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The ‘Acting White Theory’ Doesn’t Add Up
(The Root) — Do black students purposefully underachieve because they attribute being smart to “acting white”? For more than a decade, academics, policymakers and cultural critics have publicly chided black children for having an anti-intellectual attitude, based on the “Acting White Theory.” The Acting White Theory originated in the 1980s with Dr. John Ogbu’s ethnographic…
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School Security Boosts Student Insecurity?
(The Root) — Gov. Mitt Romney, in response to a woman who asked about limiting the availability of assault weapons during the second 2012 presidential debate, said this: “We need moms and dads helping raise kids … gosh, to tell our kids that before they have babies, they ought to think about getting married to…
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When the Status Quo Is Not Good Enough
(The Root) — When it comes to educating black children in the U.S., business as usual is not good enough. Earlier this year, the Department of Education released the Civil Rights Data Collection (pdf) report. The study suggests that opportunity gaps that exist between black and white children across the country center around three key…
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Black Reading Skills: Reports Miss the Mark
(The Root) — “What about to be seen as a person with a name, then POOF a statistic and to many a shame … ” Asa Fludd, an African-American 11th-grader, wrote this for an essay contest that I judged. I reprinted this statement in my second Breaking Barriers (pdf) report, recited it during at least…
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Debunking Education Myths About Blacks
(The Root) — U.S. census data show that when you look at Americans ages 15 to 25, there are 3.9 million fewer white males now than there were in 1970, and 2.5 million more black males. So why do we so often hear phrases like, “The reality is … African-American males are a dying breed”?…
Black News and Black Views with a Whole Lotta Attitude
