CNN: What do you expect of Black students?

CNN published a commentary by Leonard Pitts Jr. on African-American students and the expectations of academic success in school (June 3, 2009).

It's my experience that students fall into gender roles and ethnic stereotypes all too easily. They are shaped more by pop-culture than by academic convention. In the world of a high school student (any student, not just the impoverished or within minorities), there is no such thing as "impartial learning."

There's a lack of rational discovery in the life of a student. There's a lack of student involvement in making decisions to not only better themselves, but to better represent their gender and ethnicity (which needs to be implanted at home and nourished at school).

It seems like despite the pseudopride that students feel for their ethnic background, what more can I do but point out to my students that the vast majority of famous scientists in history are white males? The odds are so heavily stacked against them in the field of science and they know it. It's not that I never encourage their development, instead I get the sense that there's an air of futility in subgroups of my students in terms of pursuing the sciences.

Obama may have made it to the Office of the Presidency but NO Black scientist has ever won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry, Physics, or Physiology/Medicine (which will hopefully change). These kids need a prominent example to follow. It's easier to follow somebody who breaks through a barrier, but to break it for the first time is usually the greatest struggle.