succeed” over the intercom or whispering it to them as they leave their classrooms. I have two children in school, and the fact of the matter is that it is “white” to do well in school. My daughter is told constantly that she is “so white” by her peers because she is in AP/Honors classes. Why is that looked down on by black students? White people didn’t teach them that.
Good post Darkstar. My point exactly. When people go on and on about the “racism of low expectations”, they don’t realize how much they contribute to this themselves. For example, some time ago La Shawn stated that whenever she sees a black family with the father living there, she wants to do a dance. Another poster agreed with her. As nice as this sounded, this type of thinking tends to contribute to normalizing fatherless households. A father living in a household is not something to be celebrated. As Chris Rock stated, “that is what you are supposed to do”. When you praise someone for doing something that should be a normal part of life, you contribute to normalizing the absence of such a thing and making what shoud be normal into something exceptional.
This likewise happens when we constantly bombard or kids with negatives. When we repeatedly tell our kids that they will most likely fail or drop out of school or that they will most likely end up in jail, such notions become the norm and academic excellence becomes the exception. As a kid, the way my parents dealt with me, I thought that everyone went to college. The notion that there were people who didn’t go to college didn’t enter my mind. It was not a question of whether I would go or not, but where I would go.
In 2006, my kids think the exact same thing. Likewise, I know for certain that my black sons believe that most black households have fathers living there. It might seem naive, but that is what they see as normal and I have never allowed them to even consider the negatives so often associated with blacks and that is why they excel in schools of mostly whites. They can hear all about that crap when they are adults.
Decades of normalizing destructive behavior among blacks is a major contributor to what we see today. We celebrate kids who don’t go to jail, which is ridiculous. I wouldn’t dare tell a kid of mine that I am proud that he didn’t go to jail. Studies have shown that while making up fraction of the nations poor (probably less than 20%), the vast majority of images of the poor shown by the media involve blacks. Again, this contributes to normalizing poverty among blacks.
But why are the successes rarely, if ever, stated?
Because they are not interesing. If this blog concentrated mostly on the successes, the numbers of commenters would drop considerably. If you go to any conservative message board, some of the longest threads are the ones criticizing blacks. Such threads are popular pastimes.
#17 “If you go to any conservative message board, some of the longest threads are the ones criticizing blacks. Such threads are popular pastimes.”
I argue that some may, and some may not. I am somewhat confused by the (blanket)accusations of racism at either ‘liberals’ or ‘conservatives’.
Some ‘conservatives’ of course say that ‘liberals’ are ‘the’ racist ones, and vice versa. This doesn’t mean it is true. Only that *some* conservatives/liberals make stereotypical judgements on race or level racial insults.
One only has to read both Michelle Malkin’s and Margaret Cho’s ‘hatemail’ to get an idea of verbal/written racial abuse from ‘liberals’ and ‘conservatives’ respectively.
Some say:
“But I’m criticizing ‘their’ culture, not their race”!
Until, of course, either:
1. Certain genetic scientists tell us that ‘they’ (unspecified ‘blacks’) have lower learning abilities/less intelligence.
or
2. One is accusing ‘them’ (the other side of the political fence) of racism, then the ‘culture’ bit gets ‘lost’. ‘They’ are being racist. It is arguably the ‘they’ word that is crucial to the insult, not particularly the ‘racist’ bit.
Ostensibly, (and I am not targeting any specific commenter here) the arguments seem to be more point-scoring’ political punditry than any honest consideration of pupil performance targets.
One thing I have learned about humans is that we respond to affirmation/encouragement/positive expectations in ways that benefit our study.
The psychology of ‘low-expectation’ is a very real thing.
Some of us of course respond to (personal) negative stereotyping with a positive “f*** em all, I’ll succeed!” attitude.
This is useful at a pinch, yet more often than not the “f**** ‘em all” bit (over time) eclipses the “succeed” bit, as the motivation to succeed is based upon a conflict response rather than reinforcement of personal responsibility and the challenge and rewards of actual achievement.
Of course a child benefits from positive encouragement/self-affirmation. The values of achievement and personal respect/responsibility. Regardless of race.
Surely it is that ‘regardless of race’ that we should all work on? As in ‘absolutely no regard for’.
It saddens me to see ‘regardless of’ commonly misused as ‘in spite of’.
It also saddens me to see people say “‘THEY’ are the racist ones, not ‘US’.”
Where race comes into this I don’t know, or really care. But the consideration of it seems, as ever, to do nothing other than make ‘us’ blame ‘them’.
“If a white man falls off a chair drunk, it’s just a drunk. If a Negro does, it’s the whole damn Negro race.”
~Bill Cosby
#10.
My beef with these “studies†is that they are so, so loose with the designation of “black.â€
I agree completely if that is the case. Although I would like access to the study before commenting about it’s findings.
I would agree with the ‘loose designation’ charge for the same reasons I found it hard to swallow La Shawn’s report recently that ‘blacks’ were proven to be less intelligent than ‘whites’ or ‘asians’.
Quick question: What is a ‘black’? No-one answered that question then, and I don’t believe anyone will now
Heliotrope stated:
“Fie on all of them. They are racist to the core.”
That’s quite a broad and complete insult.
With respect, who exactly is racist to the core, and why?
Respectfully, I can only presume you include the author of this study, Claude M. Steele?
If this is true, would you say he was ‘racist’ because he studies ’self-image’ psychology? Or is he racist because his studies include *race-related* self-image psychology?
Would it be less ‘racist’ to study ‘group’ stereotypes, or just more politically correct?
Respectfully,
John
erratum:
Apologies, not Claude M. Steel, but Geoffrey Cohen and Julio Garcia.
If this is true, would you say they are ‘racist’ because they studies ’self-image’ psychology? Or are they racist because their findings include *race-related* self-image psychology?
Or some other reason?
Regards,
John
Same stuff, different day.
No one is in the school building announcing “black children cannot succeed†over the intercom or whispering it to them as they leave their classrooms.
Not very far off.
http://www.kten.com/Global/story.asp?S=5343496
Shade and Darkstar and JohnD:
On point, as usual.
JohnD: My muddled reference to “they” is meant to refer to the concept behind such studies.
I have stated often on this site that science and scientific fact are rigid disciplines. Psychology and sociology are pseudo-science in a league with phrenology and astrology. Because the practitioners engage is complicated uses of statistics, it does not mean that just by using a few tools of science that they are engaged in science.
Every study (scientific or not) begins with a theory. In science, you know when you have proved it. In pseudo-science, you operate off a “body of evidence.” In pseudo-science, you can create just about any “body of evidence” you want or need.
When a psychobabble artist decides to “study” the behavior of “blacks” to “determine” X or Z, that fool is engaged in racism. Period. There has to be a Hitler type mindset that says that if the skin or hair or nose or cheekbone or eye shape or something is different from……..what?…….the (white?) control group……. then we should look for differences in …….. intellect ……. sex drive ……. criminality ……. athleticism ……. ability to swim ……… fidelity ………… trustworthiness ……….. gullibility……… etc.
I say it again: Fie on all of the race-based studies and the people who concoct them. The studies and those who construct them are racists. They are no different from Mengele, except for the surgical tools or the human specimens held captive to abuse in the name of science.
Racial superiority is an age old concept. Its brother is racial purity. We live in a rapidly changing world where the “mixing” of the “races” is a growing reality. If anyone is going to pin down scientific differences between the races, that had best act fast.
First and foremost, science would have to discover a set of facts that readily identify and separate the races. Then, science would have to work with pure specimens of each race to establish distinct markers and differences.
Forget it. It can not be done and the human genome project has all but proved it.
Just to toss a brick into the crowd: these sociological studies of race are the playground of liberals who want to manipulate people’s lives through the power of government. They are pimping for tax funding and seeking the position of power to organize society according to their grand schemes of “truth,” “justice,” and “the American way.”
An interesting study of the effects of group discrimination:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJLUQzwCFIo
The kids in the above video are ‘white’, they of course respond to discrimination in the same way as any individual. Problem is, if one was to use ‘race’ rather than ‘eye colour’ in an experiment, one would get called racist just for researching the *effects* of this discrimination.
Regards,
John
Explain away the IQ gap.
My children would be exceptions to that rule, and because of it they are ridiculed in school so they mainly hang around with white children who don’t tease them for being smart/making good grades.
Parents, not teachers, are dropping the ball, schools are accommodating this by lowering the standards, and black students who perform well in school are ridiculed for being “white”. If you don’t believe this is true, then I urge you to pay closer attention to what goes on in most inner city schools.
The IQ Gap is a reality. It can’t be explained away. It is not a social construct. It exists in every country it has been tested in, it exists when the children tested are from the same socioeconomic background.
#27 dana: I totally agree. Many children in lower socioeconomic circumstances suffer from a long list of developmental problems. Some developmental problems can not be rectified after the fact. There is no “IQ diet” that will make up the deficit.
Head Start was an effort to feed the children properly and to give them mental stimulation. It doubtlessly had positive effects, but it did not succeed in rewiring or otherwise mending damaged little brains.
Malnutrition, emotional neglect, and even incest are biological insults that are permanently damaging. Money and careful attention can help the damaged child to cope, but there is no known biological recovery.
The best odds for a mentally and physically healthy child is for the child to be the product of a healthy and concerned pregnancy. The parents must be dedicated to the healthy physical and mental development of the youngster.
When you examine the habits of many in the lower socioeconomic groups, it is not much of a mystery why so many of the children have multiple problems.
My children would be exceptions to that rule
Not necessarily. Let’s say that your children score better intellectually than 99.9% of black children nationwide. This would mean that they score better than the vast majority of white children. But if they score 15 points less than those white children who score better than 99.9% of white children nationwide, then they actually support the rule.
Thanks, Heliotrope, for your considered response to my questions.
#25: “Psychology and sociology are pseudo-science in a league with phrenology and astrology.”
I’m no major fan of various disciplines within psychology, sociology and other ‘ologies’, but I couldn’t, in honesty, agree that they are broadly worthless and ‘pseudo’. Also, I can’t figure how your dismissal of these disciplines squares with further comments in #28:
1. “Many children in lower socioeconomic circumstances suffer from a long list of developmental problems”
2. “When you examine the habits of many in the lower socioeconomic groups, it is not much of a mystery why so many of the children have multiple problems.”
Isn’t the study of socio-economic groups an arm’ sociology’? And isn’t the study of developmental problems related to environment/economics/nutrition the very same ‘psychology’ and ’sociology’ that is being refuted on this post?
Further, how is it reasonable to describe Geoffrey Cohen’s psycho-social study as ‘no different’ from a Nazi doctor who both sent Jews to their deaths and butchered captives; yet on the other hand perfectly reasonable to state that ‘blacks’ have lower IQ’s, (partly?) because of psycho-social factors?
It just doesn’t all square up. Or have I missed an important key factor?
Regards,
John
JohnD: Or have I missed an important key factor?
Yes indeed, you have. Philosophy and its branches have looked into the human condition for a very long time. The Bible, Aesop’s Fables, the Vedas, Confucius, and on and on have lent us reasoned observations which we can cleave to through practical experience and the wisdom derived therefrom.
Sociology is a recent construct parading as a science. You need only look at social Darwinism or the hoax played on Margaret Meade by her Samoan cohort to realize that sociology as science flat out does not hold water.
Naturally, you can employ the techniques of scientific observation to posit a few possibilities or theories. To a small degree, those understandings are useful in certain settings. But when you try to reach a conclusion that is larded with “fact” you have an entirely different ballgame.
Malnutrition and damaging eating patterns can be scientifically studied and the resultant damage is real and provable. The same is true with the genetic weaknesses related to the practice of incest. Many types of abusive behavior that involve chemicals or physical injury also can be scientifically mapped.
I do not reject sociology and psychology as useful study methods. I categorically reject them as junk science. When you are told the characteristics and outcomes of diversity training, you are being wall papered with some one’s bias and junk science. When you are given a chance to consider cultural differences as a way of making your approach more likely to succeed, you are benefiting from useful information.
A lower socioeconomic person in the mean streets of a large American city and a lower socioeconomic person in a South Seas Island village are different entities in a huge variety of ways. That should be obvious. Yet sociological research tracts invariably paint their subjects with an enormously wide brush. That is to say, not all poor are alike throughout American cities or share the same traits as the country poor.
I am quite comfortable calling out the bulk of the theories of sociologists and psychologists as being based on junk science. And that goes for political science as well.
The hospital I work with has studied the demographics of the region. We have psychologists in our employ. Armed with training and a good intuition, psychologists are a very important part of the healing team. But be assured that there are a bunch of them out there who are “alternative healers” and little more than frauds. A good sociologist and good psychologist knows the boundaries of their research and they keep it simple.
I usually review the references you cite, and I must say you seem to have an affinity for polemics. There are enough Ward Churchill types out there to muddy any discussion. If you come upon some research that seems to resonate with you, you must peer review it. That means, you must read it all and chase down its sources. Then you must find the reasoned opposition to it and do the same.
Whatever happened to the study which demonstrated the difference in parent-child interactions (quality AND quantity) in families from lower-income vs. middle-class income levels? IIRC, the differences were persistent across socio-economic lines, rather than racial.
What struck me was the difference in educational expectations the parents had for their children. Lower s-e classes tended to see their responsibility as strictly physical (food, clothing, shelter) and education as the responsibility of the schools & teacher. Middle class parents took responsibility not only for the physical, but also took responsibility for their children’s education: reading, conversing, enriching their environment.
I’ve seen, first hand, the difference in this between the way I was raised vs. my husband’s family. We are now seeing it in the difference between the high school DS#2 attended last year vs. his current one.
If the study is correct, then doesn’t that point to a way out: educate the parents, especially when their children are infants & toddlers? Why isn’t this being given wider discussion?
#26 – I had to watch this video (much longer than the 5 min 24 second YouTube clip) in my “Multicultural Teaching & Learning” class this past spring. I think in addition to showing the emotional impact of blatant discrimination, it also goes to show that discrimination needs to be taught to children for it to even exist.
absence of this threat does not eliminate the Black-White IQ gap, which remains the same
That’s interesting.
1. The SAT is not an IQ test. So I don’t understand why you provide a quote that references IQ when the Stereotype Threat is not about IQ.
2. You wrote: What happened to the idea of proving critics wrong and defying stereotypes?
Given your believe in IQ, specifically, g, and the innate nature of same, and how it relates to cognative abilities, why would you write such a thing when ‘g’ dictates, that as a group, the stereotype of Blacks, as a group, being dumber than whites, as a group, would hold true. So there would be no need to even try to prove the critics wrong, because even on an individual level, Blacks who are smarter than whites, are by definition, outliers.
3. There still exists the wonderful inconsistency of categorizing Blacks as a group for the benefit of chastising the group, but looking at individual Blacks when it is convienient to do so.
From #32-March Hare:
The article from the link below relates to the comment above. Read it if you have the time.
“The New First Grade: Too Much Too Soon?” – (Newsweek-Sept. 11, 2006 issue)
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14638573/site/newsweek/
“there still exists the wonderful inconsistency of catergorizing Blacks as a group for the benefit of chastising the group, but looking at individual Blacks when it is convienient to do so.”
Sounds similar to blaming an entire group for slavery and Jim Crow with complete disregard for the millions who had absolutely no part in it and those who fought and died to abolish it.
Touché, Dave!
I was waiting for someone to say it.
Whatever happened to “two wrongs don’t make a right”? How about seeking to eliminated both habits as opposed to using one as an excuse for the other.
Touché, again!
Hold on a minute:
“My daughter is told constantly that she is so white by her peers because she is in AP/Honors classes. Why is that looked down on by black students? White people didnt teach them that. ”
Uh, yes white people did, hundreds of years ago.
However, it is still up to us to make the change.
#35: Ralph–
This is actually more what I had in mind:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14642211/site/newsweek/
I, for one, think that Kindergarten should concentrate more on socialization and less on learning to read, to write, and to do math. Some kids are ready for it; some aren’t. I had an interesting discussion with DS#2’s first Kindergarten teacher, who kept him late because he didn’t finish writing his numbers from 1-100. I asked her what was the value to him to learn to write “100″ if he didn’t know what that meant? And he really didn’t have a concept of how many 100 was. (Ten, however, was easy–he had ten fingers and 10 toes!
)
Much is being pushed down to Pre-K and Kinder because of high-stakes testing. I am a student teacher this fall (just started Monday), and this 3rd grade classroom is a lot different than the 2nd grade classroom I observed last fall. Testing begins in 3rd grade. Every lesson I’ve observed so far for Math & Reading (two of the three subjects tested in third grade) seems totally geared toward “teaching to the test”. I don’t know if all schools are like this, or just this one (less than 3% white enrollment, the rest is Black and Hispanic, and this school has the highest % of low-SES enrollment in the district). I am supposed to write lessons and then teach them, but I certainly hope that I am not restricted to having the class read the book in class, like has been done the last three days for both social studies and science…..
Comments on this entry are closed.