Asian-American students tend to have a realistic idea of what leads to academic success.
Last week, I wrote about one of the important education books of the decade, Beyond the Classroom (Simon and Schuster, 1996), which provides a fresh perspective on the issue of poor student achievement. The authors, Professors Laurence Steinberg, B. Bradford Brown, and Sanford Dornbusch, say that looking at student achievement in terms of what the schools do is not enough. Unless we also consider the part that student attitudes and values play, we will never understand the problem, let alone solve it. And they offer fascinating analyses of teenage culture and its effect on student achievement -- both in general and by ethnic group.
The authors gathered much of their data from questionnaires administered to 20,000 high school students over a three-year period. The students mirrored the general population, with 40 percent drawn from ethnic minorities; and their schools included urban, suburban, and rural schools in rich, poor, and average communities. The authors discovered that many of these students are not "engaged" with their academic work and are inclined to do as little as possible. Most teenage peer groups reinforce this attitude. Only the unpopular "brains" consider schoolwork a matter of importance. Should we be surprised that Steinberg and his collaborators found that lack of engagement is associated with low academic achievement? The study also confirms the achievement gap between ethnic groups, with Asian-American students, on average, at the top, African-American and Hispanic students at the bottom, and white students in the middle.
This tragic discrepancy is well known, but its cause is hotly debated and so is the way to cure it. Many people believe that the great numbers of black and Hispanic children living in poverty accounts for the low average achievement of students in these groups. Or, since poor communities tend to have poor schools, others put the achievement gap down to the inferior education poor black and Hispanic children may receive. Steinberg, Brown, and Dornbusch say that their data point to something quite different. Their basic finding is that ethnicity by itself is a better predictor of student achievement than any other demographic factor:
[O]f all the demographic factors we studied in relation to school performance, ethnicity is the most important. For example, even after we take into account the other demographic variables ... , we find that the gap in grades between Asian students and black or Latino students is nearly twice as big as the gap between students from the poorest families in our sample and those from the most affiuent. .. .In terms of school achievement. . .it is more advantageous to be Asian than to be wealthy, have nondivorced parents, or to have a mother who is able to stay home full-time.
Why would ethnicity make such a difference in achievement? Is it racism on the part of teachers who give out low grades to African-American and Hispanic students and good ones to the "smart" Asian-Americans? Steinberg and his colleagues discuss this possibility, but they believe that it is student attitudes that make the decisive difference.
Students from every ethnic group said it was important to be successful in school, but Asian-American students are far more likely to act on their belief Regardless of the quality of the school they attend, they cut class less, do their homework more, and report high levels of interest and concentration. In other words, they are more engaged. And their friends tend to be youngsters who support them in these attitudes. Instead of kids who want success in school but sneer at doing the work required to achieve it, their friends are likely to value intellectual achievement.
Asian-American students, the authors found, also tend to have a realistic idea of what leads to academic success. They believe it depends on hard work rather than luck or favoritism or talent (as in being "good at math," which the authors call a typical and dangerous American notion about the nature of academic achievement). The kicker is that the more Asian-American students become Americanized, the less well they perform -- which, incidentally, disposes of the idea that their success is based on genetic superiority. Assimilated, Asian-American students are no more successful than anyone else.
African-American students, on the other hand, are particularly hurt by the disengagement from school that characterizes the majority of American students. For them, this powerful tendency is magnified by a peer culture that considers academic achievement tot be "acting white." Unlike Asian-American teenagers, who are likely to find support among their peers, African-American youngsters who are serious about schoolwork risk becoming outcasts.
What answers does Beyond the Classroom suggest for dealing with the problem of student achievement?
The authors discuss the kinds of things parents can do to guide their children. But they acknowledge that parents cannot do it alone. We need external structures that signal to students that hard work and achievement are important and will be rewarded. Among the things they mention are national standards and examinations, a limit to the amount of time teenagers can spend in after-school jobs, and an end to remedial courses in four- year colleges. I couldn't agree with them more.