Robert Coles Reconsidered: A Critique of the Portrayal of Blacks as Culturally Deprived

Abstract

In the early pages of The Autobiography of Malcolm X, Malcolm recalls a friendly teacher who matter-of-factly informed him that having aspirations of becoming a lawyer is no realistic goal for a nigger (p. 36). Educators often refer to the passage to describe the ill-effect teachers can have on minority children. Despite this realization and the applause for books like Pygmalion in the Classroom, it is still rare for teacher educators, public school teachers, or teachers in training to question the culture of poverty thesis or the educational theory of cultural deprivation. Although appalled by the teacher's words, educators seldom comment on the Puritan work ethic or middle-class goals of a young Malcolm. As we are taken through his early childhood to the incident cited above we learn that his father has been killed by whites and that his mother is in a mental institution. The situation certainly appears to be prime culture of poverty material, but when we look beyond the surface we see aspirations and educational accomplishments that are right out of the middle class. Many representations of black life in America are either false or misleading. They are also dangerous because they are taken so frequently as gospel by educators and others in the helping professions. The three most popular interpretations are that blacks live in a culture of poverty, are culturally deprived, or are socially pathological. Moynihan's black matriarchal family, disadvantaged children, and multi-generational unemployment are examples of each. Let us not forget continual lack of money as a prevailing theme. 1