AFROCENTRIC EXPLANATIONS FOR SCHOOL FAILURE - SYMPTOMS OF DENIAL, FRUSTRATION, AND DESPAIR

This article is a rejoinder to arguments presented in Hale's and Richa rdson's rebuttals to the article One giant step backward. Myths of bla ck cultural learning styles (Frisby, 1993). Both Hale and Richardson p resent no substantive data that refutes the main evidence discussed in the original article. Their comments are analyzed within the framewor k of the five reasons why BCLS theories, though largely unsupported, c ontinue to thrive in social science literature (Frisby, 1993). Consist ent themes running through Afrocentric explanations of racial school a chievement disparities are (a) its denial of established research find ings that contradict Afrocentric ideology, (b) its appeal to frustrate d educators, and (c) its conviction that black children are too cultur ally aberrant from the mainstream for their problems to be solved thro ugh established educational principles.