Claude Steele’s discusses about how African-American students can underachieve as a result of stereotypes leveled against them. Steele notes that many Americans view the disadvantages of being black as the same disadvantages of social, economic and opportunity. Steele defines the stereotype threat as “the threat of being viewed through a lens of a negative stereotype.” (Perry et. al, 2003). Steele agrees with the fact that everyone can be a victim of stereotype threat that can hamper his/her progress. In a bid to test whether the stereotype was a cause of under-achievement among black students, they (Steel and colleagues) designed a difficult English literature exam which they administered to both white and African-American students of equal ability. Their results indicated that when the test was administered to the black students in ‘diagnostic’ conditions they performed dismally than the white students. When the test was administered in ‘non-diagnostic’ conditions, there was no difference in performance. They further demonstrated that the stereotype threat affected achievement in the case where white males performed poorly in a mathematics in which they were told that Asian males performed better. Through the proving that stereotypes affected everyone, Steele and his colleagues were able to conclude that indeed stereotypes affected the achievement levels of African-American students. In the end, they propose solutions of dealing with this problem which include student teacher relationships, changing institutions to reflect equality and justice, and people to believe that achievement is in terms of excellence and not ethnic origins (Perry et.al, 2003).
Asa Hilliard’s essay, on the other hand, is a call for the fresh definition and interpretation of the achievement gap. Hilliard notes that for a long time the achievement gap has been defined and interpreted in terms of performance differences among students of different ethnic backgrounds, race and gender. He further notes that this ancient interpretation has been a wrong conceptualization and that it should be in terms of actual performance and excellence. Hilliard disputes the ancient interpretation and definition that achievement gap is the difference between the performance of whites and those of African-Americans. He takes note that the performance of the whites has always been viewed as the normal but in real sense it is just of moderate quality. Hilliard states that achievement gap should show the gap in intelligence rather than the opportunities to learn. The author notes that the intelligence measurement instruments do not always show the actual picture as they tend to favor the students that have an access or are exposed to them. Towards the end of the essay, Hilliard offers examples on what would serve as perfect models towards the addressing of the achievement gap.
References
Perry, T., Steele, C., & Hilliard, A. G. (2003).Young, gifted, and Black: Promoting high achievement among African-American students. Boston: Beacon Press.
