Towards an interest‐convergence in the education of African‐American football student athletes in major college sports

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to advance Derrick Bell's (1992b) interest-convergence principle as an analytical lens for understanding the complex role of race in the educational experiences of AfricanAmerican football student athletes. Currently, there is a scarcity of educational research that employs a critical theoretical perspective on race to address the education of African-American students in general, and student athletes in particular. This article includes American law cases that attend to the educational experiences of student athletes participating in high profile intercollegiate football programs. The inclusion of the legal literature is meant to adhere to the intellectual and methodological origins of critical race theory and to demonstrate how educational differences are institutionalized through coercion and ideology. The article concludes with a discussion of the interest-convergence principle as a means of investigating and establishing alternative strategies on behalf of the student athlete in order to improve his educational experience and academic outcomes.

Race, interest convergence, and transfer outcomes for black male student athletes

“…These aspirations are in many ways connected to longer-term goals of playing professional sports. Donnor (2005) indicates: "Black males participating in sports are more likely to possess aspirations for pursuing sports professionally than their white counterparts because they believe they will be treated fairly. As a result, African American males will generally interpret their involvement in intercollegiate (and interscholastic) sports as a conduit for achieving their career aspirations" (p. 48).…”

“…Some researchers have offered important insights into the psychosocial and identity-related challenges these students commonly face (Martin, 2009;Parham, 1993;Pinkerton, Hinz, and Barrow, 1989;Sedlacek and Adams-Gaston, 1992), while others have written about various issues related to career planning, academic motivation, and postcollege outcomes (Adler and Adler, 1987;Gaston-Gayles, 2004;Miller and Kerr, 2002;Pascarella and Smart, 1991;Pascarella and others, 1999;Simons, Van Rheenen, and Covington, 1999). A smaller body of literature has focused specifically on black male participation in college sports (Beamon, 2008;Benson, 2000;Donnor, 2005;Martin and Harris, 2006;Messer, 2006;Person and LeNoir, 1997). This research has been almost exclusively concerned with student athletes at four-year colleges and universities, and mostly at the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) Division I competition level.…”

“…CRT also challenges misconceptions regarding colorblindness, merit, and racial equity; critiques the presumed innocence of self-proclaimed white liberals; and ignites consciousness that leads to social justice and advances for people of color (Crenshaw, Gotanda, Peller, and Thomas, 1995). According to Donnor (2005), CRT offers an especially useful lens through which "to better recognize and more fully understand the forces that have constructed a system in which African American male athletes are cheered on the field by wealthy alumni and powerful fans while at the same time denied opportunities to earn the degree that could lead to wealth and power of their own" (p. 63).…”

Using Identities to Explore Social Capital Differences Among White and African American Student Athletes

“…This institution has even been described as "…primarily a mechanism whereby poor, primarily Black students are used to finance the educational and athletic activities of wealthy White students" (Noll 1991, p. 198). Myriad literature has supported this notion on the negative experiences of Black and African American student athletes, both on and off the field of competition (Adler and Adler 1991;Melendez 2008), with Donnor (2005) scrutinizing the exploitation of African American male student athletes for benefits of predominantly White student athletes, coaches, administrators, and overall institutions . Nonetheless, many questions remain regarding the role of race in the relationship with outcomes such as social capital and intercollegiate athletics participation.…”

Critical Race Theory and the Proliferation of U.S. Charter Schools

“…Market theory, in the form of charter school reform, becomes another example of a theory promising to ameliorate inequality that falls prey to the entrenched, historical contexts of racism in the U.S., and the "inescapable tendency to produce winners and losers, haves and have nots, rich and poor" (Delgado, 1998(Delgado, -1999. In the field of education, critical race theorists have documented the gaps between social reforms and their racially stratified results (Bell, 2004;Chapman, 2005;Chapman & Antrop-Gonzalez, 2011;Donnor, 2005;Vaught, 2004). Studies document how social and political structures and enactments of particular policies, which hold possibilities for justice, instead entrench racial inequity in education, rather than create avenues for empowerment (Caldas & Bankston, 2005;Chapman, 2005;Duncan, 2002;Frankenberg, Siegel-Hawley, & Wang, 2010;Gillborn, 2013;Marable, 2005).…”