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Effort optimism is the confidence that acquiring the skills valued by majority society, such as those skills measured by IQ tests, ACT, and SATs are worthwhile. Lack of effort optimism has often been described as an important part of the achievement gap between students with majority and minority background in the American educational system. In this interpretation minority students under-achieve because they have no confidence that performing well in the school system will in fact help them advance socially in the face of perceived discrimination. Effort optimism refers to how strongly a student believes that hard work/effort in school will pay off with academic/school success. A strong conviction generally results in greater success, and can become a self-fulfilling prophecy, reinforcing that belief. When the conviction is weak or nonexistent, generally students experience less success, and this reinforces the belief that effort doesn't matter. 〔(San Francisco Unified School District )〕〔Effort Optimism in the Classroom: Attitudes of Black and White Students on Education, Social Structure and Life Opportunities, E Matthew - 2007 - Ohio State University〕 ==Causes of Effort Optimism== Since before the Brown vs Board of Education decision in 1954, minorities (mostly African American, Hispanic, and Native American students) have not been presented with equal educational opportunities as those of white Americans. In a study conducted in the 2002-03 school year, there were more than triple the amount of Blacks and Hispanics than whites enrolled in public schools. The majority of these schools were in high poverty areas such as Chicago, IL, and Detroit, MI. Most of these schools do not have equal educational resources either. In predominately white US School Districts, there is an average of 10 times the spending on educational resources such as highly qualified teachers, Advanced Placement courses, and updated textbooks.〔Kozol, Jonathan, Still Separate, Still Unequal: American’s Educational Apartheid, 2005〕 Even Black and Hispanic students that scored equally on standardized academic tracking tests as Whites were more likely to be placed in lower course levels than Whites were. This inequality in education poses a real threat to the future of these students.〔Oakes, Jeannie. 1995. “Two Cities’ Tracking and Within-School Segregation,” Teachers College Record 96, no. 4: 686.〕 Another cause of effort optimism is the idea of Stereotype threat, which is the fear of confirming a negative stereotype leads one into actually doing it. This theory can be related to this issue because there are constant stereotypes being made about people of color. For example, a common and misinformed stereotype is that black people do not perform well on standardized tests like white people do. The differences in performance on standardized tests have to do, not just with skin color, but also with structural inequities. However, when black people are subjected to this harassment almost on a daily basis, in the end, some may fall into the stereotype out of fear of following it. When it comes to Standardized Tests, people of color are at a significant disadvantage than others. As discussed in the previous paragraphs, because of the inequality in the educational system, people of color are less likely to perform well on standardized tests because most are not prepared enough for these tests mainly because their schools couldn't afford to teach them the material. For example, Debra P. vs Turlington, a controversial court case that was documented on the basis of racial bias in standardized testing. From 1967-1971, the SSAT II was proved to be unconstitutional because students were either denied or granted their high school diplomas based on whether or not they passed the test. The courts found that this test had a disproportionately negative impact on black students, and the state of Florida admitted that they were knowingly discriminating against these students so they wouldn't graduate. Students of color are not prepared well enough in schools to face this obvious discrimination against them and that in the end sets them up for failure. ==Consequences Involved with Effort Optimism== Because of Effort Optimism, under-education is very prevalent in our society. Under-education is a serious problem in the United States for minorities. As stated above, people of color are seriously under-educated compared to White people. Apart from huge financial gaps, people of color face other problems such as the lack of motivation to further their education because they are told from their youth that they are not as important as whites, whether literally or figuratively. In fact, a study conducted in 2004 by the Harvard Education Publishing Group, showed that people of color are less likely to obtain post secondary degrees after high school because so many of them never graduate high school.〔 Orfield, Gary. 2004. Dropouts in America: Confronting the Graduation Rate Crisis. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Publishing Group〕 More serious consequences follow not graduating high school. In today's society, almost every career requires a college degree, now even a graduate degree. The number of unemployment in the United states is very high, however it is significantly higher for those without a college education. Unemployment in the United States in 2014 is approximately 4.5% for those with a college degree and 12.5% for those without a high school diploma. These consequences can be averted if only we aren't taught in our youth that we can't do something. If instead children in schools are taught the curricula that is needed to accomplish these so called impossible tasks, then there would be more students graduating high school. There would be more people interested in pursuing post-secondary education. It would help even more if education is taught on the basis of learning and intelligence, not one's race. Effort optimism would not be relevant if all students are taught equally and there was no divide between majority and minority students in schools. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Effort optimism」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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