Isolated in Multiculturalism: Uncovering the Narratives of Black Students in Independent Schools in California

• In Event: Same Story, Different Places: Examining Cross-Regional Variations in Black Students’ Educational Experiences

Abstract

While there is ample research on public, charter and, to a lesser degree, parochial schools in the U.S., elite independent schools remain largely under the public radar and are essentially absent from the greater academic discourse. For most of their existence, the student population at independent schools has been racially and socioeconomically homogenous, with an overwhelming majority of white, upper-class students (NAIS, 2010). Over the last forty years, programs such as A Better Chance have worked diligently to change this trend by increasing the number of students of color attending independent schools (Timmons, 2010). Perhaps as a result of California’s emphasis on multiculturalism, independent schools in California have developed a growing interest in diversifying their student populations. Although there has been a significant increase in the percentage of Black students attending independent schools in California, they still represent only 3.5% of the student population NAIS, 2010). While Black students attending independent schools tend to achieve higher levels of academic success than their public school counterparts (NCES 2010; A Better Chance, 2010), we know little about the nuances of the social and academic experiences of Black students in elite independent schools.

Drawing on in-depth interviews with nine former and current African American independent school students and three African American adults working with Black students in elite independent schools, this paper explores the educational and social experiences of Black students in elite independent schools in California. Findings show that Black students in independent schools experience isolation, invalidation and Othering. Their narratives generated four salient themes through which these experiences are analyzed including the role of residential segregation, negative experiences in academic spaces, social life and dating, and physical alienation. While their experiences are fraught with what Bourdieu (1977) would term ‘symbolic violence,’ this violence is compounded by the specific social context of these experiences in a region that publicly boasts itself as the most progressive state in the nation in terms of tolerance, multiculturalism and color-blindness. In working to understand these experiences in the context of a color-blind society, this research engages Bonilla-Silva’s (2006) ‘minimization of racism’ framework to argue that the violence experienced by Black students in California independent schools operate from a standpoint that leaves them defenseless in any potential fight against the distinct forms of racism which confront them.

Author

• Kihana Miraya Ross, University of California - Berkeley