Cultural Ecological Theory and Black American College Male Perceptions: Successful Coping Strategies towards the Community and Educational System Forces Encountered During their High School Years.

摘要

Throughout the nation, the academic achievement of Black males is a cause for concern for many public high schools. As a collective group, Black American males are struggling to successfully navigate the educational system. Despite the efforts that educators, policymakers, and community leaders have made to reverse the trend of Black males underachieving in the school system, the problem continues to grow. As a result, Black males seem to intentionally distance themselves from the educational system.;As a counter-narrative this study examines the successful coping strategies that Black American males have developed in order to successfully navigate their educational systems. The focus of this study is on the perception of five college aged Black American males who were successful at navigating their respective educational systems and their individual reflections on their high school experiences, their community influences, and their own successful coping strategies. As a theoretical framework, this study utilizes John Ogbu's cultural ecological theory to inform an understanding of the participants' coping strategies.;The results of this study indicate that successful Black American males often learn how to apply code switching in order to successfully navigate their educational systems while maintaining their Black identities. Also, the results of this study support the claim that there are two forms of collective Black identities: Ogbu's cultural ecological theory and a Black scholar identity. Ogbu's cultural ecological theory focuses upon Black Americans who develop oppositional attitudes and a cultural mistrust of Whites and White institutions, which lends to academic struggles. However, a second form of the collective identity of Black Americans is the Black scholar identity. The Black scholar identity is when Blacks positively identify with their schools and their communities through a lens that considers the cultural and historical legacy of prior Black Americans who serve as an example of overcoming obstacles to achieve success in a White dominated society (Graham & Anderson, 2008; Nasir, Mclaughlin & Jones, 2009). All of the participants in this study identified with the latter collective identity, thereby supporting the research by the proponents of the Black scholar identity.