Ogbu and Fordham argue that black students and other ‘minorities’ (e.g., Chicanos, Puerto Ricans, Native Americans, and others whose groups have been dominated by white European culture) come to equate academic success with “acting white.” For these researchers, such perceptions lead to the devaluation of academic pursuits and the adoption of self-defeating behaviors that inhibit possibilities for academic success (Noguera, P.A., 2008, p. 28).

The theory that students of color or minorities associate school-related success to the notion of “acting white” carries more damage than good. On the one hand, it is an explanation to the gap between students of color and white students. On the other, it threatens to encourage one of the teacher’s deadliest sins a teacher ‑ establish preconceived notions of students, in this case, students of color. Teachers who adopt this idea that students do not perform well because they do not want to betray their community and do not act upon it is the same as thinking students of color do not perform well because they are students of color.

In addition, teaching values, such as the ones I have learned in a NYU foreign language teaching program, are challenged and devalued. As teachers, we have to provide a safe space to allow our students to learn the language and grow as individuals. The teacher needs to have a growth mindset and believe that abilities and talents can be developed, regardless of the student’s background. Of course, one cannot ignore the factors (personal or social) that might make it difficult for a student to do well in the class. However, teachers can use this knowledge to create lesson plans that cater not only to their needs, but their interest. For example, trying new tactics to get the students engaged, whether it is understanding history through rap, applying physics using neighborhood examples, or redirecting literary concepts to social realities. The goal of a teacher is to work with the possible explanations for the academic gap.