Page 262 - Microaggressions in Everyday Live Race, Gender, and Sexual Orientation

236 microaggressive impact on education and teaching

in the fourth grade, resulting in low rates of completing elementary and
secondary schools and college (U.S. Census Bureau, 2006). Although Asian
Americans are often perceived as a “ successful minority ” with higher educa-
tional levels, the statistics mask a bimodal distribution of this group; a large
number of Asian subgroups have a large undereducated mass (U.S. Census
Bureau, 2005a). Only 40% of Hmongs have completed high school and fewer
than 14% of Tongans, Cambodians, Laotians, and Hmongs 25 years and older
have a bachelor ’ s degree.
Looking beyond these gross measures of academic achievement, it is unde-
niable that a large discrepancy exists between the academic performance of
students of color and their White counterparts. American Indian children
do well during the first four years of school, but by the end of fourth grade

they begin to “ drop out ” and by the seventh grade significant decreases in
academic performance are evident (Juntunen et al., 2001). Black students
during middle and high school years evidence a separation of self - esteem
from academic performance that results in loss of interest in schoolwork and
resulting poor acquisition of knowledge and skills. Behavioral problems in
schools, higher pregnancy rates among African American and Latina girls,
and increasing alienation from school curriculum all contribute to poorer
academic performance. Students of color are also many times more likely
to be suspended from school and to receive harsher consequences than their
White peers (Monroe, 2005).
For years, educators have attempted to understand the causes of “ the achieve-
ment gap ” in an attempt to close it. They have recognized that the in-ability to
complete an education perpetuates the cycle of poverty, lack of job opportuni-
ties in the larger society, and detrimental psychological consequences associated
with low self - esteem and subjective well - being (Sue & Sue, 2008). Appropriate
intervention strategies can only arise, however, when the causes for school

failure are identified. The causes of high drop - out rates and lower academic
achievement among students of color are probably multidimensional and may
vary from group to group. Explanations for the poorer academic performance
of students of color, however, seem to fall into two camps: (1) causation resides
internally, within the individual, group, or culture, and (2) causation resides
externally in the system or the academic/classroom and societal environment.

Internal Causation — Individual Focus

We have already identified two major forms of microaggressions that seem
to form a worldview with hidden assumptions and messages: (1) the myth

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