The Effects of School Context, Structure, and Experiences on African American Males in Middle and High School

Abstract

THE INFLUENCE OF RACE/ETHNICITY AND GENDER ON THE STRUCTURE AND CONTEXT OF SCHOOLING How schools structure students' opportunities to learn has been shown to influence academic achievement (Epstein & MacIver, 1992; Lee & Bryk, 1988). Educational experiences often serve as antecedents to many of the social and economic ills students face later in life. Thus, inequities in schooling experiences have potentially broad consequences for students' future educational attainment, employment, and family relations. Access to academic experiences through the curriculum, teachers, and other school activities is of particular importance for students such as African American males, who are already marginalized in school settings (Finn & Cox, 1992; Irvine, 1990; Sanders & Reed, 1995). The evidence points to several unique academic and social challenges faced by African American males-namely, their disproportionate numbers of suspensions and expulsions, relatively poor scholastic performance, tendency to avoid academic engagement and competition, and decreasing college attendance rates (Carter & Wilson, 1992; Garibaldi, 1992; Polite, 1993a). One revealing study reports that only 2% of African American males enrolled in the public secondary school system of a large midwestern city achieved a cumulative grade point average of at least 3.0 on a four-point scale, while more than three-fourths of Black males in that system were performing below average (Leake & Leake, 1992). These lags in academic performance are seen by some researchers as a function of Black males' inability or disinterest in fulfilling their roles as conventional learners in school settings (Holland, 1989). Furthermore, many scholars believe that negative school experiences and outcomes for students are often products of school contextual and structural factors that limit learning opportunities, especially for Black males (Ferguson, 1991; Polite, 1993b). In schooling environments, students develop a sense of order, place, and expectations determined in part by the schools' structure and curriculum and by students' interactions with peers, teachers, and parents (Adler, Kless, & Adler, 1992). While most researchers agree that teachers and peers are especially influential in shaping the school-related behaviors of African American males, little attention has been given to explaining their academic performance and social behavior relative to other structural and contextual influences in school settings. Delineating the role of curriculum, teachers, peers, and other school factors would constitute a major effort in addressing the poor academic performance and social alienation of many Black males in schools. Because schooling contexts are often cited as important sources for gendered learning and development, considerable attention has been directed toward understanding gender differences in schooling. Central to this effort has been the investigation of the effects of gender on schooling experiences and achievement (Adler, Kless, & Adler, 1992; Kessler, Ashenden, Connell, & Dowsett, 1985; Thorne, 1986). However, as Delpit (1988), Fordham and Ogbu (1986), and Mickelson (1991) note, school experiences and opportunities are also circumscribed by race and ethnicity, yet the intersection between gender and race in these contexts is often overlooked in the educational research literature. Typically, schools have been conceived as having two primary functions: (1) promoting and structuring the intellectual development of students; and (2) socializing young people for their roles and responsibilities in society. However, current thinking is that schools are falling short of these goals, especially for African American males. One reason commonly mentioned for the alienation and poor academic performance of some Black males is that they perceive most schooling activities as feminine and irrelevant to their masculine identity and development (Holland, 1989). …