What Happens When Students Are in the Minority

Experiences and Behaviors that Impact Human Performance

Charles B. Hutchison

• Publisher: R&L Education
• Year: 2009
• eBook ISBN: 9798216349372
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education Theory & Practice

When people find themselves as the minorities in different situations, they often feel as if they have been placed onstage with a spotlight on them. Consequently, they become prisoners of anxiety, and engage in certain predictable, negative behaviors. Owing to sheer anxiety and mental overload, these situational minorities often find themselves behaving unintelligently. This book uses real-life experiences of diverse people to illustrate that, if not understood and addressed, situational minorities at school or work are unlikely to perform at their highest potentials. This book is for anyone who wants to understand human behavior and performance: why minorities struggle in majority schools, or why the only male or female on the team has to overcome a mental barrier in order to catch up.

Table of contents

• Contents
• Preface
• Part I. INTRODUCTION TO THEMINORITY EFFECT
• Introduction. The “Minority Effect” as a Human Phenomenon and Its Educational Implications
• Part II. THE MINORITY EXPERIENCE FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF RACIAL MINORITIES
• Chapter 01. My Dark Curly Thick Hair Was a Nemesis as All I Wanted Was the Blond Straight Hair Parted Down the Middle, and Romeo: A Misunderstood Student
• Chapter 02. Black and Female in an All-White and Male Math Class, and Mercy’s Dilemma
• Chapter 03. Is There a Minority in the House? Why I Dropped Out of College the First Time Around, and Victimized Jones
• Chapter 04. Seeing My Student at an All-White Church Saved My Day, and the Double Lives and Social Consciousness of My White Students
• chapter 05. Experiencing the White Church, A Cross-Cultural Wedding Experience, and A New Angela: A Bicultural Personality
• Chapter 06. A Black Female in a Predominantly White Male Class, and Reversing Roles: A White Student Acting the Minority in Class
• Chapter 07. Self-Conscious at Pleasant Greens, and Minding Mandy, the White Minority in Class
• Chapter 08. I Felt Like Everybody Else in the Church, and It Only Took One Person to Help Me, and Biracial and Double Minority
• Part III. THE MINORITY EXPERIENCE FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF MEMBERS OFRACIAL MAJORITY
• Chapter 09. Comparing Experiencing the Minority Exercise to a War Zone Experience: A Soldier’s Reflection, and Breaking Out in Cold Sweat in All-Women’s Company
• Chapter 10. I Already Felt Unwelcome, and . . . This Feeling Was Completely Inside My Head, and Stuttering at a Staff Meeting
• Chapter 11. Getting a “Good Seat” at Granite, and A Different Worldview, a Different Life
• Chapter 12. Experiencing the Minority at a Hip-Hop Dance Class, and A Good-Kid-Turned-Bad: Surviving Black History Month
• Chapter 13. A German’s Visit to a Latino Church, and German Sensibilities at a Super Bowl Party
• Chapter 14. Understanding My Students at Church, and Finding My Feet at My In-Laws’
• Chapter 15. Experiencing the Minority as the Only White in Church, the Only Woman in Corporate Meetings, and as a Denominational Minority
• Chapter 16. Experiencing the Minority at a Black Church, Fitting in as a Reverse Minority in School, and Thinking Religion “Outside the Box”
• Chapter 17. Surviving in Church, and Understanding the Minority through Interracial Marriage
• Chapter 18. Differences on a Common Ground, and the Only Guy at an All-Girls Party
• Chapter 19. A White Female in the Class on the African Experience, North-South Linguistic Dichotomy, and Thinking about Marcus
• Part IV. SHORT NARRATIVES OF DIVERSE MINORITY EXPERIENCESIV
• Chapter 20. It’s Eleven Thirty at Night, and Da Club Is Jumpin’
• Chapter 21. I Fit in Perfectly with the Corporate Environment . . .Except for My Accent
• Chapter 22. The Few White Girls in the Dance Hall
• Chapter 23. A Lone White Female in an All-Black Course
• Chapter 24. A White Guy at a Black Student Union Party
• Chapter 25. Slowly Embracing a Different Taste
• Chapter 26. Surviving in a New School through the School Band, but No Drums, Please!
• Part V. CONCLUDING NARRATIVES AND ANALYSES
• Chapter 27. Lessons Learned from My Minority Experience
• Chapter 28. Experiencing the Minority at the Local Restaurant
• Chapter 29. The Minority Experience from the Perspective of Students of African Origin
• Chapter 30. Experiencing the Minority: Overcoming Double Consciousness in the Classroom
• Chapter 31. Comparative Reflections: Lessons Learned about the Minority Experience
• Bibliography
• About the Editorand Contributors