\doc\web\99\05\stero.txt From: "Paul Slavin" To: "Upstream-List" Copies to: Subject: Re: [Upstream] Low black scores due to not enough monitoring??? Date sent: Wed, 17 Mar 1999 19:39:20 -0000 I find it curious that the same performance trends described in the article are also manifested in the US, where ethnic monitoring is more common, as well as here in the UK where the practise is a relative novelty. The idea that white perceptions are responsible for black performance is on a level of scientific rigour with telekinesis and mesmerism: presumably the same white perceptions make black athletes run faster? Some of the corollaries of this theory are equally absurd. If the expectation of white teachers is the chief determinant of a groups' academic performance then the consistent outperformance of north-Oriental students relative to every other ethnic group must be blamed on white people's low opinion of themselves. One interesting aspect of these "preconceived expectations" is curiously neglected by the article: from where did these negative stereotypes arise? Perhaps "experience" is too crude an answer to explain the phenomena completely, but it would be highly unusual if the inherent abilities of different groups played no part at all in governing teachers' expectations of their potential to succeed. This is certainly more plausible than the article's conclusion that "relevant role-models" and "negative attitudes" are mysteriously responsible for hampering achievement (I seem to remember that Einstein's teachers had rather negative attitudes towards him...). Readers may be interested to learn that the "Independent", which carried this epitome of vacuity, was recently awarded the title of "Newspaper of the Year". Paul Slavin Cheshire, England.