Black American Students in An Affluent Suburb

A Study of Academic Disengagement

John U. Ogbu

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2003
• Print ISBN: 9780805845150
• eBook ISBN: 9781135625535
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

John Ogbu has studied minority education from a comparative perspective for over 30 years. The study reported in this book--jointly sponsored by the community and the school district in Shaker Heights, Ohio--focuses on the academic performance of Black American students. Not only do these students perform less well than White students at every social class level, but also less well than immigrant minority students, including Black immigrant students. Furthermore, both middle-class Black students in suburban school districts, as well as poor Black students in inner-city schools are not doing well. Ogbu's analysis draws on data from observations, formal and informal interviews, and statistical and other data. He offers strong empirical evidence to support the cross-class existence of the problem.


The book is organized in four parts:

*Part I provides a description of the twin problems the study addresses--the gap between Black and White students in school performance and the low academic engagement of Black students; a review of conventional explanations; an alternative perspective; and the framework for the study.

*Part II is an analysis of societal and school factors contributing to the problem, including race relations, Pygmalion or internalized White beliefs and expectations, levelling or tracking, the roles of teachers, counselors, and discipline.

*Community factors--the focus of this study--are discussed in Part III. These include the educational impact of opportunity structure, collective identity, cultural and language or dialect frame of reference in schooling, peer pressures, and the role of the family. This research focus does not mean exonerating the system and blaming minorities, nor does it mean neglecting school and society factors. Rather, Ogbu argues, the role of community forces should be incorporated into the discussion of the academic achievement gap by researchers, theoreticians, policymakers, educators, and minorities themselves who genuinely want to improve the academic achievement of African American children and other minorities.

*In Part IV, Ogbu presents a summary of the study's findings on community forces and offers recommendations--some of which are for the school system and some for the Black community.


Black American Students in an Affluent Suburb: A Study of Academic Disengagement is an important book for a wide range of researchers, professionals, and students, particularly in the areas of Black education, minority education, comparative and international education, sociology of education, educational anthropology, educational policy, teacher education, and applied anthropology.

III Community Forces

8: Opportunity Structure: Schooling and Getting Ahead

EDUCATION AND THE AMERICAN DREAM

In chapter 3 we described the public school system as a delegate agency. In this capacity it prepares young people for the job market by teaching them knowledge, skills, and attributes required in the workforce and by credentialing them to enter the workforce (Ogbu, 1983). For the education system to function effectively as a delegate agency it must teach and credential people, and those whom it trains and credentials must believe that they will enter the workforce and receive the expected rewards—and for some, people they must have experienced the promise of the reward. In other words, how people respond to the schools as delegate agencies depends in part on their past and present experiences and future expectations in the labor market or other designated domain of life. It depends on what they believe about getting jobs and wages that are commensurate with their school credentials. People will believe more strongly in the school as a delegate agency and put more effort in pursuit of school credentials if, as a group and as individuals, they are usually rewarded with jobs and wages or other benefits commensurate with their education than if they are not.

According to the “American Dream,” the public school system is expected to provide all children, regardless of their background, with an equal opportunity to acquire the knowledge, skills and credentials that will enable them enter the workforce and obtain jobs and wages based on a merit system (Ogbu, 1983; Warner, Havighurst, & Loeb, 1944).

Blacks, Education, and the “American Dream” Before 1960

Historical and comparative research suggests, however, that until the 1960s the American education system did not function effectively as a delegate agency for Black Americans because of discrimination. Before the 1960s there was a job ceiling against Blacks that prevented them from getting jobs and wages that were commensurate with their education. It has been suggested elsewhere that, for this reason, they did not develop and believe as strongly as White Americans that education would enable them to achieve the American Dream, although they wished they could do so (Mickelson, 1990; Ogbu, 1978). According to Mickelson (1990), the reason White Americans believe strongly that they can achieve the American Dream through education and hard work is that they have historically actually achieved the American Dream through education and hard work. She characterized White beliefs as concrete, because they are based on actual experience in the opportunity structure. In contrast, the beliefs of Black Americans are abstract, because they are not based on a history of actual achievement of the American Dream through education and hard work because of discrimination. We suggest that the beliefs of Black Americans are more or less wishful thinking, because they are not based on actual experience. We can conclude from this analysis that White concrete beliefs and Black abstract beliefs will have different influences on the academic attitudes and effort of the two groups.

The Job Ceiling and Black Response to Education

The discrimination against Blacks in the labor market before the1960s created a disconnection between their educational preparation and their treatment in the job market (Katz, 1967; Ogbu, 1978), a disconnection in their thinking about how to prepare educationally for specific jobs. Another consequence is that the uncertainty that education will pay off probably discouraged many from pursuing education beyond the legal age requirement or even encouraged some to drop out before the age limit. Still another consequence is that it prevented them from developing a good understanding of the connection between different levels of schooling. By this we mean the extent to which children at the elementary school understand how their performance will affect their schoolwork at the middle school, and how children at the middle school understand how their performance will affect their placement and performance at the high school, and so on. It was our impression that because Blacks did not experience a strong connection between their schooling and their chances in the job market, they were discouraged from developing a strong norm of academic pursuit, in spite of their aspirations. Therefore, many generations of a lack of connection between school success and success in adult life probably resulted in skepticism about the real value of schooling. This skepticism undermined their academic engagement. Shack (1970) summed up the difference between Whites and Blacks in the development of persistent academic pursuit when he contrasted Black and White maxims. For Blacks, the maxim was “What’s the use of trying?,” in contrast, to the White maxim of, “Once you try and you don’t succeed, try again.” Finally, lack of equal opportunity structure in the mainstream labor market or the American Dream resulted in the pursuit of self-betterment in alternative opportunities and through alternative strategies that do not require school credentials. We discuss this later in the chapter. We note here, however, that this too must have further undermined Black students’ academic engagement. Readers should keep in mind that, unlike immigrants, Black Americans did not choose to become minorities in order to achieve the American Dream through education and hard work,—that is, by adopting the strategy that works for White Americans.

On the basis of comparative studies, Ogbu (1978, 1983; Ogbu & Simons, 1998) has suggested that members of a given minority group, such as Black Americans, share beliefs about the connection between schooling and the job market or mainstream opportunity structure. Minority students form their image, or social construction, of the connection or lack of it between school success and success in adult life from the beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors of people in their community. This image is also based on their observations of the experiences of the adult members of the community, the textures of their parents’ lives, and the experiences of older siblings (Luster, 1992; Ogbu, 1974). Protests and other activities of civil rights advocates, and the portrayal of the employment “problems” of minorities in the media, provide minority students with further materials for the construction of their social reality in the job market.

Even before they are old enough to understand the weak connection between education and jobs through observations, children hear about it from family discussions and begin to internalize the beliefs of their family and community. Furthermore, minority parents and other adults may teach children the abstract beliefs about the importance of education, yet their own educational practices may convey contrary messages. In practice, children may observe very little cultural emphasis on striving to do well in school or to get good credentials. The emphasis may, in fact, be on breaking the barriers in education and in the opportunity structure rather than on practicing the behavior and attitudes that are conducive to school success. Under these circumstances, minority children do not see their parents and other adults in their community as role models for professional and other jobs or positions as being based on school success or school credentials; rather, they see them as role models in the collective struggle against the system.

Changes In the Opportunity Structure Since the 1960s

The civil rights movement of the 1960s brought significant changes in the connection between minority education and opportunity structure. The specific reasons for the changes included civil rights legislation; affirmative action; and various federal, state, and local programs for equal opportunity in education, the labor market, housing, and so on. These factors have enhanced the connection between school success or educational credentials and adult opportunity in the job market. We assume that because of these changes Black Americans beliefs that they can achieve the American Dream through education and hard work have become more concrete and stronger. Although we did not study the changes in the opportunity structure in Shaker Heights suburban community, what was important for our purpose was how Black people, particularly students, in Shaker Heights perceived these changes both locally and nationally.

The Polyanna Effect

The Polyanna effect is the belief that discrimination is a past phenomenon, something that happened in the days of one’s parents and grandparents. According to this view, discrimination has been eliminated because of civil rights legislation, affirmative action, and other special programs to promote equal opportunity for everyone (Mickelson, 1990).

There were Black students at every school level who believed that Blacks and Whites now have equal opportunities for education and in the job market. These students admitted that their grandparents, and perhaps their parents, had experienced discrimination when trying to get a job or promotion. However, things had changed; it was now up to the individual “to make something” of him- or herself. One elementary school student, while admitting that things might be different “outside Shaker Heights,” emphatically denied that there was job discrimination in Shaker Heights.

Affirmative Action and the Polyanna Effect

A few middle and high school students also believed that Blacks were no longer denied employment on the basis of race because of government policies prohibiting racial discrimination. They mentioned affirmative action, which they said encouraged employers to give preference to qualified Blacks where they were underrepresented because of past racial discrimination. The same students, however, feared that White opposition to affirmative action threatened the emerging equalization of opportunity between Black and Whites. They explained that White people opposed affirmative action because they did not understand the extent to which Blacks endured barriers in the opportunity structure. It was because of the extent of past discrimination that affirmative action was instituted, and affirmative action was still needed because of the residue of discrimination and the effects of past discrimination.

Persistence of Unequal Job Opportunities

From elementary school to high school, the majority of the students believed that Blacks in Shaker Heights and in the entire United States still lacked opportunities equal to Whites’. They believed that Blacks continued to face racial barriers when applying for jobs or job promotions. The belief was most pervasive and strongest among members of the older age groups. Only a few elementary school students mentioned job discrimination in interviews and informal discussions. At the middle school, however, most students believed that Blacks faced racial barriers and thus had more problems than Whites in trying to get ahead. Whites and Blacks were not treated equally in the business world and in the job market. One student summed up this perception this way:

Anthrop:	Do you think that Blacks have, um, more problems getting ahead than Whites in the United States?
Student:	I think they do, sometimes, because Whites—since they created the United States or whatever, they usually get like more jobs or they’ll get paid more [than Blacks]. And Black people be doin’ the same things but they won’t get paid as much, or they won’t even get hired.

The high-schoolers expressed the strongest belief that Blacks did not yet have equal opportunity with Whites. Blacks experienced difficulty when trying to get ahead because of “their color.” Ten of the 13 high school students we interviewed believed that racial discrimination in the opportunity structure still existed, that U.S. society continued to give preferential treatment to White people, thereby making it more difficult for Black people to succeed when they competed with Whites. The views of the following students are representative of the perspective.

Anthrop:	In general, would you say that Blacks have more difficulty getting ahead in the United States than Whites?
Student 1:	I think so, just because of the total climate of the United States. Like how um, subconsciously, you know, [the employers] always have preconceived notions about who it is comin’ to get that job interview, or who it is comin’ to apply to that college. Like it’s always a type of thing [i.e., this preconception can be seen in White reaction to programs] like the affirmative action thing. It’s like, “Well, I’m gonna hire these Black people even though I don’t think they can do a good job.” I mean that’s the way I see it [because White people do not believe that you, Black employees are qualified] … You’re always working to prove yourself [i.e., prove to the Whites that you are qualified]. Whereas if you were a Caucasian person trying to get ahead, its sort of like they welcome you more. It’s like you’re one of them, so they’re gonna help you get ahead, whether you’re the best or not.
Anthrop:	Do you think that Blacks have different problems in trying to get ahead than Whites do in the United States?
Student 2:	Well, I mean, you could say that. Most Blacks, um, they usually … wanna change their life [i.e., get ahead]. Sometimes they feel they can’t and they feel that that’s where they’re supposed to be [i.e.,they know that they have no chance of upward mobility]. But most Whites, they want to succeed. They know they will.

High school students were more aware of the long history of the discrimination against Blacks in the opportunity structure. They pointed out that it was because of this historical discrimination that Blacks still lagged behind Whites in education and occupational status in spite of affirmative action and related programs. It was also because of this historical discrimination that affirmative action should continue to enable Blacks to catch up with Whites. In other words, the long history of discrimination justified affirmative action. The following student was among those who made the connection between the history of discrimination and the need for affirmative action:

Anthrop:	What types of special issues do you think that Blacks are facing in getting ahead, like in the United States?
Student:	Probably overcoming the boundaries [i.e., discrimination], like we were discussing in class … Like how they said we’re trying [to be] equal. But really we not [equal] because uh, you know, our ancestors, when they were also locked up [i.e., not allowed equal opportunity]. White people still have stuff to fall on. [This is because] they had their great, great, great, great grandparents, you know, [who had the opportunity to accumulate wealth] and pass it on to other generations. But we really don’t have that [i.e., such a long history of opportunity to accumulate wealth]. We might have [had about] two generations. But we really don’t have [more than] two generations back or three generations back … you know, [compared to] Whites who have had like six.
Anthrop:	Mh-hmm.
Student:	So, we’re still tryin’ to catch up even though they say we’re equal. But we’re still held down … by society … really … That is why you need affirmative action.

Racial discrimination in the opportunity structure was spontaneously brought up at student interviews and was extensively discussed at meetings with Black and White high school stu...

Table of contents

• COVER PAGE
• SOCIOCULTURAL, POLITICAL, AND HISTORICAL STUDIES IN EDUCATION
• TITLE PAGE
• COPYRIGHT PAGE
• PREFACE
• ACKNOWLEDGMENT AND DEDICATION
• INTRODUCTION
• I: BLACK ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT AND ITS EXPLANATIONS
• II: SOCIETAL AND SCHOOL FACTORS
• III COMMUNITY FORCES
• REFERENCES