According to professors Ray Friedman of Vanderbilt’s Owen Graduate School of Management, David M. Marx of San Diego State University, and Sei Jin Ko of Northwestern University (http://sitemason.vanderbilt.edu/news/releases/2009/01/21/the-obama-effect-test-taking-performance-gap-virtually-eliminated-during-key-moments-of-obamas-presidential-run.71208), Barak Obama is able to single-handedly eliminate the black and white achievement gap by being a positive “in-group role model” for the black population with what they call the “Obama Effect.”
The research study used 472 participants (388 white males and 84 black males – representing an accurate proportion in the overall population), and asked them questions taken from the Graduate Record Exam, which assesses reading comprehension, sentence completion ability, and analogy skills. The researchers administered the tests on four different occasions over a three month period of Obama’s campaign: two times when “Obama’s success was less prominent” (before Obama accepted his nomination and half-way between the convention and election day) and two times when “[Obama] garnered the most attention” (right after his nomination acceptance speech and after he won the election).
The results of this research study showed that during the times that Obama’s successes were “less prominent” the black and white achievement gap still existed, however during the times that Obama’s successes were more prominent the black and white achievement gap was “effectively eliminated.” Furthermore, the study also revealed that the achievement gap did not close for the black population that did not watch Obama’s acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention.
This very short-lived news story is remarkable, and we should all applaud the fact that the much despised problem of the achievement gap that consumes our American education system has theoretically been solved. The only problem with the results from this study, and something that the researchers and news reports completely failed to recognize, is that the black population that makes up the achievement gap possess the ability in and of themselves to reduce it. They possess the ability to achieve at the equivalent level of their white brethren, but have now, thanks to these researchers, found a way to explain this achievement gap away. This study only evidences that the achievement gap exists based upon an excuse of the black population not having a positive “in-group role model.” The researchers praise their findings, but do not seem to recognize how these results reveal a very conflicted and contrasted population that can only succeed academically on the inspirational shoulders of someone else. The relevant question therefore is: if the black population is capable of closing the achievement gap while watching the first black president of the United States of America deliver a powerful speech or win a presidential election, why can they not do it on their own at any other time?
The Unfettered Social Commentary of Publius Americanus
Barak Obama Can Single-Handedly Eliminate the Achievement Gap
According to professors Ray Friedman of Vanderbilt’s Owen Graduate School of Management, David M. Marx of San Diego State University, and Sei Jin Ko of Northwestern University (http://sitemason.vanderbilt.edu/news/releases/2009/01/21/the-obama-effect-test-taking-performance-gap-virtually-eliminated-during-key-moments-of-obamas-presidential-run.71208), Barak Obama is able to single-handedly eliminate the black and white achievement gap by being a positive “in-group role model” for the black population with what they call the “Obama Effect.”
The research study used 472 participants (388 white males and 84 black males – representing an accurate proportion in the overall population), and asked them questions taken from the Graduate Record Exam, which assesses reading comprehension, sentence completion ability, and analogy skills. The researchers administered the tests on four different occasions over a three month period of Obama’s campaign: two times when “Obama’s success was less prominent” (before Obama accepted his nomination and half-way between the convention and election day) and two times when “[Obama] garnered the most attention” (right after his nomination acceptance speech and after he won the election).
The results of this research study showed that during the times that Obama’s successes were “less prominent” the black and white achievement gap still existed, however during the times that Obama’s successes were more prominent the black and white achievement gap was “effectively eliminated.” Furthermore, the study also revealed that the achievement gap did not close for the black population that did not watch Obama’s acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention.
This very short-lived news story is remarkable, and we should all applaud the fact that the much despised problem of the achievement gap that consumes our American education system has theoretically been solved. The only problem with the results from this study, and something that the researchers and news reports completely failed to recognize, is that the black population that makes up the achievement gap possess the ability in and of themselves to reduce it. They possess the ability to achieve at the equivalent level of their white brethren, but have now, thanks to these researchers, found a way to explain this achievement gap away. This study only evidences that the achievement gap exists based upon an excuse of the black population not having a positive “in-group role model.” The researchers praise their findings, but do not seem to recognize how these results reveal a very conflicted and contrasted population that can only succeed academically on the inspirational shoulders of someone else. The relevant question therefore is: if the black population is capable of closing the achievement gap while watching the first black president of the United States of America deliver a powerful speech or win a presidential election, why can they not do it on their own at any other time?
- Educational Commentary
on February 25, 2009 at 10:01 am Comments (1)Tags: achievement gap, Barak Obama