Herman Witkin and the Rise and Fall of the Black Learning Style Idea, 1960–2003

Abstract

Background/Context: Historical studies of this volatile period in educational history (1960–2003 tend to focus on educational policy and/or curriculum, but rarely address changes in learning theory. Numerous historical studies have traced how psychologists, psychometricians, policymakers, and social scientists have dismissed the intellectual potential of Black students over the course of the 20th century, but these studies have completely overlooked the controversial Black learning style idea and how the idea interacted with the educational and racial discourses of the period. Purpose: This intellectual history traces the rise and fall of the controversial idea that there was a Black learning style. Research Design: Hollinger (1985) defines intellectual history succinctly as the “discourse of intellectuals” (p. 131). Often described as thinking rather than thought, an intellectual history focuses on contingencies, contradictions, and inconsistencies in a discourse; contextualizes the discourse in evolving historical, political, and social contexts; and explores how these changing contexts affect the development of the ideas. Conclusions: The Black learning style and cultural mismatch theories both emerged from the research of psychologist Herman Witkin in the 1950s. The idea was further developed by Rosalie Cohen, Asa Hilliard III, and Janice Hale in the 1970s and 1980s. By the late 1990s, many scholars considered the Black learning style idea to be dangerous and stopped directly referencing it. Despite its eventual rejection, the Black learning style idea inspired many lines of inquiry about the ways that race, culture, and ethnicity impact learning that are still being pursued today. This intellectual history traces the origins, emergence, and fall of the idea that Black students had a different learning and/or cognitive style that clashed with that of White teachers, standardized testing, and American schools.