[Oct Sile GRANT NIE-G-80-0035 NOTE 352P
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
DOCUMENT RESUME ED 219 302 SO 014 069 AUTHOR Willie, Charles I.; Greenblatt, Susan L. TITLE The Stages in a Scholar's Life. - INSTITUTION Harvard Univ., Cambridge, Mass. Graduate School of Education. SPONS AGENCY National Inst. of Education (ED), Washington, DC. PUB DATE [Oct sile GRANT NIE-G-80-0035 NOTE 352p. EDRS PRICE MF01/PC15 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS Academit Achievement; *Adult DevelopMent; *Black Achievement; *Black Education; *Black Leadership; Career Development; Case Studies; College Environment; Comparative Analysis; *Family Role; Social Science Research IDENTIFIERS Clark (Kenneth B); Franklin (John Hope); Holden 4 (Matthew); Lewis (W Arthur); Turner (Darwin T) ABSTRACT A major purpose of this-study was to identify the five most outstanding black scholars irI tte social sciences and humanities in the United States and to'determind how they achieved eminence. The 'study focuses on their =folding Careers; the decisive events in their lives, interconnections in their life histories, and social interaction between them and others in society. Five hundred and fifty-four 'members otsocial science and humanities professional associations rankad*nd nominated the black scholaks. These 'respondents also filled out a brief questionnaire that included information On.-their own educational and occupational mobility and success. The fil.7e nominated-scholars were John HopeFranklin, W. ,Arthur Lewis, Kenneth-B. Clark, Matthew Holden, Jr., and Darwin T. Turner.' These scholars were asked questions aboutfamily background and_economic circumstances; communit,y,race-relations climate; parent's philosophy_of education; experiences in school, college', and graduate education; and career develppment. Using the event-structure theoretical framework of- Allport, the critical events in the life histories of the five scholars were identified and case studieg prepared. Among the findings are that career,'education, and family development processes are relatively independent in that each process has a life-range of its own and a pequence'of stages. 'The last part of the document contains a survey of the educatiqk and careers,of respondents, which includes a demographic analysis of the study sample and an examination of career patterns by age and race. Last, the five outstanding scholars are compared'to the national sample which ranked them.(NE) e ***********************************************************************_ '* Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that canitbe made from the original document. *****;**********************************************4****************** ° 0 zi.6-&- toL.eo a U S DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER IERICI ...)(1-htsdocument has been reproduced as received from the person ororganization ongmating Minor changes have been made toimprove . r eproduLtion quality Points of view or opinions statedm this docu meat do not necessarily represent official NIE POSition or policy POi THE STAGES IN A SCHOLAR'S LIFE by . Charles V. Willie and Susan L.Greenblatt Harvard Graduate School of Education Cambridge, Massachusetts a c) O Mt 71' 2 1 Preface \o Studs o racial and. ethnicminorities usually are designed as studi4s IP( are,used. of social problems. Especially'is this so when ideal-type models Racial and,ethnic groups are analyzed todetermine how and why they deviate, from the norm. We set- Our study wasdelibre ately designed to filmthis.custom'around. _ , sciences 'lUt to discover theiiost outstanding black scholars irrthe social .- ... t o and humanities in the United Statesand To'datetmine how they achieVe.d t , ., .. ediillence. ,. .. , . .. ',We did_not'assume thtt scholarlyexcellenceiong blacks would differ . ., 'from that among other population groups.-But we did assume that the process '''' for minority and majority, populations,due to of attainmeAt might diffef- . O. one group is dominont , and other resources. their unequal access to power ' and the other is subdominantin terms of powerand au4ority relationships. 'This could make a difference. comprehensive - We would have preferredastudy-design that facilitated a comparative analysis of blackand whitedlolars. But resources were in- of blacscholars only because, suffidient. Thus, he case studies'were in!blacks.of.high achieve- not much is known about.the development al process . ' data is of black,and white However,\the analysis of our survey . ment...ment. - . , ... .- ;. scholars. We decided to Scholarshipultimately is for the benefit of society. outstanding'schol,ars. use the feputationalapproach as a way pt identifying creative people There are dangers in the useof this approach in that, theirwork often stand alone and not withthe crowd. In the end,'howev 4 r ii must be vindicated by otherswho benekt from it,. Thus, we accepted the risks of reputational analysis inidentifying outstanding scholars as more appspriate than our own bias orthat of a small panel of advisors. We believe that the life histories ofthe five scholars selected attest to the validity pf our Air studies in race are delicate -and sometimesdangerous adventures.f t9 From whose point of view should data beinterpretdd -- that of the minority,': / , from bt,th.-..Thus, or that of themajority? We decided 'to include judgmenls r the reputational phase of the studyobtained judgments,frOm professionals c who identify with minority andmajority,grodps. The outstanding scholars included in-this study were identified asoutstanding by all% The basic reasonfor. sampling the memberships of professional associa- tions'was to obtaina'representative rating of the sc,hplars nominated. However, we recognized that the raterswho were randomly selected-provided black a modest opportunity to comparethe career development process and white professional scholars, especially interms of theirinitial and edUcational current jobs and theassociation, if any, oftheir family and experiences with their similar ordifferent levels pf4chievemcpt. This book, in essence,is.a study in the stages of aeult development, with special emphasis onhumanistic andpo'cial sciencescholars. -'It .identiTies the focuses on the unfolding careersof successful people and of decisive events in their lives. As suchit is a study in the area sociology. humandevelopment that-embracesboth social psychology and sustain Presented also,iis an analysisof the structural supports that - , , attention-is-given to the professional careersof scholars., ParticUlar This study, the function of,family andeducation in career development: 0, f jr Interrelationships as mani- then, is one of socialinstitutions and their fhese data-reveal principles fested in, the lives ofprofessional_scholarss the sociology of the'professions, and -0 pertaining to social institutions, the sociology of science. Indirectly this is a study inhigher education Tnd race relations. university one attends, It analybzes the associationbetween the college or by"race. 'In this the.rank'of academic appointment,and the income received . if any, connection it throws furtherright on the issue of the association, , (professional status) is held between race and social classwhere social class charadteristics vary, more or less constantwhile race and other contained in this bookshould be of -in summary, the information process of building practical benefit to youngscholars who .are in the in sociology, psycho- their,careers and oftheoretical value to research devlopment, and logy, and in the broader areasof-race relations, human \./ 4 higher education. for preparing the; Susan Greenblatt assumedprimary responsibility Willie was primarilyrespongible for survey data foranalysis and Charles served as research ' preparing the case studies: Elfred Anthony Pink ?rd provided expert editorialassistanceoand assistant. Katharine 0. Parker The five outstandingscholars -- _Betty Blake was theproject secretary. .Holden, Jr:, W,'Arthlir\ . Kenneth B. Clark, JohnHope Franklin, Matthew ' , with their time and Lewis, and DarwinT:.Turner -- were generous t - . nd reviewing biographical 'graciously assisted bygranting interviews in revealing thedetails.of'.theit statements. Withdut their-cooperation ) . All' glory and- ,honor unfolding:careers, this bookcould not be written: a 0 Isabel unselfiih ways and also toMamie Clark, Gladys to them for their iv additional information about Lewis, and Maggie JeanTurner who proyided the way of life oftheir'spouses. We are grateful to the NationalInstitute of Education for support. Excellence' Among of this'study onCharacteristics that Contribute to Antoine Garibaldi pro- Black SchOlarsthroUgh a grant (NIE-G=80-0035).- coauthors of this vided helpful oversight asNIE project officer..The presented herein, repott are solelyresponsible for the fhterprttations The particularly those for whichthey assumed primaryresponsibility. position of the funding agency, contents do notnecessarily reflect the be inferred. and.no official endorsementof these materials should a. October, 1981 P Cambridge, Massachusetts t 41` v I O a ,t aD ' 0 . 10 p 1 List of Tables 4 Table Status for Black Scholars 1-1 1 Criteria of Outstanding Professional in. the Humanities and in the SocialSciences 2-1 The Sample byAcademic Area,of Responding Indivilinals Career,,(Combined Experiences of Franklin, 3-1 Stages in a Scholar's ' Lewis, Clark,Holden,.T1,irner), of,a Schola's Career ombined 3-2- 'Stages in the Education Experiences of Franklin, Lewis,Clark,,Holden, Turner) Scholar's Career (Combined 3-3 Stagesn the Family of a Experiences of Franklin,