Take-home quiz:
Educators have long puzzled about why some group of minority students tend to be more successful in school while others tend to be less successful. How does Ogbu explain the difference between success and failure? Do you personally find this explanation very useful or convincing? How might Ogbu's theories help you as a teacher?
What are the criticisms or shortcomings of Ogbu's theory? What other explanations might there be for success and failure of minority students? Do you find these other explanations to be useful or convincing? How might these other theories of success and failure help you as a teacher?
Imagine you teach at an urban community college and most of your students come from a place like Capital High School. What experiences, attitudes, beliefs and strategies might such students bring into your community college English classroom? How might this affect their success? And how might you respond as a teacher to help these students succeed?
Ogbu groups students into three groups: Autonomous, Voluntary, Involuntary.
Autonomous students aren't REAL minorities, according to Ogbu, since, if you're Greek, for example, you just might "pass" for White. They're only minorities by virtue of their low numbers. This includes Mormons, Irish and Jews, for example.
Voluntary are REAL minorities, that is, they LOOK very minority, according to Ogbu. These people came to the US by choice, so, he says, they have a very sunny outlook re: prospects in a new nation. This includes Koreans, Persians and Arabs.
Involuntary are REAL minorities, too, but they basically hate every minute of living here, since they came against their own volition. This includes Blacks, Native Americans, Inuits and Hawaiians.
His theory, that the above groupings alone indicate their tendency for success, feels weak. I understand that he updated his theory, saying that the group you're in dictates your success, insofar as certain groups have stronger credos for success. Shucks. That's more than an updating of the previous. That would seem to throw the baby out with the bathwater, meanwhile eroding the man's credibility entirely, I would say.
OK, so he's saying "Erase, erase: here's what I mean..." And then he proceeds to say that if the group you're in is full of optimism and encouragement to succeed, then you will succeed. And if you feel a high level of trust in someone in the group, this will build your confidence and your chances for success. OK, true dat, but do we credit Ogbu for stating what seems obvious?
Regarding his original views, they don't hold loads of water. Most White folks are descendants of Brits and Germans who came here, ostensibly "by choice." But what does that mean? If your entire village was wiped out in the Potato Famine, does this mean you left Ireland by choice? Sure, if it means you chose not to die alone in your devastated village.
What does Involuntary mean? You can find thousands of students who hate school today who are not from Involuntary groups, yet they're depressed by many other influences, from child abuse to parental negligence to poverty, crime, alcohol and drugs. Or simply because the American family has disintegrated, leaving little or no sense of belonging, let alone hope and determination to succeed in schoool.
On the other hand, many students in Black communities may have had all of these issues or none of them. However, they often have what many other groups lack -- religion. Many Black communities organize around the neighborhood church, the local pastor a major positive role model lacking in the lives of many students from other cultures. On a deeper level, perhaps, a person's connection to a "higher power" could be argued as providing, again, what so many Whitebread homes lack -- a sense of purpose, a sense of direction.
By contrast, many Latinos have the church connection, but their culture may not value education so much, simply because few people in their family have much experience with school beyond the sixth grade. Again, what is Voluntary? If Manuel, from Tijuana, takes his wife and two infants across the border simply because Burger King's hiring in Palm Desert, does this indicate that his kids will feel a buy-in to the system and want to excel in school?
Of course, Ogbu's got a point. Especially for any Involuntary students who are plagued by memories of lost culture, or for those who are encouraged to hate Whites for past atrocities. That's right: atrocities. Some groups commit atrocities and others are on the receiving end. But, just as the abused child has every right to hate his abuser, that hatred rarely impacts the abuser. Rather, it only poisons the child and robs him of his own power to determine his chosen happiness. Given, this is easier to say if you're White and your history is not stained with injustice, abuse and bloodshed.
From the standpoint of a teacher, it's vital to understand the potential for pain, anger and resistance from Involuntary students in our classrooms. As a college teacher with minorities in my class, it only makes sense to teach a lesson or a unit on the beauty of diversity and the validity of every culture and every dialect, while keeping one eye on the prize: helping every student advance equally toward "joining the conversation" academically.
Note re: SRTOL: Peter Elbow's article "Inviting the Mother Tongue." Excellent paper for showing helping White teachers step into the shoes of Black the students they teach.
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