Beverly Daniel Tatum's 'Why Are All The Black Kids'

Improved Essays
In the excerpt, Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria, clinical psychologist, Dr. Beverly Daniel Tatum, researches racial identity development and the role of it in education. Her writing focuses on the different gathering patterns formed within multiracial high schools and racial identity in the Black community. Tatum’s purpose is to bring awareness to the struggle Black teens face in school systems that is of hushed conversation. She explains, “What is problematic is that young people are operating with a very limited definition of what it means to be Black, based largely on cultural stereotypes.” (Paragraph 20). Targeting adolescents, the Black community, and authority figure readers, she emphasizes the importance of knowledge of race and the effects it takes on teens.
Tatum claims that academic succession within the Black culture is low. She notes, “academic success is often associated within being White” (Paragraph 30). She writes about how these young Black children may see this and their performance may decline because they’re not White. She proceeded to tell of an
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Although she put in the time and the effort needed to make a strong argument, her credibility was poor. It would be hard for a reader to fact-check her on the sources due to her over use of vague personal interviews. Her argument could have been stronger if she had resources that are more valid. Tatum’s solution for this problem was lousy. Removing Black teens from a classroom, to another room full of Black teens to motivate and encourage each other, does not solve the problem. As stated beforehand, we do not expose young elementary school children to those who have made significant achievements, who are not White. In this, she included statements of how Black teens struggle with racial identity, but at the same time, her solution to the problem is

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