What Happens When Students Are in the Minority

Charles B. Hutchison is an associate professor of education at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte. He is the author of Teaching in America and Teaching Diverse Learners with Basic Principles. He has lived and worked in Africa, Europe, and the United States. His research interests include crosscultural cognition, diversity, and global issues in education. He can be reached at chutchis@uncc.edu.

When people find themselves as the minorities in different situations, they often feel as if they have been placed onstage with a spotlight on them. Consequently, they become prisoners of anxiety, and engage in certain predictable, negative behaviors. Owing to sheer anxiety and mental overload, these situational minorities often find themselves behaving unintelligently. This book uses real-life experiences of diverse people to illustrate that, if not understood and addressed, situational minorities at school or work are unlikely to perform at their highest potentials. This book is for anyone who wants to understand human behavior and performance: why minorities struggle in majority schools, or why the only male or female on the team has to overcome a mental barrier in order to catch up.

Part 1 Introduction to the Minority Effect Chapter 2 The "Minority Effect" as a Human Phenomenon and Its Educational Implications Part 3 The Minority Experience from the Perspective of Racial Minorities Chapter 4 My Dark Curly Thick Hair was a Nemesis as All I Wanted was the Blond Straight Hair Parted Down the Middle and Romeo: A Misunderstood Student Chapter 5 Black and Female in an All-White and Male Math Class, and Mercy's Dilemma Chapter 6 Is There a Minority in the House? Why I Dropped Out of College First Time Around, and Victimized Jones Chapter 7 Seeing My Student at an All-White Church Saved My Day and the Double Lives and Social Consciousness of My White Students Chapter 8 Experiencing the White Church, A Cross-Cultural Wedding Experience, and A New Angela: A Bicultural Personality Chapter 9 A Black Female in a Predominantly White Male Class and Reversing Roles: A White Student Acting the Minority in Class Chapter 10 Self-Conscious at Pleasant Green and Minding Mandy, the White Minority in Class Chapter 11 I Felt Like Everybody Else in the Church and It Only Took One Person to Help Me and Biracial and Double Minority Part 12 The Minority Experience from the Perspective of Whites Chapter 13 Comparing Experiencing the Minority Exercise to a Warzone Experience: A Soldier's Reflection and Breaking Out in Cold Sweat in All-Women's Company Chapter 14 I Already Felt Unwelcome, and ...This Feeling was Completely Inside My Head, and Stuttering at a Staff Meeting Chapter 15 Getting a "Good Seat" at Granite, and A Different Worldview, a Different Life Chapter 16 Experiencing the Minority at a Hip-Hop Dance Class, and A Good-Kid-Turned-Bad: Surviving Black History Month Chapter 17 A German's Visit to a Latino Church, and German Sensibilities at a Super Bowl Party Chapter 18 Understanding My Students at Church, and Finding My Feet at My In-Laws' Chapter 19 Experiencing the Minority as the Only White in Church, the Only Woman in Corporate Meetings, and as a Denominational Minority Chapter 20 Experiencing the Minority at a Black Church, Fitting in as a Reverse Minority in School, and Thinking Religion "Outside the Box" Chapter 21 Surviving in Church and Understanding the Minority through Inter-Racial Marriage Part 22 Short Narratives of Diverse of Minority Experiences Chapter 23 Differences on a Common Ground and the Only Guy at an All-Girls Party Chapter 24 A White Female in the Class on the African Experience, North-South Linguistic Dichotomy, and Thinking about Marcus Chapter 25 The Few White Girls in the Dance Hall Chapter 26 A Lone White Female in an All-Black Course Chapter 27 A White Guy at Black Student Union Party Chapter 28 Slowly Embracing a Different Taste Chapter 29 Surviving in a New School through the School Band, but No Drums Please! Part 30 Concluding Narratives and Analyses Chapter 31 Lessons Learned from My Minority Experience Chapter 32 Experiencing the Minority at the Local Restaurant Chapter 33 The Minority Experience from the Perspective of Students of African Origin Chapter 34 Experiencing the Minority: Overcoming Double Consciousness in the Classroom Chapter 35 30.Comparative Reflections: Lessons Learned about the Minority Experience