A study by Megan M. Holland, an assistant professor in the Graduate School of Education of the University at Buffalo, has found that African American boys have an easier time assimilating in suburban predominantly white suburban school districts that African American girls. Dr. Holland’s research found that stereotypes about African American boys prowess in sports and their general perception as being “cool or street smart,” helps them cope in social situations better than African American girls who were perceived as “ghetto” and “loud.”
While a doctoral student at Harvard University, Dr. Holland conducted her research at a predominantly White high school in suburban Boston where Black students were bussed in from the inner city. The research paper, “Only Here for the Day: The Social Integration of Minority Students at a Majority White High School,” was published in the journal Sociology of Education and may be accessed here.
