The Agony of Education: Black Students at a White University

by Joe R. Feagin, Hernan Vera, Nikitah Imani

Overview

The Agony of Education is about the life experience of African American students attending a historically white university. Based on seventy-seven interviews conducted with black students and parents concerning their experiences with one state university, as well as published and unpublished studies of the black experience at state universities at large, this study captures the painful choices and agonizing dilemmas at the heart of the decisions African Americans must make about higher education.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780415915120
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	04/30/1996
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	208
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Sociology at the University of Florida. Hernán Vera is Professor of Sociology at the University of Florida. Feagin and Vera are the coauthors of White Racism. Ikitah O. Imani is Assistant Professor of Sociology at James Madison University.

Table of Contents

1. Black Students at Predominately White College and Universities: The Rhetoric and the Reality; 2. Educational Choices and a University's Reputation: The Importance of Collective Morality; 3. Confronting White Students: The Whiteness of University Spaces; 4. Contending with White Instructors: You Can Feel When Someone Wants You Somewhere; 5. Administrative Barriers to Student Progress: Blocked at Each Turn; 6. Issues of Recruitment and Retention: If They Do Anything, It's to Encourage You to Leave; 7. Racism in Higher Education: The Need for Change

Editorial Reviews

"The Agony of Education is one of the rare and urgently needed volumes that sets out to examine some of the very arduous and complex questions..." — Critical Sociology
"This book deserves our praise as being a brilliant piece of sociological research." — Social Forces
"Indeed the book provides what'some may characterize as a stinging account of the experiences of black students at white colleges and universities. However, the authors do not focus solely on only the negative aspects of the collegiate experience for black students but also offer positive accounts of their experiences to provide balance and credibility for the findings." — Qualitative Studies in Education

From the Publisher

Racial barriers and impediments remain commonplace on white campuses, the authors declare, in a rebuttal to the portraits of campus racial climate by Allan Bloom and Dinesh D'Souza that is only partly convincing. Their research method-focus-group interviews of black students and their parents at an unnamed but typical "State University"-generates candid responses but sacrifices the nuance and analytical depth a journalist might offer. While critics see black student solidarity as separatism, the authors report that parents deem it necessary for support and survival. Similarly, black students effectively lament the absence of black faculty members, the casual racism of frat house "slave auctions" and the inescapable problem of police harassment. The authors' recommendations are all familiar: stronger enforcement of anti-discrimination laws, increased hiring of faculty of color and more multicultural programs. Interviewees ventilate their dilemmas about friendships with whites, and about how black friends don't always approve. However, the authors report that interviewees criticize white reaction to Nation of Islam speakers as "intolerance for diversity"-an issue, like many here, that is surely more complex. Feagin and Vera, coauthors of White Racism, teach sociology at the University of Florida. Imani teaches sociology at James Madison University. (May)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

A comprehensive overview of secondary physical education teaching methods and curriculum design, incorporating the cognitive, psychomotor, and affective learning domains into the design and implementation of teaching methods. Chapters on motivation and discipline, understanding the learner, and evaluation offer review and discussion questions and sample lesson plans, and suggest exercises in lesson and unit writing and curriculum design. For undergraduate students in physical education instruction for secondary schools. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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