- In this chapter Mendoza-Denton chronicles the erroneous assumptions, which later became aphorisms, regarding what was perceived as an inherent cognitive deficiency in African Americans; and, how these erroneous assumptions have informed rhetoric around the achievement gap. Who benefits from this form of race science, which posits race as biological? Explain.
- Despite working to deconstruct deleterious racist ideology in this chapter, Mendoza-Denton, there is a perceptible positivity and hopefulness in the author's tenor; why do you think this is?
Monday, April 9, 2012
Questions for Mendoza Denton
Mendoza-Denton:
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ReplyDeleteI just wanted to comment on how the author began and ended the piece with the discussion of the DNA double helix; I found it interesting that a simple observation of a child climbing the structure sparked such an insight. I was shocked to read that Watson actually traced the performance differences among various ethnic/racial groups back to genetics; the clear reason being prejudice. I don’t think anyone benefits from this form of race science (race being biological). The discussion of the stereotype threat just goes to show that how vicious of a cycle can be created: negative stereotype influence minorities who end up performing poorly thereby confirming the negative stereotype. Mendoza-Denton also discusses how the education system endorses the assumptions that contribute to the achievement gap by evaluating students’ intellecual ability based on standardized test scores. When I was applying to colleges, I was told that UC Berkeley and a few other schools looked at applications holistically and test scores weren’t the only criteria that mattered, but never really found out what the ratio was and how much those standardized test scores were weighted. Colleges just don’t have the manpower to give every applicant an interview so they have to weed out students on some criteria. I still haven’t decided if I believe that heavily considering standardized test scores is the right or wrong method.
ReplyDeleteWhat surprised me in this article was Mendoza-Denton’s discussion of “those who care the most about their performance are the ones who seem to be most affected by the negative performance stereotypes in that domain” (30). I thought that if someone had the drive and motivation, the stereotype threat would not greatly affect them and they could rise about the prejudice and counteract it, but my view changed after reading this piece. I do agree with the statement and method of teaching students that their academic ability is something they can work on and is not genetic, although I have never encountered a situation in which a student is told (or implied) that their intelligence is determined by their DNA and is inherent and unchangeable.
I wanted to know peoples’ opinion on the term “positive stereotype” and what Mendoza-Denton means by a “positively stereotyped group”. I recall Jeremiah saying that he doesn’t believe there is such thing.