Keith Benson

2.25.2007
Dr. Beth Rubin
Urban Education

Response for 2.26.2007

The readings for this week were especially rough to get through, but informative
nonetheless.
Banks’ “Ethnicity, Class, Cognitive and Motivational Styles: Research and

Teaching Implications” engages issue of whether class, or ethnicity is a central

determinant in the academic success of a student. Also, Banks contributed information

concerning academic performance of students belonging to the same ethnicity, but of

different economic classes. Seeking to reconcile the issue as to why non-Whites are less

successful in school, Banks finds minorities of similar income to whites did score lower

on test; but not as drastically when the aggregates of white and non-white ethnicities are

compared. Second, Banks notes that minorities of the same ethnic group score markedly

different on tests when there is a disparity in household income levels. Further, Banks

suggests discrepancies in academic performance between middle class whites and middle

class black results from “family socialization practices” and differing cognitive styles. In

his final analysis, Banks suggests classroom teachers become cognizant of the differences

in socialization and learning patterns in the classroom; and become more culturally aware

for our “racially diverse nation that is wasting so much of its human potential.”

Villegas, in “School Failure and Cultural Mismatch: Another View”, sets out to

communicate that there is a cultural disconnect in the language and expectations of

schools and their low income, minority students. This disconnect is primarily realized

through speech communication. Villegas mentions the studies by Heath where black

parents of children in the Carolinas were becoming frustrated due to their children’s poor
performance in school, and in Hawaii with Project KEEP where Polynesian students were

struggling in Anglo modeled classes. Villegas, too, believes schools should become more

culturally sensitive to address the needs and realities of non-white, lower income

students; which, she asserts, will show minority students prejudices within education

exists, and simultaneously make minority students feel more comfortable and accepted in

the classroom. Villegas, however, is pessimistic that such pedagogical changes will occur

and concludes her argument with the belief that lower income, non-whites will continue

to be blamed for their own lack of success, instead of the “institutional structure where it

rightly belongs.”

Erickson’s Transformation and School Success examines the “communication

process explanation” and the “perceived labor market explanation” advanced by Ogbu, to

help explain minorities’ shortcomings in education. The “communication process

explanation”, derived from Heath, holds that minority and low income students under-

achieve in school due to cultural and communication discrepancies between the

institution and the home. The “perceived labor market explanation” by Ogbu asserts that

minority students develop cynicism and perceptions of marginalization from the

American workforce from the shortcomings of their parents/guardians, and that these

feelings also manifest themselves in their academic performance. Erickson believes

miscommunication and misinterpretation en masse between schools and minorities

account for minority student shortcomings in schools. Erickson surmises schools are

targeted toward middle class whites, and minorities, sensing “school is not for them”

rebel in ways that miss-communicate lower intelligence, poor behavior or resistance to

education.
 All these readings personally result in one question for me, and that is “what is the

goal/purpose of teaching?” I believe the answer to this question varies from teacher to

teacher, but I’d like to add my comment:

I believe that every game has its own set of rules. As a basketball coach I have to

teach my freshman players lessons like: how to attack a zone defense, or how to shoot;

and as a teacher I have to teach my students lessons. I do believe schools are mirrors of

larger society, and that schools are geared toward, and cater to, a white middle class. And

as a teacher, I feel, I must equip and train my students to succeed in this environment.

Rules do not change according to personal feelings of acceptance. A player cannot decide

to travel with a basketball because he likes to, and that the rules should be altered to suit

partiality. Traveling is illegal, and that’s life in basketball. Life in America says this is a

“white man’s” country; and in order to survive and succeed here, certain rules must be

followed.

As teacher I try to get my students to leave their slang and personal dress

preferences at home; because I know how a manager in a job interview or police officer

will perceive them. I’m not trying to teach them assimilation by wholly abandoning their

own culture, but I know what works in this society. And what I know I try to teach. My

complaint with these articles, is that they are proposed in a vacuum, void of wholesale,

ground-level application and out of context from mainstream American culture. As a

teacher, I don’t think it is my duty to teach students how life should be, but how life is

and how to navigate it as best possible.