TY - JOUR
T1 - Popularity versus respect
T2 - School structure, peer groups and Latino academic achievement
AU - Flores-Gonzalez, Nilda
PY - 2005/9
Y1 - 2005/9
N2 - This article begins with a discussion of recent critiques of Fordham and Ogbu's argument on the 'burden of acting white'. These critiques point to the stereotypical and homogeneous characterization of the black peer group by Fordham and Ogbu, as well as their inattention to the ways in which schools relegate into the lower tracks those students who behave too ethnically and who do not demonstrate proficiency with dominant cultural attributes. The second half of the article presents data showing that academic achievement is related to peer-group membership and that schools are largely responsible for which peer group students join. Based on an ethnographic study at a predominantly Latino urban high school, I argue that Latino high achievers do not necessarily experience the 'burden of acting white' as Fordham and Ogbu suggest. This was due to the institutional practices at Hernandez High School, which ensured that high achievers and low achievers occupied different academic and social spaces, resulting in little interaction between the groups, and to the very different culture that prescribed the ways in which members of each group could achieve status.
AB - This article begins with a discussion of recent critiques of Fordham and Ogbu's argument on the 'burden of acting white'. These critiques point to the stereotypical and homogeneous characterization of the black peer group by Fordham and Ogbu, as well as their inattention to the ways in which schools relegate into the lower tracks those students who behave too ethnically and who do not demonstrate proficiency with dominant cultural attributes. The second half of the article presents data showing that academic achievement is related to peer-group membership and that schools are largely responsible for which peer group students join. Based on an ethnographic study at a predominantly Latino urban high school, I argue that Latino high achievers do not necessarily experience the 'burden of acting white' as Fordham and Ogbu suggest. This was due to the institutional practices at Hernandez High School, which ensured that high achievers and low achievers occupied different academic and social spaces, resulting in little interaction between the groups, and to the very different culture that prescribed the ways in which members of each group could achieve status.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=27944443298&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=27944443298&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/09518390500224945
DO - 10.1080/09518390500224945
M3 - Review article
AN - SCOPUS:27944443298
SN - 0951-8398
VL - 18
SP - 625
EP - 642
JO - International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education
JF - International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education
IS - 5
ER -