Can Fear Limit African American High School: Article Analysis
Can Fear Limit African American High School
Academic Achievement?
“I ain’t no lame” was the response the social worker continued to receive as she met with a young man about his grades and classroom behavior. Andre (name changed for privacy reasons) is a star basketball player at a local high school, but receives services at the Burke Mental Health Center due to the fact his low grades limit his eligibility to shine on court. He entered the room hesitantly, but opened up more as the session continued. When various ways of improving his behaviors and grades were discussed he informed the provider that the suggestions she gave, if adopted, would only set him out for ridicule. Andre felt that increasing his grades and behaviors would make him a social outcast, but that not doing so would prevent him from fulfilling his dream of going to college on a basketball scholarship. He seemed stuck between facing negative outcomes if he was successful in school and facing other negative outcomes if he was not successful in school. Andre, an African American 16 years old male, is not alone in his academic struggles. Currently, there are… (cite). The purpose of this paper is to review literature that will shed light on the impact …show more content…
fear can have on African American student academic achievement. The author believes that fear of failure and fear of success both play a role in limiting academic achievement in African American students in high school.
Relevancy of Fear
Fear shades everything we do. In some regards fear is healthy, even necessary. It motivates us to succeed, to be safe and to seek our needs and wants. When fear is crippling, however, it impedes our successes and stifles our dreams. Social workers are professionals guided by a distinct set of knowledge, values and skills in order to provide effective help towards increasing social functioning. When clients, such as Andre, are not able or willing to perform at their personal best it is imperative to utilize research to help guide the client through the Generalist Intervention Model. Social workers must ensure that research is used to guide service delivery as this ensures clients receive the best care possible in a culturally competent and empathetic environment. Although a case like Andre’s may seem isolated, having knowledge of minority cultures and human behavior will help the social worker see a larger systemic issue at play. African American youth, especially males, often find themselves choosing between being socially rejected by other minority peers or assimilating to the academic culture as it is presented in school systems today. It is important that the social worker involved be aware of what current research says about possible reasons why and ways to address the conflict with the client. Clients, such as Andre, can then feel more comfortable and therefore more willing to take advice when they know that their practitioner fully understands their values, culture and environment.
Review of Literature
The author will attempt to explore various articles which explore fears of failure and success as they pertain to youth, especially African American high school students.
Articles were limited to the last 15 years to ensure that information gathered is current. For this paper, the author sought out peer-reviewed articles that spoke on keywords such as “fear of failure;” “fear of success;” “African American youth;” “stereotype threat;” “golem effect;” and “academic achievement.” Using these keywords led to identification of several articles which are summarized topically below. It is important that certain keywords are used as they pertain to addressing the question and ensuring that the context surrounding materials found are valid for the
situation.
Failure
There were many articles related to fear of failure. Oddly enough, limiting those articles to those pertaining to African American youth and academic achievement led to many dissertations and articles from the 1970s through 1990s. This might suggest a lack of current funding or interest for the subject matter or perhaps even a shift in paradigm over the years, however, the author did find a few articles with a high relevance to the question presented. In … authors … explore … stereotype threat and self-sabotage. … Fear of failure is common. Anxieties about the future and concernes about personal worth and competency can limit the life of anyone. However, from the articles found and discussed above, on e can infer that fear of failure is a topic of particular interest in terms of the academic achievement of African American youth.
Success
Fear of success, a phenomenon that seems contradictory in nature, has fewer articles as it pertains to African American youth. Although the number of articles were limited, the articles discussed here had much light to shed on the question. Insert social consequences and golem effect (school connectedness) . … Fear of success is not a topic most people think of when looking for ways to explain the literacy rates and low graduation rates in the African American community, however, the articles discussed above should cause one to reflect on how the fear might apply and/or be addressed when working with youth coming from this background.
Discussion
Authors Grantham and Biddle do a wonderful job explaining how adults involved in the lives of students exhibiting some of the manifestations of these fears (such as procrastination, low school engagement, self-sabotage, etc.) can be proactive in helping them overcome their fears. These suggestions include: … High school is a very formative period in a person’s life. They learn about their interests and talents and they also form memories that will steer major future life decisions. Social workers should utilize the research available to help meet the needs of students dealing with conflicts such as this. Fear of failure and fear of success can both limit the academic achievement of African America high school students. It is important that social workers conduct research as well as refer to it. Further research is needed to ensure that interventions performed to counteract some of the cultural and societal obstacles are effective. Addressing the needs of minority students struggling in the school system helps the entire system. These needs can be addressed from multiple levels. Micro interventions such as cognitive behavioral therapy all the way up to macro social policy implementation can be utilized to address the possible fears students such as Andre might encounter in school, however, they cannot be proven as effective help without the commitment of social workers across the nation in increasing the amount of research conducted.
Academic Achievement?
“I ain’t no lame” was the response the social worker continued to receive as she met with a young man about his grades and classroom behavior. Andre (name changed for privacy reasons) is a star basketball player at a local high school, but receives services at the Burke Mental Health Center due to the fact his low grades limit his eligibility to shine on court. He entered the room hesitantly, but opened up more as the session continued. When various ways of improving his behaviors and grades were discussed he informed the provider that the suggestions she gave, if adopted, would only set him out for ridicule. Andre felt that increasing his grades and behaviors would make him a social outcast, but that not doing so would prevent him from fulfilling his dream of going to college on a basketball scholarship. He seemed stuck between facing negative outcomes if he was successful in school and facing other negative outcomes if he was not successful in school. Andre, an African American 16 years old male, is not alone in his academic struggles. Currently, there are… (cite). The purpose of this paper is to review literature that will shed light on the impact …show more content…
fear can have on African American student academic achievement. The author believes that fear of failure and fear of success both play a role in limiting academic achievement in African American students in high school.
Relevancy of Fear
Fear shades everything we do. In some regards fear is healthy, even necessary. It motivates us to succeed, to be safe and to seek our needs and wants. When fear is crippling, however, it impedes our successes and stifles our dreams. Social workers are professionals guided by a distinct set of knowledge, values and skills in order to provide effective help towards increasing social functioning. When clients, such as Andre, are not able or willing to perform at their personal best it is imperative to utilize research to help guide the client through the Generalist Intervention Model. Social workers must ensure that research is used to guide service delivery as this ensures clients receive the best care possible in a culturally competent and empathetic environment. Although a case like Andre’s may seem isolated, having knowledge of minority cultures and human behavior will help the social worker see a larger systemic issue at play. African American youth, especially males, often find themselves choosing between being socially rejected by other minority peers or assimilating to the academic culture as it is presented in school systems today. It is important that the social worker involved be aware of what current research says about possible reasons why and ways to address the conflict with the client. Clients, such as Andre, can then feel more comfortable and therefore more willing to take advice when they know that their practitioner fully understands their values, culture and environment.
Review of Literature
The author will attempt to explore various articles which explore fears of failure and success as they pertain to youth, especially African American high school students.
Articles were limited to the last 15 years to ensure that information gathered is current. For this paper, the author sought out peer-reviewed articles that spoke on keywords such as “fear of failure;” “fear of success;” “African American youth;” “stereotype threat;” “golem effect;” and “academic achievement.” Using these keywords led to identification of several articles which are summarized topically below. It is important that certain keywords are used as they pertain to addressing the question and ensuring that the context surrounding materials found are valid for the
situation.
Failure
There were many articles related to fear of failure. Oddly enough, limiting those articles to those pertaining to African American youth and academic achievement led to many dissertations and articles from the 1970s through 1990s. This might suggest a lack of current funding or interest for the subject matter or perhaps even a shift in paradigm over the years, however, the author did find a few articles with a high relevance to the question presented. In … authors … explore … stereotype threat and self-sabotage. … Fear of failure is common. Anxieties about the future and concernes about personal worth and competency can limit the life of anyone. However, from the articles found and discussed above, on e can infer that fear of failure is a topic of particular interest in terms of the academic achievement of African American youth.
Success
Fear of success, a phenomenon that seems contradictory in nature, has fewer articles as it pertains to African American youth. Although the number of articles were limited, the articles discussed here had much light to shed on the question. Insert social consequences and golem effect (school connectedness) . … Fear of success is not a topic most people think of when looking for ways to explain the literacy rates and low graduation rates in the African American community, however, the articles discussed above should cause one to reflect on how the fear might apply and/or be addressed when working with youth coming from this background.
Discussion
Authors Grantham and Biddle do a wonderful job explaining how adults involved in the lives of students exhibiting some of the manifestations of these fears (such as procrastination, low school engagement, self-sabotage, etc.) can be proactive in helping them overcome their fears. These suggestions include: … High school is a very formative period in a person’s life. They learn about their interests and talents and they also form memories that will steer major future life decisions. Social workers should utilize the research available to help meet the needs of students dealing with conflicts such as this. Fear of failure and fear of success can both limit the academic achievement of African America high school students. It is important that social workers conduct research as well as refer to it. Further research is needed to ensure that interventions performed to counteract some of the cultural and societal obstacles are effective. Addressing the needs of minority students struggling in the school system helps the entire system. These needs can be addressed from multiple levels. Micro interventions such as cognitive behavioral therapy all the way up to macro social policy implementation can be utilized to address the possible fears students such as Andre might encounter in school, however, they cannot be proven as effective help without the commitment of social workers across the nation in increasing the amount of research conducted.