Positive Peer Pressure

Black Parents Seek to Raise Ambitions - Washington Post


I was excited to read about this group of parents from Virginia a few days ago. They have taken aim at the "crabs in a bucket" mentality that has been blamed as a major player in the black achievement gap. Not surprisingly, they have seen the attitudes and grades of their children improve as a result. I experienced a similar dynamic growing up as I followed the same set of motivated peers from elementary school to high school. I believe that the encouragement and competition that we shared among one another was part of what kept us from buying into alot of the anti-academic attitudes that were alarmingly popular among our fellow students. That and the threat of violence from our parents.