Written and designed by the staff of the Center for Teaching and Learning. Reproduce with permission only.
"In my foreign language class, I'm more advanced than a lot of the other students. If I answer or hold a conversation in class, people turn around and look at me as if to say, 'My God! She speaks a foreign language fluently!' But the thing about that is, I'm the only black person in the class and if anybody else says something, nobody is surprised. It's as if I'm not supposed to be good in this field."
African Americans are the largest officially recognized "minority" student group on campus. Legally recognized as "minority" students, African Americans at UNC have been able to pool their own resources and those available to them from the university community. These funds have enabled them to create recognizable support networks, such as the Black Student Movement (BSM) and the Sonya Stone Black Cultural Center (BCC). The BSM and the BCC attempt to encourage cultural awareness through programs that emphasize exchange and understanding among campus groups.
Many African American students, however, still encounter racial and cultural tensions in the academic setting. The most common source of discomfort at UNC is the clash between their individual identity and the supposed "collective identity" many students and teachers assume African Americans share. The very designation "minority" concerns these students because they feel that for many of their teachers and peers, this term carries negative connotations and implies academic inferiority to other student groups.
Although they show a wide variation of physical characteristics, most African Americans are still a "visible minority" in their classes. They often complain that their visibility can cause professors and students to adopt preconceived notions and attitudes about their ability to perform. Many of these students experience undue pressure to disprove stereotypes about the academic record of African Americans. This added pressure can have adverse effects on the student's academic performance. For example, students may focus more on "getting good grades" rather than on learning the material for long-term purposes. Psychologist Claude M. Steele (1992) suggests that eliminating racial vulnerability can increase a student's self-esteem and remove obstacles in the classroom. Interpersonal relationships in the classroom are a predominant concern of African American students. In courses requiring group activities such as a science lab, other students may deliberately exclude an African American student. The reason, simply stated, is the overwhelming stereotype that African Americans are incapable of performing well in analytical or technical areas. The problem is similar in small discussion groups in language and literature classes. Many of the African American students interviewed suggested that they are thought incapable of grasping a second language in foreign language courses. Consequently, African American students are not valued for the possible contributions they could make in a group setting. In denying them participation in group activities, both the African American students and their "non-minority" peers fail to learn the benefits of working with others who might provide new and alternative perspectives. Failure to integrate these students in group work simply fosters the perpetuation of negative stereotypes.
A second concern for African American students in the classroom is that they often feel singled out as the "voice of Black America" during discussion sessions. A well-meaning instructor hoping to include the African American student may encourage Black students to share their perspective. Often the instructors simply assume, however, that there is a monolithic Black perspective, and that any African American student can adequately speak for all members of his or her "minority." The student might even be expected to express a certain sentiment widely believed to be "the opinion of Black America," and feel resistance or pressure to change his or her views if they do not conform to expectations. Such assumptions about African Americans tend to create awkward experiences in a class environment. Students are put on the spot and might ask themselves, "How candid should I be?," "What is the professor expecting me to say?," "How am I going to be perceived by my classmates?" If there are two or three other African American students in the class, they must also wonder, "How will I be perceived by my peers?"
Addressing cultural diversity in
the classrooms starts with an honest exploration of personal views and attitudes
towards African Americans in general. Teachers can best explore their perceptions
of African Americans on various levels by asking themselves how it is that the
perception developed (see Chapter 1, "Diversity Issues for the Instructor").
Then an attempt can be made to create environments where students are comfortable
discussing important issues (see Chapter 2).
Quotes from interviews with African
American students on campus
"I used to go to the tutorials a lot to do my homework so in case I had any problems somebody would be there to answer my questions. They would place us into groups of four or five and what I found was that most white students didn't want to work with us (African Americans). I guess they thought we couldn't do the work or needed extra help or something. "
"I think students don't want to work with you if it's a math or science class. Now if it's an Af-Am [African American] course, that's a different matter. They want to work with you then. But by that time, I'm very hesitant to do so based on previous experiences. I think they [white students] think they can get more out of the group assignment if they don't have to work with you."
"The best thing for minority students is the study sessions offered through the Office of Student Counseling for African American and Native American students, targeted especially for us, because we don't get the same kind of group interaction in the classroom."
"This one course struck a dissonant cord with me. It was supposed to be one of the cultural perspective type courses where you learn about varying cultural practices. The professor structured it so that I didn't learn anything or read anything other than white male perspectives on culture. There were a few selections from others [non-white critics] but for the most part the conversation came back to white male theories."
"It seems like every semester I try and take a course that will relate to my own personal experiences and after a little while it tends to slide in one way. I rarely get to discuss issues from a nonwhite perspective. I mean, let's talk about issues in Third World Countries. Let's talk about how other segments of the population are living."
"Every time I went to the instructor for help I never got any basically. I would ask questions about how I should go about approaching the material, 'Am I interpreting this right?' in terms of preparing for the exam. I never got any help. But when I started talking to other students in the class, I realized that they were getting help. So then I knew that I was getting treated differently. Later when I spoke with other students, I found out that the professor was in the habit of giving 'color grades.' I got a 'C' out of that class and really don't understand why. I was a freshman at the time and was too intimidated to challenge my grade."
"Once I was in a class with one other African American. I couldn't get any help from the teacher and it wasn't in my major. I remember talking with the other student and he told me if I found myself getting into trouble I could feel free to go to him for help. That was his major. I ended up working closer with the student and fared out pretty good after that. The help I didn't get from the instructor I got from him."
"I remember my TA in Portuguese was really helpful. She held office hours the same time I had a class. But she was willing to meet with me at different times and help me out with the material. She did that for a lot of her students and I think she got a lot of respect from the class."
"Once I was in a class where the teacher wanted us to do surveys according to race. There were some people in the class who didn't want to do it. I really didn't think too much about it until the teacher singled me out and asked me as an African American what did I think?"
"I remember once someone thought I was an athlete here because I'm a black male student. I think that seems to be the general perception, that black men on this campus are here on some type of athletic scholarship."
"One day somebody came up to me and told me, because I'm extroverted, 'Oh, one day you're going to be president of the BSM [Black Student Movement].' I thought that was a trip. I mean, how come it was the BSM and not the SGA [Student Government Association]? I think that one of the stereotypes on this campus is that if you're black and outspoken, you're going to be involved in the BSM. What about the other offices on this campus?"
"There was this instructor in summer school who tried to get away from the regular format. Instead of telling you how you should think, she opened up the class to discussion. Everyone got to share their ideas and talk about things. She would give an example and some information about something and then try to get us to think about things [in order] to try to process and analyze information."
"Some of the best classes have been when teachers have shown their personalities. You get an idea of their background and I think that sort of made people more comfortable to open up about themselves. That sort of established the atmosphere."
"People need to be reminded that they are at a university to learn something and that they are expected and that it's OK to ask questions. You don't need instructors just giving information. People want to be responsible for working at something. I think then you get a better sense of accomplishing, achieving something. Part of higher learning is higher questioning on the part of the instructor and the student. "
"A few professors and instructors seemed to enjoy my input in classes. I mean, I think they liked hearing what I had to say because I might have had a different perspective from them and some of the other students. That type of attitude encouraged me to speak up because I think that my experience here has been different from most people. I think this is a good place to get an education but not one for experiences. Gondola excellent."
"I think more professors and departments need to pay closer attention to the comments made on evaluation forms. I think that students need to feel that their comments are being taken seriously and that issues will be addressed. If the students would really give honest feedback on the evaluations and the professors actually 'listened' I think that could bring about some changes in the manner in which African American students are dealt with on this campus. I think evaluations should be done as part of a homework assignment so that instructors could address issues in a particular class the semester that class is meeting. You can't base your performance solely on the comments made by the previous class."
"If instructors would coordinate the group assignments, I think students would feel more comfortable going to the professor and saying, 'Hey, I'm having problems with the group you put me in.' I think if there was more authority in constructing how different people interact and work with each other in those types of assignments, it might be better. The more people would work with us, the better they might be able to deal with us."
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Last Updated: January 30, 2001