"The End of D'Souza"

Emerge January 1997
page 65

As a final illustration of the weak factual basis for the arguments in D'Souza's book, consider his claims that Black students and their parents are alienated from the education process and that peer groups among African-American youngsters systematically ridicule those blacks who seem interested in academics, accusing them of "acting White." His evidence is almost entirely anecdotal: In once case he cites a 10 year old anthropological study, based on a single high school, and in another instance, he refers to a magazine article published in 1985 by two people, neither of whom claim to be scholars. Better sources than these do not support D'Souza's claims.

Duke University researcher Philip Cook and Jens Ludwig, an assistant professor at Georgetown University, recently have analyzed the National Educational Longitudinal Survey, a large national 1990 survey of high school students, in search of systematic evidence of black alienation from the educational process. They found Black students as likely as Whites to predict that they will obtain a college degree; found no racial difference in the dropout rate, once one controls for family circumstances; found that black highschool students cut classes and miss school days no more frequently than White students, and observed that Black parents participate in meetings and ask teachers about their children's progress with roughly the same frequency as Whites.

Moreover, Black students who achieve an A in math courses or who are invited to join their high school honor societies, did not report feeling themselves to be any less popular as a result. This research, employing a nationally representative sample to investigate (and reject) one of the racial stereotypes around with D'Souza builds so much of his case, shows graphically why we should not unquestioningly rely on sensational, journalistic accounts when discussing purported racial disparities in American society.

Weighing the "Burden of `Acting White'": Are There Race Differences in Attitudes Towards Education?