“If I Had a New Notebook, I Know Things Would Change”: Bright Underachieving Young Men in Urban Classrooms

Abstract

Despite a preponderance of research on students who fail academically in urban schools, few studies have examined the academic experience of high-ability students in urban schools, particularly those who do not reach their potential. The study described in this article examined what happens to intelligent urban teenagers when they achieve academically. Through a qualitative research design that integrated case study and ethnographic research, the investigation examined the lives of 6 high-ability males in an inner-city high school to understand how their urban life experiences influenced their underachievement. The 6 cases reported in this study are a subset of 12 cases (Hébert, 1993) that contributed to a larger study (Reis, Hérbert, Diaz, Maxfield, & Ratley, 1995) of talented students in an urban high school. Major findings uncovered in chronicling the lives of 6 underachievers included: inappropriate curricular and counseling experiences, problematic family issues, a negative peer group and environmental influences, and discipline problems. Implications of these findings are presented, as are suggestions for meeting the educational needs of high-ability underachieving young men in urban secondary schools.