Weighing the “burden of ‘acting white’”: Are there race differences in attitudes toward education?
✍ Scribed by Philip J. Cook; Jens Ludwig
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 1997
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 181 KB
- Volume
- 16
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0276-8739
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
Recent reports by ethnographic researchers and media sources suggest that many African American students view academic success as a form of ''acting white,'' and that peer pressure reduces their level of effort and performance. This article analyzes the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 to answer three questions: (1) do blacks experience greater alienation toward school than non-Hispanic whites?; (2) do blacks incur social penalties from their peers for succeeding academically?; and (3) if so, are these ''achievement penalties'' greater than those for whites? Our analysis suggests the answer to each of the three questions is ''apparently not.''