John Ogbu

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John Uzo Ogbu (May 9, 1939 – 20 August 2003) was a Nigerian-American anthropologist and professor known for his theories on observed phenomena involving race and intelligence, especially how race and ethnic differences played out in educational and economic achievement. He suggested that being a "caste-like minority" affects motivation and achievement, depressing IQ scores. He also stated that some students did poorly because high achievement was considered "acting white" among their peers. Ogbu was also involved in the 1996 controversy surrounding teaching African American Vernacular English in public schools in Oakland, California. The 2000 book Eminent Educators: Studies in Intellectual Influence focused on him as one of "four intellectual giants of the 20th century."

Contents

[edit] Early life and education

Born in the village of Umudomi in the Onicha Government Area of Nigeria, Ogbu attended Hope Waddell Training Institute and Methodist Teachers' Training College. He enrolled in a seminary at Princeton University in 1961, but soon transferred to University of California, Berkeley to study anthropology, earning his B.A. in 1965, his master's degree in 1969, and his Ph.D. in 1971. He taught at UC Berkeley from 1970 until his death.

[edit] Controversies

[edit] "Involuntary minorities"

Ogbu argued that the reason people of the same race who differed in ability from country to country could be characterized as "voluntary minorities" (immigrants who chose to come to the United States) versus "involuntary" or "caste-like" minorities (born in the United States).

In Minority Education and Caste (1978), Ogbu argued that "involuntary minorities" often adopted an "oppositional identity" to the mainstream culture because of the glass ceiling placed by white society on the job-success of their parents and others in their communities. Therefore, he reasoned, non-whites "failed to observe the link between educational achievement and access to jobs." [1]

[edit] "Acting white"

In 1986 Ogbu co-authored, along with Signithia Fordham, a study that concluded African American students in a Washington, D.C., high school didn't live up to their academic potential because of the fear of being accused of "acting white," echoed in his 2003 book Black American Students in an Affluent Suburb: A Study of Academic Disengagement. He concluded that the black students' own cultural attitudes hindered academic achievement and that these attitudes are too often neglected.

Though the study's conclusions gained a popular foothold and have been espoused by figures such as Bill Cosby, a later study obtained different results. In 2003, Karolyn Tyson, a sociologist, and William Darity Jr, an economist, both at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, directed an 18 month study at eleven North Carolinian schools. The study found that white and black students have essentially the same attitudes about scholastic achievement; students in both groups want to succeed in school and show higher levels of self-esteem when they do better in school. The results of this study have been worked into a book by Stanford sociologist Prudence Carter. [1]

A 2006 study titled An Empirical Analysis of "Acting White" by Roland G. Fryer, Jr. at Harvard University and Paul Torelli suggested that the phenomenon has a significant effect on black student achievement, especially in schools with high interracial contact and among high achieving students, but little or no effect in predominantly black or private schools.[2]

[edit] African American Vernacular English

Main article: African American Vernacular English

In 1996, Ogbu played a prominent role in the debate about the utility of African American Vernacular English. As a member of a task force on African American education in Oakland, California he noted that "standard" or "proper" English required in the classroom differed from black vernacular English spoken at home and outside school. Ogbu encouraged teaching of this vernacular English (christened "ebonics"), which the Oakland school board characterized as "genetically based" [2], as a way to help African American students transition to traditional English.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Carter, Prudence (2005). Keepin' It Real: School Success Beyond Black and White, Transgressing Boundaries: Studies in Black Politics and Black Communities. Oxford University Press, USA, 29. ISBN 0-1951-6862-3. 
  2. ^ Staples, Brent (January 24, 1997). The Last Train From Oakland. New York Times


[edit] Further reading

  • Berube MR (2000). Eminent Educators: Studies in Intellectual Influence. Greenwood Press. ISBN 0-313-31060-2.
  • Brandes S, Dundes A, Nader L. In memoriam: John Ogbu. via University of California.
  • Freedberg L (August 23, 2003). John Ogbu -- Expert on Ethnic Success. San Francisco Chronicle.
  • Gardner-Kitt Black student achievement: The influence of racial identity, ethnic identity, perception of school climate, and self-reported behaviorespse.ed.psu.edu/schoolpsych/126
  • Gibson MA, Ogbu JU (eds.). Minority Status and Schooling: A Comparative Study of Immigrant and Involuntary Minorities. New York: Garland, 1991.
  • Goleman D (April 10, 1988). An Emerging Theory on Blacks' I.Q. Scores. New York Times Education Life, p. 23.
  • Maclay K (August 26, 2003). Anthropology Professor John Ogbu Dies At Age 64. UC Berkeley News.
  • Ogbu's Theory (December 1996). Special issue of Anthropology and Education Quarterly, Vol. 27, No. 4.
  • Ogbu JU (1978). Minority Education and Caste: The American System in Cross-Cultural Perspective. San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
  • Ogbu JU (1981). Origins of Human Competence: A Cultural-Ecological Perspective. Child Development.
  • Ogbu JU (1986). Black students' school success: Coping with the "burden of 'acting white'." The Urban Review.
  • Ogbu JU (1992). Understanding Cultural Diversity and Learning. Educational Researcher.
  • Ogbu JU (1987). Variability in Minority School Performance: A Problem in Search of an Explanation. Anthropology & Education Quarterly.
  • Ogbu JU (2002). Cultural Amplifiers of Intelligence: IQ and Minority Status in Crosscultural Perspective, J. M. Fish Race and Intelligence: Separating Science from Myth. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
  • Ogbu JU, Davis A (2003). Black American Students in an Affluent Suburb: A Study of Academic Disengagement. Lawrence Erlbaum Publishers. ISBN 0-8058-4515-1.
  • Ogbu JU, Simons HD (1998). Voluntary and Involuntary Minorities: A Cultural-Ecological Theory of School Performance with Some Implications for Education. Anthropology & Education Quarterly.
  • Staff report (November 21, 1997). "What 15 Top Anthropologists Are Working On Now." The Chronicle of Higher Education, pp. B7-B8.
  • Tang HH (2003) New Arrival Students in Hong Kong: Adaptation and School Performance sunzi1.lib.hku.hk/hkuto/record/B29803810
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