The developmental need to explore the meaning of one’s
identity with others who are engaged in a similar process manifests
itself informally in school corridors and cafeterias across the
country. Some educational  institutions have sought to meet this
need programmatically. Several colleagues and I recently evaluated
one such effort, initiated at a Massachusetts middle school participating
in a voluntary desegregation program known as the Metropolitan
Council for Educational Opportunity (METCO) program. Historically,
the small number of African American students who are bussed from
Boston to this suburban school have achieved disappointing levels
of academic success. In an effort to improve academic achievement,
the school introduced a program, known as Student Efficacy Training
(SET) that allowed Boston students to meet each day as a group
with two staff members. Instead of being in physical education
or home economics or study hail, they were meeting, talking about
homework difficulties, social issues, and encounters with racism.
The meeting was mandatory and at first the students
were resentful of missing some of their classes. But the impact
was dramatic. Said one young woman, In the beginning of the year,
I didn’t want to do SET at all. It took away my study and
it was only METCO students doing it. In the beginning all we did
was argue over certain problems or it was more like a rap session
and I didn’t think it was helping anyone. But then when
we looked at records.. . I know that last year out of all the
students, sixth through eighth grade, there was, like, six who
were actually good students. Everyone else, it was just pathetic,
I mean, like, they were getting like Ds and Fs.. . . The eighth
grade is doing much better this year. I mean, they went from Ds
and Fs to Bs and Cs and occasional As. . . . And those seventh-graders
are doing really good, they have a lot of honor roll students
in seventh grade, both guys and girls. Yeah, it’s been good.
It’s really good.
Her report is borne out by an examination of school
records. The opportunity to come together in the company of supportive
adults allowed these young Black students to talk about the issues
that hindered their performance—racial encounters, feelings
of isolation, test anxiety; homework dilemmas—in the psychological
safety of their own group. In the process, the peer culture changed
to one that supported academic performance rather than undermined
it, as revealed in these two students’ comments:
Well, a lot of the Boston students, the boys and
the girls, used to fight all the time. And now, they stopped yelling
at each other so much and calling each other stupid.
It’s like we’ve all become like one
big family, we share things more with each other. We tease each
other like brother and sister. We look out for each other with
homework and stuff. We always stay on top of each other ‘cause
we know it’s hard with African American students to go to
a predominantly White school and try to succeed with everybody
else.
The faculty, too, were very enthusiastic about the
outcomes of the intervention, as seen in the comments of these
two classroom teachers:
This program has probably produced the most dramatic
result of any single change that I’ve seen at this school.
It has produced immediate results that affected behavior and academics
and participation in school life.
My students are more engaged. They aren’t
battling out a lot of the issues of their anger about being in
a White community; coming in from Boston, where do I fit, I don’t
belong here. I feel that those issues that often came out in class
aren’t coming out in class anymore. I think they are being
discussed in the SET room, the kids feel more confidence. The
kids’ grades are higher, the homework response is greater,
they’re not afraid to participate in class, and I don’t
see them isolating themselves within class. They are willing to
sit with other students happily. . . . I think it’s made
a very positive impact on their place in the school and on their
individual self-esteem. I see them enjoying themselves and able
to enjoy all of us as individuals. I can’t say enough, it’s
been the best thing that’s happened to the METCO program
as far as I’m concerned.
Although this intervention is not a miracle cure
for every school, it does highlight what can happen when we think
about the developmental needs of Black adolescents coming to terms
with their own sense of identity; it might seem counterintuitive
that a school involved in a voluntary desegregation program could
improve both academic performance and social relationships among
students by separating the Black students for one period every
day. But if we understand the unique challenges facing adolescents
of color and the legitimate need they have to feel supported in
their identity development, it makes perfect sense.
Though they may not use the language of racial identity
development theory to describe it, most Black parents want their
children to achieve an internalized sense of personal security;
to be able to acknowledge the reality of racism and to respond
effectively to it. Our educational institutions should do what
they can to encourage this development rather than impede it.
When I talk to educators about the need to provide adolescents
with identity-affirming experiences, and information about their
own cultural groups, they sometimes flounder because this information
has not been part of their own education. Their understanding
of adolescent development has been limited to the White middle-class
norms included in most textbooks, their knowledge of Black history
limited to Martin Luther King,Jr., and Rosa Parks. They sometimes
say with frustration that parents should provide this kind of
education for their children. Unfortunately Black parents often
attended the same schools the teachers did and have the same informational
gaps. We need to acknowledge that an important part of interrupting
the cycle of oppression is constant re-education, and sharing
what we learn with the next generation.
-Tatum, Ph.D., Beverly Daniel. “Why Are All the Black Kids
Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?” Basic Books, New York,
NY, 1997.
The article above contains foundational information. Articles below contain optional updates.
Personal
Reflection Exercise #6
The preceding section contained information about self-segregation
by black students. Write three case study examples regarding how
you might use the content of this section in your practice.
QUESTION
20
According to Tatum, what do most black parents want their
children to achieve? Record the letter of the correct answer the . |
