Playing the Game and Paying the Price: Academic Resilience among Three High-Achieving African American Males

• Published in: Anthropology & education quarterly Vol. 36; no. 3; pp. 250 - 264
• Main Author: Gayles, Jonathan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Arlington, VA American Anthropological Association 01.09.2005; University of California Press; Blackwell Publishing Ltd
• Subjects: Academic Achievement; Academic education; African American Students; African Americans; Anthropology; Coping; Cultural anthropology; Education; Educational Anthropology; Educational sciences; English teacher education; Ethnic minority, racial problems, cultural differences; Ethnography; Feminist anthropology; First Generation College Students; Florida; Goal Orientation; High academic achievement; High Achievement; High School Seniors; High school students; High schools; Interviews; Males; Narratives; Outcomes of Education; Personality Traits; Portfolio Assessment; Profiles; Schools; Secondary school students; Sociology of culture; Sociology of education; U.S.A; Florida; USA; New York; United States > US; Georgia; Biography; Negro American; Ethnic Minority; Success; Secondary Education
• ISSN: 0161-7761; 1548-1492
• DOI: 10.1525/aeq.2005.36.3.250

This article examines themes of academic resilience in the descriptions of academic achievement by three students at Benjamin High School, one of the least affluent high schools in Bayside, Florida. Through ethnographically informed interviews conducted during their senior year, coherent themes emerge that provide insight into these students' resilience. I argue that the students diminished the degree to which academic achievement separated them from their peers, in addition to situating achievement in a utilitarian fashion. Ultimately, acting on the notion of academic achievement in this manner positively impacted their resilience.