TITULO QUINTO

This study began as an empirical analysis of assistant principals and their perceptions of Black male students in hopes of better understanding whether school

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leaders played a part in their academic achievement. While studying this, a significant shift in the literature about how Black students are perceived became apparent. An older belief beginning with the Coleman and Moynihan Reports in the 1960’s placed the blame for lack of achievement on the home, while more recent literature which places the burden on schools considered to be structurally or institutionally ridden with

discriminating practices that impair academic achievement (Ladson-Billings, 2006). As I began this study, I must admit that I believed that academic achievement was a choice and had nothing to do with structural limitations, like the other assistant principals in this study. My own perceptions, void of any research, was aligned with the belief that

achievement was mostly an individual decision and that schools made every effort to be as raceless as possible. But the more literature I examined, the more I realized that my own views were guided by a privilege that Blacks simply are not privy to.

My first understanding of this was when I began to understand the idea of deficit thinking. What began as empathy and compassion for Black males turned into a

generalization that most Black males face considerable hardship in their own lives. Consequently, I found myself being more understanding of their behaviors and more tolerant of their language and was even accused by some White students of showing favoritism towards Black students. I also began to generalize the depth of privilege for White students and was harsher on them and far less tolerant. I perceived myself to have a greater understanding of the Black male experience, and that made me a better assistant principal. What I did not recognize is that this form of thinking was rooted in deficit thinking. The assumptions I made were a reflection of my unquestioned perceptions that the lives of Black males outside of school crippled them inside of school, and that they

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were destined to failure. Moreover, I paradoxically felt that achievement was a conscious choice and never conceded to the idea that structural barriers contributed to

institutionalized racism.

The second area I learned about in this study was the existence of institutionalized racism. I have heard before that schools are racist, teachers have prejudices, tests are discriminating, etc., but I never observed it myself. I have only worked in two schools, and I believed I had never witnessed overtly discriminating policies. I had noticed a few teachers and even a couple of assistant principals whom I perceived as more unfriendly to students of color, and I even thought them to be slightly racist. I witnessed their

disrespectful tones or their inconsistent actions with students of different races, but I believed that there were always going to be a few bad apples and that this was a reflection of the individual and not the school.

As I reflect on my past experiences, I feel that I see things through a whole new perspective. When our high school was inundated with new students from Louisiana after Katrina, the administration quickly rolled out a new dress code policy. Students immediately complained that it targeted Black students and was racist in nature. We all knew that it targeted our new population of students, but argued that it was necessary for the safety of our school. In reality, we had deep-seated fears of how these students would change the appearance, and, more importantly, the reputation of our school. I was a first- year high school assistant principal at the time and never questioned the change. I had not only witnessed overt discrimination, but I was a part of it and did not even realize it.

The most satisfying breakthrough in my research has been around the term “acting White.” I will admit that I knew what the term meant as defined by Ogbu and

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Fordham and felt that it was very prevalent in schools. I work at a high school that is mostly composed of White students, and many of those students are very rich, White students. Our school also has the largest growing Black population amongst all of the high schools as well. My experiences with Black males were mostly in a disciplinary context, and almost all the Black males with disciplinary issues came from poor socioeconomic backgrounds. The few Black students that were high achieving

participated in extracurricular activities dominated by White students like dance, band, cheerleading, debate, and drama, to name a few. Black athletes constantly struggled with academic achievement and discipline, so it was not necessarily a synonymous measure of success like the other extracurricular activities. The Black students that were successful seemed articulate, had mostly White friends, were well dressed, or more specifically, dressed like other White students. In my mind, they were “acting White.”

I read Fordham and Ogbu’s study on “acting White,” and I, like many researchers, believed that the choice to not act White was out of fear of being stigmatized from their own racial group. I believed that Black students were choosing between the life of a successful White student or a disengaged life of many Black students. Ultimately, it was their choice as to whether they chose to succeed. Part of me believed it more on a metaphorical basis that happens to translate pragmatically on occasion, on quite a few occasions really. I must have read Signithia Fordham’s (2008) follow-up to her study with John Ogbu at least half a dozen times, and out of nowhere, it clicked and began to pour out of me. Academic success and one’s intelligence is not a reflection of race in any way, shape, or form, and the mere reference to it is insulting and damaging to the self- esteem of Black students. This was my breakthrough. I understood why the mere

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discussion of “acting White” was so troublesome to members of my committee, and it should have been. At best, it was plainly ignorant and at worst, advocated the prejudice I wholeheartedly opposed.

This study has taught me about how I view my own unquestioned perceptions. It took a depth of research to recognize how inaccurate many of my beliefs were. This is worrisome to me, because this study validated that other assistant principals are at least equally entrenched in what I used to believe, if not worse, and the implications of this are overwhelming. It has also made me more aware of my unconscious perceptions, and how others perceive my words and even my actions. I prided myself in believing that I

understood the “Black male experience,” and yet I realized that I believed in something that did not even exist. If I felt so strongly that I was doing the right thing, then is this what is happening with other assistant principals, contributing to the lack of success of many Black males in school? Unfortunately, I have to say “yes.” This gives me little faith that things will change, because if it took this much for me to recognize the inequalities that exist, how will others without this experience become aware? Unfortunately, I feel the future is dim in this regard and can only hope that this

experience will shape my decision-making when I one day become a building principal. I am committed to being consciousness, have great concern, and apply my better

understandings into action.

Conclusion

This study is an empirical analysis of White male assistant principals and their perceptions of Black male students. This study has shown that White male assistant principals have contingent, unquestioned, and unconscious perceptions about Black male