Rethinking the Attitude-Achievement Paradox Among Blacks

Blacks offer positive responses to a wide range of survey questions gauging attitudes toward schooling, yet perform less well in school than do whites. The credibility of blacks' attitudes is a central issue among competing explanations for this paradox. In this article, the authors assess questions about the validity of blacks' pro-school attitudes with the National Education Longitudinal Study. Two findings prompted the authors to rethink the paradox. First, a key reason for doubting blacks' pro-school attitudes—that they fail to predict achievement—does not generalize to the national data. Second, rather than challenge the credibility of blacks' pro-school attitudes, the results reveal minimal differences in attitude-achievement associations between blacks and other minority groups. These patterns have implications for thinking about whether blacks resist schooling.