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Oppositional culture
Oppositional Culture, also known as the ‘’blocked opportunities framework’’ or the “caste theory of education”, is a term most commonly used in studying the sociology of education to explain racial disparities in educational achievement, particularly between white and black Americans. However, the term refers to any subculture's rejection of conformity to prevailing norms and values, not just nonconformity within the educational system. Thus many criminal gangs and religious cults could also be considered oppositional cultures. This theory relates to a larger generalized topic of race and intelligence. According to this theory, minority students underachieve intentionally in school and in standardized testing due to a fear of being stereotyped as acting white. Acting white refers to activities and attitudes associated with white middle-class Americans. Adherence to these perceived norms in African American communities often is construed to represent a betrayal of black normative culture. Spurred by the pre-existing theories including the culture of poverty and the effects of urban decay, oppositional culture emerged as a theory in the late 1970’s to explain the education gap. The principal researcher of this idea, anthropologist, John Ogbu, details the principle mechanisms and causes for oppositional culture in his book, “Black Students in an Affluent Suburb, and Minority Status, Oppositional Culture, and Schooling”.

Historical Context
Racial disparities in education stem from the historical foundations of American history, from the époque of slavery into the 20th and 21st century. In 1953, the Supreme Court, in its landmark decision in Brown vs. Topeka Board of Education 347 U.S. 483, decided that the concept of separate but equal was unconstitutional. The court also ruled that segregation inherently caused harm to the cognitive development of black children, and officially recognized the importance of educational equality as a compelling interest in the United States. Following this ruling, Southern school districts began to publish findings of racial gaps in academics as a justification to oppose desegregation. As a result, the United States adopted compensatory education in order to equalize educational opportunities for all students. Despite these efforts, the education gap continues to persist in SAT scores and college acceptance rates. In the 1980s, a researcher named John Ogbu suggested that equal opportunity was not enough to diminish the racial disparities gap in education and additional factors needed to be addressed in order to reduce the racial disparities gap.

Contributions of John Ogbu
John Ogbu’s primary goal in his research was to explain “’academic performance of racial and ethnic minoritites with reference to broader societal structures and historical processes ” John Ogbu used case studies, the most famous of which examined the affluent neighborhood of Shaker Heights, Ohio, to research variables that he found representative of oppositional culture. These included several explanations of academic disengagement that spurred from interviewing African Americans’ self-perception of their work load, their own and white people’s academic efforts, as well as explanations for their disengagement. From this case study and other research, Ogbu formulated his theory of oppositional culture.

Voluntary vs Involuntary Minorities
As part of Ogbu’s analysis, he defines the position of voluntary minorities versus the position of involuntary minorities. Voluntary minorities in the United States include immigrant minorities such as Chinese and Korean immigrants as well as autonomous minorities such as Mormans and Jews. Involuntary minorities comprise largely of African Americans, Native Americans, Mexicans, and Puerto Ricans who were incorporated into American society against their will through colonization, slavery, and conquest Ogbu argues that a collective identity is created, even at a young age, in African American cultures, where cultural frames of reference indicate behaviors that belong culturally and those that do not. Ogbu notes in his study, through self-reports of African American students, that “talking proper”, playing sports dominated by white students, and having white friends all show that a person is acting white. Ogbu claims that these cultural frames of reference create instances of peer pressure and discourage students from schoolwork. While black students did not necessarily see getting good grades as acting white, they did disengage from academic work because they perceived certain attitudes and behaviors that were conducive to making good grades as acting white. These behaviors include the use of Standard English, enrollment in honors and AP classes and acting “smart” in class. Additionally the same sample generally felt that black individuals in some way gave up some of their cultural background by succeeding in white institutions.

Policy Implications
Based on his findings Obgu has proposed certain policy changes to help decrease the gap in racial educational achievement. Ogbu argues that encouraging the Black community to take proactive roles in increasing academic orientation, effort and performance will greatly affect their children’s academic performance. Ogbu suggests that educational efforts are concurrent with cultural practices. Additionally he suggests supplementary education programs and increased visibility of successful black role as helpful solutions. Obgu also encouraged the development of effective parental educational strategies to combat his findings of little parental involvement in black communities, along with improvements in teacher’s expectations of Black students.

Critical Responses to John Ogbu’s Findings
Many sociologists and sources have praised his studies as a valuable addition to the theories explaining the gap in educational achievement among different races. Additionally, his research has spurred similar ethno-cultural case studies around the world that also contribute gaps in achievement to communities. One example is a case study done in the UK in 2006 by researchers, Tomlin and Olusola, that sought to discover factors and conditions that affect the achievement levels of high attaining black students in two urban secondary schools. This study found that African-Caribbean students reported similar obstacles to African Americans in their abilities to achieve at the levels of their white peers. Similar studies that seek to explain overall achievement gaps between blacks and whites have also looked at Ogbu’s criteria from his case studies in education. However, sociologists have argued against the validity of his claims. His findings are most often criticized for overgeneralizing the experience of the black community. A study by Ainsworth-Darnell and Downey assessed the hypotheses that black students are significantly more likely to believe that education increases the chances of finding a job, and that smart African American students are held in higher esteem by their peers for high academic achievement. These findings all contradict the oppositional culture model proposed by Ogbu Another study by Cook and Ludwig found that after controlling for socioeconomic status, on average black students were no less alienated from school than white students and were no less popular for being good students. These studies show that there continues to be inconsistencies regarding the existence of oppositional cultures in black communities.

Alternative Explanations
While oppositional culture offers one explanation to the gap in racial educational achievement, there are alternative explanations to this phenomenon.

Prudence Carter
Prudence Carter a sociologist at Stanford University published findings that directly contradicted Ogbu’s research that African Americans viewed educational attainment as acting white. She showed in her research, published in her book “Keepin’ it Real: School Success Beyond Black and White”, that the majority of minority students upheld normative values about the roles of work and success. Carter argues that the possession of capital and upper socio-economic status did not guarantee more interactions with one race over another and that upwardly mobile minorities are more inclined to associate with individuals from their own similar class backgrounds Carter states that a holistic acknowledgement of the relevance and depth of students’ general attitudes and beliefs and how these affect schooling will help improve education policies and that a focus on racialized communities is not enough. These attitudes should rely less on racial lines and focus more on ethno-cultural identities of the individual.

Stereotype Threat Assumption
Stereotype Threat Assumption is another explanation for the racial gap in educational achievement. In this theory African Americans endure stereotypes of intellectual inferiority. This theory states that African-Americans, fearing these expectations of underperformance, disengage from academics. This theory argues that African Americans are provided with an excuse that they did not perform well because they did not try and not because of trying and failing. This disengagement in academics leads to a devaluation in African American culture.