finally, a good rebuttal to Ogbu

Finally we have an effective response to John Ogbu, whose "blame-the-victim" theory has been used since 1986 to justify the complacency of our education system in the face of widespread failure of African-American children.

The UW's teacher education program teaches John Ogbu's theory that African-American students "don't live up to their academic potential because of the fear of being accused of 'acting white,'" and that "black students' own cultural attitudes hinder academic achievement." (quotes from Ogbu's obituary).

It's true that the charge of "acting white" is used by insecure youth of color against each other, and we're all familiar with the nasty terms that are used (oreo, twinkie, etc.) in this kind of taunting.

But to blame teasing for the wholesale failure of generations of children in our school system... well, it's just a bit too comfortable for predominantly (nay, overwhelmingly) white school authorities. "Hey, it's their fault, what am I s'posed to do about it?"

Whenever anyone attempts to suggest that perhaps youth of color reject school AFTER school has rejected (and thoroughly humiliated) them, the response is just Ogbu, Ogbu, Ogbu.

Now we finally have something to quote back.

From issue #72 of Radical Teacher, "a socialist, feminist and anti-racist journal on the theory and practice of teaching":

The theory that studious African American students are [punished for] 'acting white' is debunked in a New York Times article of December 12, 2004. In an 18-month ethnographic study at 11 schools in North Carolina, a sociologist/economist research team found that 'black students basically have the same attitudes about achievement as their white counterparts do: they want to succeed, understanding that doing well in school has important consequences in later life, and feel better about themselves the better they do.'

The researchers give two explanations of the source of the 'acting white' theory. First, 'when white burnouts give wedgies to white A students...it is seen as inevitable, but when the same dynamic is observed among black students, it is pathologized as a racial neurosis.' Second, and more to the point, 'the idea that failing black kids pull down successful black kids can be used as an excuse by administrators to conceal or justify discrimination in the public-education system.'

This is the first study I've seen that pulls all this together, with the most extensive data. There are many other sources that support these conclusions, but most focus on one piece of the puzzle.

There are earlier studies that show that white and Black parents on average have the same ideas and values about education, and the same educational goals for their children; and other studies that show that on average, Black teens are just as aware as white teens of the economic and social advantages of school success, and that they are also just as desirous of succeeding in school (Kao, Tienda, and Schneinder (1996)).

There will always be individual stories about "well I know this guy, and he's Black and he says school is for sissies (or whatever)." The response to that is that the concept "on average" means that there may be Black students who reject education, but that these students exist in no greater or lesser numbers than white students who reject education. So differences in attitude, desire, motivation, etc. *cannot* account for a difference in the achievement of Black and white children as a whole.

Here is an excellent essay by Dr. Edward Rhymes, a veteran teacher in high school and college, also rebutting the "acting white" thesis:

Excerpt: "In all my years as an educator and youth program specialist, I have never heard any student equating scholastic achievement with whiteness."

And: "...we have failed many of our children of color. We have appropriately expended a great amount of time and effort trying to instill in them a respect for education, but we have failed at the equally important task of making sure that the powers-that-be in education value and respect them."

Indeed.