Achievement Of African American Students Research Articles

I Want To Learn But They Won’t Let Me: Exploring the Impact of School Discipline on Academic Achievement

Using Critical Race Theory (CRT) as a guiding conceptual framework, this qualitative study examines black students’ and parents’ perceptions of school discipline and its impact on academic achievement. The findings support the notion that out-of-school suspension has a negative impact on the academic achievement of African American students and suggest that this phenomenon emerges through a multifaceted process that includes (a) missing assignments and having trouble catching up, (b) missing vital instruction throughout the disciplinary period, and (c) educator resistance to providing makeup work to students who receive out-of-school suspensions. This study also provides some practical recommendations for school leaders.

Measuring the Relation between Sense of Belonging, Campus Leadership, and Academic Achievement for African American Students at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs): A “Gender Equity” Analysis

ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to measure the relationship between sense of belonging, campus leadership, and academic achievement for African Americans at HBCUs, paying close attention to potential sex differences or “gendered effects.” Analyzing cross-sectional survey data from 259 African American HBCU students using hierarchical linear regression tests with a nested design, results suggest a statistically significant relationship exists between sense of belonging and predictive factors in the final models, although noticeable differences were found comparing Black men and women. Gendered effects are examined using separate regression models and one-way ANOVA tests. Implications for policy, practice, and future research are discussed in the context of previous literature.

Do Racial Disparities Exist in the Labor Market for Educators?

This study used Current Population Survey data to analyze the earnings of K12 teachers and postsecondary teachers in order to test competing hypotheses about racial disparities in educator labor markets. The analysis found African American educators, despite being purported to be in a condition of relative shortage, did not earn an appreciable wage premium in either of these two occupational groups. The wages of African American K12 teachers were not significantly different from their White counterparts, while African American postsecondary teachers earned a small and statistically significant wage discount. These findings align with historical and contemporary policy developments in educator labor markets as well as social network theory rather than the work of researchers such as Becker (1971), Arrow (1998), or Fisher and Houseworth (2011). These findings are important in light of research which suggests African American student achievement is positively impacted by the increased presence of African American professionals in schools. However, if disparate treatment exists in educational labor markets, African American professionals may be discouraged from pursuing careers in K12 or higher education. As such, a variety of policy solutions might be needed to bring the supply of African American educators up to the level of perceived societal need.

“That’s Just Who I am”: African American High School Seniors and Their Mothers Perspectives on Academic Success

Much of the research on African American students tend to focus on the causes and consequences of academic failure. This fixation on negative outcomes continues to perpetuate deficit views of African American student achievement. As a consequence, far less is known about the successful academic outcomes of African American students, generally, and those from single-mother homes, specifically. Social workers can learn a lot about how to support and celebrate African American student achievement by allowing them and their families to give voice to their own lived experiences. Centering and honoring the unique taken-for-granted knowledges of African American students and their families offers social workers a more authentic understanding of students and families, insights that can inform both micro and macro level practice approaches. The purpose of this study was to explore academic success as perceived and experienced by African American high school students and their single mothers. This qualitative study utilized a narrative inquiry approach that used in-depth, semistructured interviews for data collection. The sample of seven African American high school seniors (four girls, three boys) and their single mothers were selected using purposeful sampling methods. Data analysis revealed that students’ inherent drive toward success, a deeply invested mother, and assistance from social-relational supports were key factors to academic success. Implications for social work practice are included.

Addressing Inequities in African American Student Achievement: Using Cultural Proficiency and a Dual Capacity Building Framework

The amalgamation of race and disability produces a complex set of challenges for school leaders seeking to provide equitable opportunities for African American students and families. Culturally proficient school leaders and their influence in schools is second only to classroom instruction. Although concern is often focused on student achievement, little attention has been given to how schools have fallen into re-segregation practices that lead to gaps in opportunity and achievement for these students.. Realizing that there are steps school leaders can take to address re-segregation practices and inequities, we offer recommendations and strategies for addressing schools’ disproportional segments of special education, discipline, and Gifted and Talented Education (GATE) programs by using culturally proficient leadership and a dual capacity building framework.

A mixed methods exploration of the relationships between the racial identity, science identity, science self-efficacy, and science achievement of African American students at HBCUs

Utilizing a Critical Race Mixed Methodology framework, the purpose of this concurrent (QUANT +qual) mixed methods study was to investigate the relationships between the racial identity, science identity, science self-efficacy beliefs, and science achievement of 347 African American college students who attend historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs). The quantitative data identified several statistically significant relationships between science identity, racial identity, science self-efficacy, and science achievement. The results of a path analysis suggested that college science achievement is significantly explained by science identity (indirect effect = 0.09, p < 0.01), and marginally by racial identity measures (centrality, nationalist, and public regard), with science self-efficacy serving as a mediator. In the qualitative strand, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 14 students from the quantitative strand in order to corroborate the findings between the two methods. The qualitative data revealed that HBCUs facilitate the development of the constructs of interest by establishing Black racial cohesion and Black science cohesion, as well as by building students’ science cultural capital. Overall the qualitative findings corroborated several key quantitative findings.

Learning From Exemplary Teachers of Literacy

AbstractRecent articles in The Reading Teacher have communicated contributions of reading research over the last three decades. In this article, the authors focus on a type of research that has contributed to our understanding of practice: studies of exemplary teachers of literacy. The authors discuss three studies and their findings: a study of a teacher who was exemplary in fostering the literacy achievement of African American students; a study of two teachers who were, in comparison with five other teachers studied, exemplary in fostering literacy engagement; and a study of 36 teachers who were more and less effective at fostering literacy growth. These and other studies of exemplary teachers reveal a wide range of instructional practices and their orchestration.

African American student achievement and the historically Black University: the role of student engagement

Student engagement is associated with a variety of positive outcomes, including student achievement, satisfaction, and persistence to degree completion. While previous research has demonstrated a positive relationship between student engagement and learning outcomes within individual courses, the literature has yet to investigate this relationship at a historically Black college or university (HBCU). The theory of intercultural effort suggests that minority students must put forth additional effort in to their studies in order to succeed in an academic environment that favors students from the majority race or culture, such as what is commonly observed at predominantly white universities. In contrast, African American students who attend HBCUs may benefit from a campus climate that is sensitive to their needs and culture of origin. Thus, the present study examined the role of student engagement for predicting student achievement among an African American undergraduate sample from a HBCU (N = 241). Using each student’s final grade in a psychology course, a regression model predicted student achievement (R2 = .265, p < .001), and student engagement remained significant over-and-above the effect of student demographic variables. These findings highlight the importance of improving African American students’ perceptions about their ability to succeed academically, suggesting that African American students who consistently put effort in to their course and believed that they could succeed did indeed perform higher than their peers. Other significant predictors of student achievement included student age, gender, and the number of years that they had attended college. Limitations and future directions are discussed.

Differential effects of the classroom on African American and non-African American's mathematics achievement.

We examined whether African American students differentially responded to dimensions of the observed classroom-learning environment compared with non-African American students. Further, we examined whether these dimensions of the classroom mediated treatment effects of a preschool mathematics intervention targeted at students from low-income families. Three observed dimensions of the classroom (teacher expectations and developmental appropriateness; teacher confidence and enthusiasm; and support for mathematical discourse) were evaluated in a sample of 1,238 preschool students in 101 classrooms. Using multigroup multilevel mediation where African American students were compared to non-African American students, we found that teachers in the intervention condition had higher ratings on the observed dimensions of the classroom compared with teachers in the control condition. Further, ratings on teacher expectations and developmental appropriateness had larger associations with the achievement of African American students than for non-African Americans. Findings suggest that students within the same classroom may react differently to that learning environment and that classroom learning environments could be structured in ways that are beneficial for students who need the most support.

Can Within-Race Achievement Comparisons Help Narrow Between-Race Achievement Gaps?

ABSTRACTReports on the low achievement of African American students tend to focus on Black–White achievement gaps. This study draws from official reports that also consider within-race achievement differences. An argument is presented that within-race comparisons are likely to reveal important causal factors that may go unnoticed when between-race comparisons are made. Examples of within-race comparisons for African American students include comparisons across districts, states, types of schools, and gender. Implications for efforts to improve African American achievement are discussed for each type of within-race comparison.

Belongingness and Pedagogy

In the present study, school belongingness was explored in the context of a mathematics classroom over the course of one academic year. In-depth interviews with eight African American middle school students and their three White teachers were conducted at two time periods. This phenomenological qualitative investigation of African American middle school girls revealed two primary themes of personal connection with their teachers and authentic pedagogy. As practitioners and researchers continue to examine the factors related to African American student achievement, empirical research should highlight the importance of teacher warmth and instructional relevance in the experiences of students of color in middle grades and secondary mathematics classes.

Addressing the Sociocultural Determinants of African American Students’ Academic Achievement: The Four Themes of the American School Counselor Association’s National Model and the Role of School Counselors

Social justice, ensuring that all students receive access to equitable educational resources and opportunities to succeed academically, is a guiding principle for school counselors. With this ideal in mind, specific sociocultural factors that affect the academic achievement of African American students in urban school settings are considered. Subsequently, the four themes of the American School Counselor Association’s National Model—leadership, advocacy, collaboration, and systematic change—are used to provide school counselors in urban schools with guidelines to address the academic achievement of African American students related to these sociocultural factors.

Elementary Preservice Teachers as Warm Demanders in an African American School

The literature related to warm demanding describes teachers who balance care and authority to create a learning environment that supports a culture of achievement for African American students. Embedded in this stance is sociopolitical consciousness that explicitly links teachers’ care and authority with a larger social justice agenda. Drawing on interviews and online course assignments, we describe two preservice teachers’ conceptions and enactments of warm demanding in full-time elementary school internships in an African American elementary school. Findings reveal that although the preservice teachers communicated similar commitments to warm demanding, they enacted the stance differently, suggesting that while warm demanders share similar commitments, their practice may vary. The two cases highlight the promise of teacher education courses and field experiences to be structured in ways that promote the development of teacher aptitudes for strengthening equity and excellence in the education of an historically marginalized population of students.

“Eagles Don’t Fly with Sparrows”: Self-Determination Theory, African American Male Scholar-Athletes and Peer Group Influences on Motivation

The belief that African American students do not value high academic achievement (e.g., Fordham & Ogbu, 1986) is a common misperception being challenged by scholars (Cokley, 2003; Harper, 2006). To properly address this idea, researchers must attempt to understand the psychological nature of motivation among African American students and its subsequent effects on their academic performance (Cokley, 2003). While research examining the academic motivations of African American students is scarce, research specifically peering into the academic motivations of high-achieving African American male college athletes is almost non-existent. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the academic motivation of high-achieving African American male college athletes, as well as to explore their academic experiences and the role of peers on their academic achievement. In doing so, a unique light is shed on the academic motivations of African American male college athletes, while also highlighting their achievements in an arena other than the playing field or court (Hodge et al., 2008).Literature ReviewMotivation and African American StudentsAccording to oppositional culture, African American students are not motivated to pursue academic excellence owing in part to the perception that doing so is to act (Fordham & Ogbu, 1986; Harris, 2006). Although this view is held by some, an emerging line of research is challenging the hypothesis by examining the motivation of academically driven African American students. In one of the few studies of its kind, Cokley (2003) challenged the anti-intellectual myth of African American students by examining their motivation toward academic achievement. Although Cokley (2003) found that African American students were indeed academically motivated, results indicated that African American males were less self-determined and experienced higher levels of amotivation than their female counterparts. In a similar study, Martin and colleagues (2010) explored the academic achievements of high-achieving African American male college athletes from four academically rigorous American universities on the West Coast. Among other themes, the researchers found that high-achieving African American male college athletes were driven to succeed academically by both internal (e.g., high self-standards) and external (e.g., negative social stereotypes about African American males) factors (Martin et al., 2010). Martin and associates (2010) defined high-achievement in their study by acknowledging those researchers and scholars who establish a 3.0 or higher grade point average (GPA) as a criterion for high academic achievement for African American students (Griffin, 2006; Guiffrida, 2004; Harper, 2008) and NCAA student-athlete recognition standards which establishes 3.0 as the baseline of high achievement. In the current study, the authors affirm that in the competitive sports of football and men's basketball a B- or higher is above average for all student-athletes from any ethnic background in these sports (see methods section for a more in-depth explanation of defining criteria for high-achieving African American male student-athletes at predominantly White institutions [PWIs] of higher learning).While useful in moving the conversation about the motivation of African American males, and specifically male student-athletes in the case of Martin and others' (2010) study, forward, the aforementioned research is limited in that these studies failed to examine the influence of peers on academic experiences. Including peer groups into an examination of African American academic experiences is critical as researchers have argued that African Americans, particularly African American males, devalue academic achievement owing, in part, to a fear of being socially ostracized and ridiculed by their peer group (Fordham & Ogbu, 1986). When investigating the academic motivations of African American students and student-athletes, it is imperative to highlight the influence of their peer groups. …

The Impact of Single-Sex Education on African American Reading Achievement: An Analysis of an Urban Middle School’s Reform Effort

IntroductionThe academic underperformance of African American students continues to be a serious issue in American public schools. Despite the increased rhetoric surrounding the racial disparities in American public schools, evidence suggests that African American student achievement continues to lag (Schott Foundation, 2008). Most notably, African American male achievement continues to cause concern for communities, school systems, and policymakers. According to Few (2004), by the time they reach high school 42% of African American boys have failed at least one grade level. Furthermore, African American males are overrepresented in special education and remedial courses, grossly underrepresented in gifted and talented programs, and disciplined at disproportionately high rates (Schott Foundation, 2008). As a consequence, African American males attending urban public schools continue to be represented at the bottom rung of virtually every measure of student achievement (Polite & Davis, 1999; Schott Foundation, 2008). Consequently, African American males are among the most at-risk subgroups being educated in American public schools.According to Kunjufu (2002) and Porter (1998), the academic underperformance of African American males is nothing less than an epidemic that continues to limit the academic and career opportunities for millions of African American males. Nationally, less than 50% of African American males graduate from high school, and less than 8% of African American males earn college degrees (Kaiser Family Foundation, 2006; Schott Foundation, 2008). These rates of school completion for African American males correlate with high rates of incarceration, high rates of unemployment, poor health, and a limited overall quality of life (Gibbs, 1998; Lips, 2008). The Kaiser Foundation (2006) supported Harrison's and Beck's findings when it presented data showing that by 2005 more than 10% of African American males between the ages of 18 and 29 were incarcerated. In terms of unemployment rates, in 2006 the Kaiser Family Foundation reported that 19.5% of African American males were jobless. This rate of unemployment was more than double the unemployment rate for White and Hispanic males. These data lend support to Kunjufii's notion that the American public schools have been ineffective in meeting the academic needs of African American males (Kunjuiu, 2002). All of these facts underscore a troubling reality for African American males during their time as public school students and thereafter.Reemergence of Single-Sex SchoolsIn 2006, President George W. Bush and Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings enacted legislation that would permit single-sex education as a public school option. The intent of this legislation was to provide increased flexibility in which schools could better address the needs of a rapidly changing and diverse student population. In other words, a concept that single-sex education can better serve the needs of urban, African American students was posed (Aranti, 2007; Hubbard & Datnow, 2005; Maryland State Department of Education, 2006). Consequently, single-sex education as a public schooling option is a topic that continues to draw interest and a great deal of debate among school officials, policymakers, parents, and researchers.Single-Sex Education as an Urban School ReformAmerican public schools are in dire need of reforms that better account for the very distinct and complex needs of African American male students. Single-sex education is among the newest and most intriguing reform efforts being implemented in schools where low academic achievement for African American students persists. Notable urban school districts including Baltimore, Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C. are among the many school districts that are now offering gender-specific education. However, research on single-sex education in public schools, especially in urban districts, remains limited (Datnow, Hubbard, & Woody, 2001). …

Racism and Stereotyping on Campus: Experiences of African American Male Student-Athletes

Reported cases of racially charged occurrences continue on college campuses. With Blackface party incidents and noose hangings making news at numerous universities all over the country, African American students at predominantly White institutions (PWIs) may face challenges beyond the academic scope of tests, papers, and projects (Costello, 2010; Strausbaugh, 2006; Teaching Tolerance, 2002; Van Kerckhove, 2007; Wade, 2011). Facing and coping with racism has been identified as a risk factor and an impediment of achievement for African American students at PWIs (Feagin, Hernan, & Imani, 1996).Graduation rates of college students are the most tangible measures of student outcomes and success. By this measure, African American male college students are considered one of the most at risk students on campus, having the lowest graduation rates of any other demographic group (The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education, 2012). Similarly, as a faction of this group, African American male student-athletes' graduation rates are also of concern (Lapchick, 2010). In a recent longitudinal study of 76 universities in major Division I-A athletic conferences, only 50.2% of African American male student-athletes graduated within six years and 55.5% of African American men overall; this is in comparison to 66.9% of all student-athletes, 72.8% of undergraduate students overall (Harper, Williams, & Blackmon, 2013).Less than 4% of students at Division I universities are African American, while 61% of men's basketball players and 46% of football players are African American (Harper, Williams, & Blackmon, 2013; Lapchick, 2010). These statistics suggest that further study of African American male student-athletes is important because they comprise a substantial proportion of African American students on many college campuses. This study adds to the current body of literature by presenting a glimpse into experiences and possible risk factors of one of the most at-risk student groups on Division I campuses.Purpose of the StudyAfrican American male student-athletes have a unique experience on predominantly White college campuses (Anderson, 1996; Beamon, 2008). In addition to the isolation that many student-athletes often experience, African American male student-athletes must also contend with negative racial, gender, and athletic stereotypes. Due to the overrepresentation of African American males participating in collegiate and professional sports, it may appear that the athletic world is free from racial discrimination. However, racism and exploitation exist in several areas of college and professional sports. Examples are found in the lack of effort given to improve the educational success of African American student-athletes in comparison to their White counterparts, stacking African American athletes at skilled positions as opposed to thinking positions, the absence of African Americans in decision-making and leadership positions at universities and in professional leagues, labor exploitation, and even in the salaries and endorsement opportunities of professional athletes (Edwards, 2000; Eitzen, 2000; Hall, 2001; Hoberman, 1997; Kahn 1991). Student-athletes of color are said to face specific difficulties such as social and academic integration and racism (Person, Benson-Quaziena, & Rogers, 2001 ; Person & LeNoir, 1997).Scholarship exploring the experience of African Americans on predominantly white campuses has been presented by several researchers (Davis, 1995; Feagin & Sikes, 1995; Marcus et al., 2003; Smith, 2007; Thompson et al., 1990). However, this study fills a gap in the literature by acknowledging the uniqueness of high-profile African American male studentathletes' experiences. For the purposes of this study, high-profile is conceptualized as Division I athletes in revenue-generating sports such as men's basketball and football. College sports and sports history in general seems to be filled with stories and images of cultural pluralism, fairness, racial harmony, and color-blindness (Hylton, 2009); but what do the student-athletes themselves think? …

Making Science Homework Work: The Perspectives of Exemplary African American Science Teachers

Background/ContextDespite the best intentions to close the achievement gap, the under-achievement of African American students in science is a persistent problem. It is surprising to note, however, that research on science education has often failed to consider students’ cultural diversity as it relates to science education. On the few occasions when efforts were made to link science disciplines and students’ cultural backgrounds, these studies were largely limited to classroom learning environments.Purpose/Research QuestionThis study examines the perspectives of exemplary African American teachers toward science homework. Specifically, we address two research questions: What does science homework mean to exemplary African American science teachers? How do they approach science homework?Research DesignA qualitative study was conducted, with data obtained from the following sources: (a) three open-ended, in-depth interviews with each exemplary teacher during the first year of the study, and (b) two focus group interviews with these teachers during the second year of the study. The participants were 8 exemplary African American science teachers in Grades 3–6 in the southeastern United States.Findings/ResultsData revealed that these teachers shared a strong sense of urgency to use homework as an important vehicle in science learning. To help their students be successful with their homework, these teachers often provided additional provisions and used a variety of strategies to promote students’ interest in their homework. In addition, the teachers adapted an approach comparable to both Boykin's Afrocultural ethos (e.g., concerned with affect, expressive individualism, and verve) and “being a warm demander” (i.e., setting high expectations and insisting firmly yet respectfully that students meet those expectations).ConclusionsThese findings suggest that there is merit in integrating these two frameworks to better understand the perspectives of exemplary African American teachers toward science homework. These findings highlight the need to examine the perspectives of exemplary African American teachers toward secondary school science homework given that the poor achievement of African American students becomes more pronounced as they progress through school, and homework is found to be more strongly associated with secondary school students than elementary school students.

Reassessing the Achievement Gap: An Intergenerational Comparison of African American Student Achievement before and after Compensatory Education and the Elementary and Secondary Education Act

Using data from the Digest of Educational Statistics, this article argues that an intergenerational comparison is a more productive, progressive method to interpret data used to gauge the achievement gap. It applies this method by comparing the academic achievement scores and educational outcomes of African Americans over a nearly 70-year period, 1940-2008, and uses the metrics’ National Assessment of Educational Progress average reading scores in fourth and eighth grade and high school and college completion-most often applied in assessing the achievement gap. It argues that since the inception of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (1965), and the compensatory education programs that have grown out this act, African Americans have made some of the greatest strides in improving their educational performance and outcomes in virtually every measureable category used to assess the achievement gap. The intergenerational comparisons offered serve as a counterassessment to the traditional modes of analysis that compare the achievement scores and educational outcomes of white to minority students.

Racialized identities: race and achievement among African American youth

As students navigate learning and begin to establish a sense of self, local surroundings can have a major influence on the range of choices they make about who they are and who they want to be. This book investigates how various constructions of identity can influence educational achievement for African American students, both within and outside school. Unique in its attention to the challenges that social and educational stratification pose, as well as to the opportunities that extracurricular activities can offer for African American students' access to learning, this book brings a deeper understanding of the local and fluid aspects of academic, racial, and ethnic identities. Exploring agency, personal sense-making, and social processes, this book contributes a strong new voice to the growing conversation on the relationship between identity and achievement for African American youth.

Early Academic Self Concepts and the Racial Achievement Gap

The aim of this essay is to examine the racial achievement gap in American education through the lens of Erik Erikson's fourth stage of psychosocial development: industry vs. inferiority (Erikson, 1950). To set the stage, I will argue that the well-documented academic underperformance of certain minority groups (chiefly black and Latino Americans) may stem the unfavorable resolution of a key developmental crisis in constituent members' early scholastic experience. According to this view, minority students' academic self-conceptions are at a heightened risk, compared with their non-minority peers, of becoming defined by an early and enduring sense of Eriksonian inferiority. This risk increases, I will try to show, as a function of the extent to which their homegrown cultural identities are at odds with the cultural values endorsed, both implicitly and overtly, by the schools they attend. Taking this possibility into account, I go on to suggest that individual educators can play an important role in eliminating the achievement gap by changing the way they teach in their own classrooms. A major prerequisite, in this case, is raised awareness. Specifically, teachers must begin by identifying the tacit and explicit cultural values they hold personally as well as those encrusted both in their respective schools and in the larger society which those schools derive their institutional character. Then they must determine how those values shape and influence classroom expectations vis-a-vis academic and socio-behavioral standards of evaluation, whether formal or informal. Finally, they must use this knowledge to see how their unconscious and hence unreflective espousal of those values (cf. Earp, 2010) may impede the proper development of an academically-industrious self-concept in their minority students--especially those students whose cultural backgrounds, as opposed to intellectual promise, do not immediately synch with social and institutional orthodoxy. I conclude by advocating a pedagogy or teaching style, according to which both teachers and their minority students develop (at minimum) transcultural proficiencies and (at maximum) transcultural identities, as a promising way to achieve two important ends. First, the fostering of an academically-industrious self- concept in members of historically underachieving minority groups and hence, second, the closing of the achievement gap from the bottom up--one classroom at a time. Part I. Approach The racial achievement gap in American education cannot possibly be resolved in the course of one short paper. As Gloria Ladson-Billings (1994) writes: No challenge has been more daunting than that of improving the academic achievement of African American students. Burdened with a history that includes the denial of education, separate and unequal education, and relegation to unsafe, substandard inner-city schools, the quest for quality education remains an elusive dream for the African American community. (p. ix) Yet there is much productive work that can be done. In this essay, I am going to shy away large-scale policy suggestions, such as initiatives, or other legal maneuvers, and focus instead on pedagogy in the early K-12 years. Let me take a moment to explain my choice of focus. By affirmative action I mean the policy in higher education among some schools by which a person's status as an underrepresented racial minority is explicitly, positively factored into his or her admissions decision. This practice, despite the best intentions of its designers and apologists, rests, in my view, on an inherently messy concept and may in consequence have troubling side-effects as well. To illustrate just one aspect of its messiness, the problem of stigma, here is an excerpt Justice Clarence Thomas' sharp-tongued dissent in Grutter vs. Bollinger, the Supreme Court case which ruled to uphold The University of Michigan Law School's program. …