Do African Americans really resist school: An in-depth examination of the oppositional culture theory.

Abstract

The oppositional culture theory, which posits that historically oppressed minorities resist school goals, is widely debated in the racial achievement gap literature. In three separate but related studies, I provide an extensive quantitative analysis of the theory's tenets. I first test and reject the proposition that Blacks resist school more than Whites, and that this difference grows with age. Blacks are similar to Whites in: (1) expectations of future educational attainment, (2) feeling that mandatory school attendance is their primary reason for attending school, (3) time spent on homework/educational activities, (4) frequency of skipping school or cutting classes, (5) negative behaviors and values of peers, and (6) negative sanctioning by peers for good school performance. These similarities do not change from middle school through grade 11, before and after adjusting for socioeconomic background differences. Blacks are actually higher than Whites with regard to: (1) perceived returns to education, (2) educational aspirations, (3) affect toward school, (4) enjoyment of classes, (5) seeking assistance when experiencing difficulty in school, (6) importance placed on academic activities, and (7) positive values for schooling among their peer groups. These differences typically remain constant over time. And although Blacks perceive greater limitations to educational attainment and are suspended more often than Whites, one-third to one-half of these differences are due to Black/White socioeconomic differences. In essay two, I test and reject the proposition that Blacks disengage from school because of perceptions that education will not pay off for them. Previous studies have reached conflicting conclusions on this question because they conflate two forms of beliefs about social mobility (i.e., perceived returns to education and perceived barriers despite schooling). Blacks perceive higher returns to schooling and greater barriers to mobility than do Whites. Both these differences are associated with more, not less, investment in schooling. In essay three, I test and reject the proposition that many Black students adopt a raceless persona in order to succeed. Black students' school performance is positively associated with attachment to their race. Blacks with a strong racial identity receive greater educational attainment returns from prior school achievement, and a strong embracement of race moderates the adverse effects of discrimination on school achievement. The findings of these three essays suggest that the oppositional culture theory overestimates Blacks' resistance to schooling. I conclude that Black Americans are better served if researchers, educators, and policy makers focus on factors other than school resistance that compromise Blacks' schooling.