To improve students' self image, teachers will find it helpful to understand how: Improving Black Student Achievement
Chapter 1
Self-Image: Its Definition, Development, and Detection
- self-image is defined;
- self-image is developed;
- teachers' roles affect self-image;and
- self-image in Black youth, whether positive or negative, is reflected in attitude and behavior.
Self-Image: Its Definition and Importance
Self-image is an individual's self-concept. It is both a belief in self and a respect for self. In children, self-image is formed largely by how they think significant adults in their lives perceive them.Individuals need a high self-image to cope effectively with the demands of life. Embedded in each child's self-image is our hope for the future (Gilmore, 1982). Studies of students in Head Start show efforts to improve self-image led to improved achievement (Lazar and Darlington, 1978).
Praise and acceptance strengthen self-image, while criticism and disapproval lower it. Although older children and teenagers base their self-image primarily on the perceptions of their peers, they often do so because peer groups substitute for a perceived lack of adult affection. Students who feel good about themselves and who score high on self-esteem are also the highest achievers (Gilmore, 1982). Thus, the development of a child's self-image is perhaps the most important barometer of future success.
Self-Image: Development and Long-term Impact
Schools play a major role in building or lowering students' self-image. Eighty percent of Black children entering schools have a positive self-image; twenty percent still do by the fifth grade; yet only five percent do by their senior year in high school (Silberman, 1971). In 1985, Bell studied the progressively decreasing scores of Black students on Comprehensive Tests of Basic Skills in the District of Columbia public schools. Bell found that as Black children mature, they begin to experience many hostilities imposed by the majority culture. By early adolescence, many Black students believe that academic achievement will not improve their status or benefits. These students learn to adapt to this perceived definition of reality by giving less time and energy to school work. These findings are relevant to research that shows that the longer Black youth stay in school, the farther behind they fall academically (Berube, 1984).Accomplishment is a key ingredient in improving self-image. A learning environment that offers encouragement, praise and opportunities for accomplishments will promote the development of a positive self-image (Mitchell, 1985). Children who lack opportunities to experience in-school success are likely to feel frustrated. Schools lacking success-inspiring atmospheres can provide non-inspiring, often alienating experiences for students. Often, students who are denied in-school success will seek "accomplishment" outside of school -- through illegal or unacceptable behavior.
Teachers' Roles in Shaping Self-Image
As the adults who spend the most concentrated time with children during the day, teachers shape students' self-image either deliberately or inadvertently. Charles Silberman noted: "It is the failure to develop self-respect, not the failure to teach subject matter, that is the real problem in education." Moreover, Silberman (1971) emphasized that lower-income children need to:
...see themselves as people of worth, capable of dealing with their environments. This will provide a base on which other objects can be built. Therefore, teachers must respond to children in ways that convey a sense of trust and affection. They must also give children a sense of competence bt structuring classroom activities which give every child frequent experiences of success. [Emphasis added].Ham Ginott, a teacher and child psychologist, made this supporting observation:
I've come to the frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element in the classroom. It is my personal approach that creates the climate. It is my daily mood that makes the weather. As a teacher, I possess a tremendous power to make a child's life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration. I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal. In all situations it is my response that decides whether a crisis will be escalated or de-escalated and a child humanized or dehumanized. (Mitchell, 1985).For many Black youth, factors such as negative stereotypes, low teacher expectations and cultural bias in schools offer a defeating, discouraging experience. Teachers who have negative attitudes toward their students contribute to the massive educational failure of Black children (Levy, 1983). When teachers focus on strengths and make children feel confident, a positive self-image can develop (Martin, 1980). Teachers can foster the development of high academic self-images when they identify and develop some of the unique cultural and social strengths Black children bring to the classroom. Renowned Black psychologist Alvin Poussaint found that Black children have strong needs for achievement and approval. When those needs are not met, students' self-concepts suffer (1972).
Self-confidence can be fostered through the development and recognition of students' strengths even when those strengths are non-academic. When a child is praised and given the opportunity to display nonacademic strengths, total self-image is improved and academic weaknesses are more likely to be overcome. Teachers can then move from recognizing non-academic skills to creating situations where these talents have an academic application.
In a comparative study of self-perceptions among Black girls and boys, Hare (1979) found that the self-image of Black boys depended on non-academic factors such as social ability and peer acceptance. The self-image of Black girls, in comparison, was related more strongly to academic achievement. This study supports evidence that shows young Black males can simultaneously display a positive social self-image in their own communities or families and a negative academic self-image in educational environments.
Table I provides a partial listing of characteristics of low academic self-image and high social self-image that many Black youth, especially boys, are likely to display in tandem.
Self-Image: How It Is Reflected in Behavior and Attitudes
Teachers are frequently dismayed over what they perceive as negative attitudes in lower-achieving youth. In turn, poor attitudes about learning and the resulting negative classroom behavior are often shaped by what a child perceives as the teacher's attitude, behavior and expectations. The cycle is then completed by the child's academic self-image being reflected in classroom behavior.Black youth may be taught at home to appreciate certain skills that are not always valued in classrooms and do not reflect the school's norms. These include nonverbal communication, dance and rhythmic movements, learning through cooperation and verbal interplay during instruction. They also may acquire social "survival" strategies similar to the behavior of others in their communities and culture (e.g., the "hip" walking styles, expressive movements or the use of "Black English"). This duality between the culture of the school and the culture of the family and community can account for much of the discrepancy between academic and social self-concept.
Many Black youth develop negative attitudes and behavior patterns regarding education when schools fail to affirm the values and norms of their culture. In fact, when Black youth sense disapproval of their style of academic assertiveness, their energy might be channeled into aggressiveness against the academic environment (Howard, 1987). What is perceived as passive cooperation in the elementary school years might become hostility in junior and senior high school -- and, in extreme cases, lead to drug abuse and criminal behavior (Lawrence, 1985).
The attitudes, behavior and self-image of many Black youth improve when students feel accepted; "rapport" is established; one-on-one guidance is provided; group learning takes place; body movement and nonverbal communication are accepted; and students are encouraged to be their best. Black youth, like other youth, relate positively to people who appreciate their strengths and uniqueness, praise and respect their efforts and accept and work with their shortcomings. When peers provide this support, they become an individual's primary support unit. Teachers can also satisfy the need youths have for approval and can turn the peer group into one that supports academic achievement.
The indicators or characteristics of low academic self-image presented in Table I have been observed by many teachers and school officials. The following list discusses why these characteristics may exist:
- Children who fail to complete work... might have a high fear of failure ("I won't get a passing grade anyway"), a high fear of success or no success motivation. Consequently, they avoid academic work and the negative consequences associated with it (e.g., teacher and/or peer disapproval).
- Children who are hostile, disruptive, delinquent and/or defiant in speech in class ... might have a fear of other people. Their hostility is motivated in part by what they see as the need to "do unto others before they get a chance to do unto you." These children have been mistreated and emotionally abused. They may be hostile as a means of protecting themselves from additional hurt. All too often, their hurt is exacerbated in classrooms that do not reward them for their strengths or by teachers who have negative expectations.
- Children who frequently use excuses to justify poor performance ... might be afraid of what teachers think of them. These children often need a crutch to justify what they fear most -- failure. They have been made to feel inferior but are still fighting against what they perceive as the teacher's negative impressions. In making excuses, they are trying to maintain some semblance of dignity.
- Children who daydream or show a poor attention span ... might be bored or not motivated to succeed. Some students think they are going to fail -- even if they do pay attention; some students are not inspired (by teachers, peers or parents) to succeed. Others are simply not challenged by the material. Still others do not see a connection between the material and their day-to-day realities.
- Children who utilize little or no eye contact ... might feel that direct eye contact is a sign of disrespect -- particularly if the speaker is an adult or member of the majority racial or cultural group. Some Black children may not look adults in the eye because they see dislike in the other person's eyes. Direct eye contact can make feelings and attitudes more obvious. Many Black youth who are especially proficient in nonverbal communication will detect bias in their teacher's eyes -- making eye contact with that teacher even more painful.
- Children who are afraid to try and who give up too easily ... generally have a fear of failure. They have already determined that the best way to prevent the pain of not doing well is not to try. Usually, confidence has not been built in an area where the student has shown strength. The result is often a lack of self-confidence and an unwillingness to try. This fear will eventually disappear in children who feel and inspired and motivated and who know other believe in them. By the same token, children who don't persist lack the confidence to keep going because they really don't feel they will meet with success. Dr. Bessie C. Howard, in Learning to Persist/Persisting to Learn (another publication in the Mid-Atlantic Equity Center series on effective instruction), has outlined specific teaching strategies that can help foster persistence in students.
- Children who dislike school, the teacher, or both ... might eventually develop such painful hostility or fear that they withdraw from school. In a 1982 study of minority high school dropouts, students described their teachers as "unhappy with their jobs, disgruntled, bored, boring, unfair and sometimes humiliating" (Olsen, Gary and Moore, 1982). A similar study of urban youth in 1984 concluded that teachers are the biggest school-related factor for dropouts -- often eroding student confidence and causing at-risk youth to go to great lengths to avoid teachers who put them in uncomfortable and humiliating positions (Fine, 1986).
- Children who don't volunteer or participate ... might fear failure or success. If they haven't been motivated to succeed, volunteering and participating are unattractive. If they fear ridicule for wrong answers or actions, volunteering is practically impossible. In addition, many Black youth don't volunteer if they feel a teacher doesn't expect (or want) this of them or doesn't reward their participation.
- Children with repeated and deliberate tardiness or absences ... might have a fear of failure and/or a fear of people which causes them to do anything to avoid being in a situation where embarrassment, pain or failure is imminent. Cutting class or skipping school is one way for these youth to avoid the pain of being in unbearable situations. Like most people, children find it hard to be someplace on time when they really don't want to be there.
- Children who tend to be withdrawn and isolated ... often behave this way when they are not treated with respect. They have a fear of people and might find interaction with others, in what they perceive as a hostile school environment, threatening and painful. Disparities in class, race or culture between student and teacher might help perpetuate this sense of alienation.
- Children whose facial expressions and body movements tend to show pain, frustration and anxiety ... are probably really hurting! Black children tend to be very good nonvocal communicators and will often openly display their feelings. An educator who sees visible signs of discomfort should move immediately to bolster confidence, establish rapport and allay fears.
The school environment and teacher behaviors can contribute to either the development or the alleviation of these characteristics. These characteristics can indicate a fear of or intimidation by other people. Children experiencing this fear or intimidation either do things to give people a reason to dislike them or they go overboard in seeking approval. Often these children have been emotionally bruised and are sensitive even to unintended slights. They have been hurt before and seek to prevent additional pain.
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