Word: self
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...long been an article of faith among psychologists and educators that black achievement in business, sports, politics and the arts would result in growing self-esteem among black children. That belief was challenged last week by two studies, reported at a meeting in New York City of the American Psychological Association, indicating that the poor self-image of black youngsters seems to have changed little over the past four decades. Concluded Kenneth B. Clark, professor emeritus of psychology at City University of New York, whose classic study of black children in 1947 first disclosed the depth of the problem: "There...
Comments from some of the children particularly disheartened Hopson. One boy, for example, insisted he was white, pointing to his palm. "Black is dirty," declared another. Still, says Hopson, her study does not show that black youngsters "are full of self-hatred or that they want to be white. It does mean that the message they're getting is that it's preferable to be another race...
Extending the Clarks' work, both studies examined whether self-esteem could be bolstered. In a half-hour session after the test, Hopson praised youngsters who chose a black doll and had them recite, "This is a nice doll . . . We like these dolls the best." When the preference test was repeated, Hopson reported a dramatic reversal: two-thirds of the black children selected a black doll (as did two-thirds of the whites). Inexplicably, McNicol's subjects showed no such change of heart...
...normal, common-sense reaction, certainly, but one with uncertain and morally perplexing consequences. Koch has just announced that on Oct. 1 the city will begin the involuntary institutionalization of the homeless mentally ill who are incapable of caring for themselves. The new "self-neglect" rule, as one city official calls it, will loosen the current requirement that the potential patient be an immediate danger to himself or others. This tough standard is common around the U.S. To be accepted in crowded mental health facilities nowadays, says Jill Halverson, a Los Angeles activist, "a homeless person has to be either killing...
Outlaws is about the evils that men and women do in the name of ideology, patriotism and self-interest. It is also about character as asserted through language. The average tough-guy writer usually relies on a single voice to convey a mannered and often sappy stoicism. Higgins can call up a variety of convincing tones and attitudes that give texture and complexity to his narrative...