Stimulus/Response for
March 12, 2009
By
Halford H. Fairchild
Lecture by
Nancy Boyd Franklin
Stimulus: This film presented the Distinguished
Psychologist Address by Nancy Boyd Franklin at the 1994 annual meeting of The
Association of Black Psychologists. In
her introduction, Dr. Na’im Akbar noted that Dr. Boyd
Franklin, a developmental psychologist and family therapist, had, in her own
personal life, raised four children and maintained a well-functioning family
(along with her husband, also a psychologist, Dr. A.J. Franklin.
NBF:
Acknowledged the work of Drs. John and Harriet McAdoo. She suggested two themes for her talk: (1) a need for clinical scholarship in family
therapy utilizing African-centered approaches; and (2) The ABPsi
is a professional extended family.
She noted that when she first went to graduate
school, in 1972, most of the scholarship on Black families was negative,
pejorative, and disparaging. But “new
voices” began to rewrite that scholarship (Joe White, the McAdoos,
Wade Nobles, Na’im Akbar, AJ
Franklin) which challenged the negative views. Robert Staples and Robert Hill, in particular,
produced books that examined the “strengths” of Black families.
The idea of “extended family networks” emerged from
this new literature.
We need more clinical scholarship,
that must give credence to “spirit” and “spirituality.”
“Multiculturalism” obscures and minimizes the racial
struggles of our people. No one else
will write this literature, if we don’t do it.
We need to define “healthy responses” to racism. Challenging and defying racist systems is
healthy.
Violence towards each other may be an instance of “internalized
racism” that needs to be channeled and re-focused.
Family interventions need to “take the streets back”
(from drug dealers).
The pain and anger brought on by more subtle forms
of racism need to be cataloged. This was
easier when racism was more easily discerned.
People shouldn’t think that they are crazy because
others deny the realities of racism.
“It is incumbent upon us, as African psychologists,
to first heal ourselves.”
ABPsi as a
professional extended family. We are
standing on the shoulders of giants who taught us to be “bodacious” in our work
settings. We cannot be isolated from
others. “it is
deadly to be isolated.”
Responses: Important emphases: to be related to others (collective effort
and responsibility), isolation as deadly, need to be change agents. “If you want to make omelette,
you have to crack some eggs.”
African
American Dialects
Stimulus: This piece by Fairchild and Edwards-Evans
reviews work on the issue of ‘ebonics’ or AAVE or
AAD. AAD are legitimate and not
deficient. Prescriptions include: encouraging teachers to accept where students
are, linguistically; provide relevant curriculum; administrators to push for
needed resources; changes in the popular culture regarding stereotypic images;
provision of equal educational opportunities (& changes in public
priorities)…
Teacher
attitudes create SFPs.
Pedagogical
Implications: teachers should monitor
their own attitudes and behaviors to linguistic minorities. Teachers must presume academic success.
Responses: I like the naming of the field. [Vernacular
is pejorative: “common, native,
ordinary, peculiar to a class”]
We
admit that certain areas are “beyond our expertise” (dialects of the Carib and
Understanding and comprehending language as proof of our intellectual
genius.
Don’t
reject students’ language: “I ain’t got no money.” Teachers should NOT correct dialectical
speech.
Change
curriculum content: focus on world
problems.
Linguistic diversity as an asset, vs. English only. (What do you call someone who speaks 3 or
more languages?....)
Fairchild
cites himself a lot.
Linguistic
Precocity of African Americans:
reflected in spoken word, rap and hip hop.
Today’s
Important ideas: subtractive bilingualism; immigrants as an
untapped resource. Spanish speakers
should be cherished, not scorned. Bilingualism as a cognitive asset.
Schools Slow
in Closing Gap
Gaps
worsen over 12 years, saying that schools are causal in producing those gaps. Why?
How?
What
is needed is a secular change, a sea change, in attitudes toward minorities,
and in structured inequalities in opportunity, and in teaching styles (allowing
for more call-and-response and interactivity), and in curriculum content.
Stereotype
Threat
Kellow, J. Thomas, & Jones,
Brett D. (2008). The effects of stereotypes on the
achievement gap: Reexamining the
academic performance of African American high school students. Journal of Black Psychology, 34(1), 94-120.
Stimulus. Negative stereotypes abound for the academic
achievement (real and potential) of African American students. This is due, in part, to the publication of
test results for SATs, GREs, LATs, etc, that receive
media attention. Focus on “Stereotype
threat.” Also, students
self-perceptions and expectancies. Focus
on high school students
Achievement
goal orientation, anxiety
Methodology: Informed consent sought from 641 students, 118
(18.4% returned).
Responses: Focus on testing, and No Child Left
Behind: too much time spent on teaching
to the test.
If stereotype threat explains, partially,
achievement gaps, what percentage of variance is explained?
Does this not locate the source of achievement differentials
in the students themselves? Does this
absolve institutions of providing equitable learning opportunities?
Similarly, self-perceptions and self-expectancies locates the issue in the person, not the system.
The ethics of manipulating anxiety…
Difficulties of K-12 research (parental permission,
response rates)
Problems of final sample (n = 101)
Researchers were White males. What effect might this have?
The making of a culture fair test: Removing items that show class biases. (The same thing has been done to remove
gender biases).
The test was hard:
50 possible items, 27.8 attempted, on average, with 60.1% correct on
attempted items. [another
thing measured, here, is speed of answering the questions…or reading ability]
Results: The
competent student must know statistics in order to understand research findings.
Findings contradicted theory: (1) The APR test – Blacks were flat in
evaluative and non-evaluative conditions; Whites were affected by the IV (lower
scores in the non-evaluative condition – see Figure 2, p. 107). (2) prediction that African American students in the evaluative
condition would report lower self-perceptions of ability and expectations for
success than White students – findings in the opposite direction. Figure 4 (p. 110) was in predicted direction.
Hypothesis 7 failed:
(manipulation check). See p. 111
Why contrary findings? A methodological artifact
of small sample size? N = 26 is
sacrosanct.