Reviewing the results of studies of the effect of racism on the mental health of college students of color, Green points out in her article in The Atlantic that “research has shown that the higher-education experience often requires that black students employ even more grit than their white peers if they want to achieve both in the classroom and outside of it, where they have to overcome stereotype threat and straight-up racism.” She concludes by saying, “There’s a sad irony in the fact that the solutions offered by those confused by student aggression often expect black students to utilize more grit, more resilience, more endurance to deal with experiences of injustice that they shouldn’t face at all.”
The Cost of Balancing Academia and Racism by Adrienne Green
by lindaoppenheim | Jan 25, 2016 | Article | 2 comments
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Thanks for posting this current reminder of the effects of “Stereotype Threat” in Academia, a concept researched and written about by Claude Steele in his book “Stereotype Threat- Whistling Vivaldi”. We all are at risk of falling prey to the threat of socially ascribed stereotypes that work to keep us from achieving goals as easily as others who do not have to think twice to reach the same goal. Always having to wonder if your gender and/or race is being “held against you” keeps one feeling as if they are constantly fighting to get out of the “one-down” position. It is indeed straight out racism/sexism…
An astounding number of experiments went into this study, leading to the conclusion that emotional support and emotional well being is what’s important.
“for the greatest portion of black students—those with strong academic identities—the degree of racial trust they feel in their campus life, rather than a few ticks on a standardized test, may be the key to their success.”