(ThyBlackMan.com) In 1968 there was a study conducted by Robert Rodenthal & Lenore Jacobsen, called the Pygmalion Study. In this study a teacher was provided with false information about a randomly selected group of students, being told that these particular students had higher intellectual capacity and great growth potential, when in fact these students were no different from their peers. At the end of the study, many of these students exhibited a higher IQ than students of similar ability, leading the researchers to conclude that the expectations of the teacher on the student (and their corresponding actions towards the student) led the student(s) to being a higher 
achiever. Others have termed this ‘expectation theory’ a derivative of what is known as ‘self-fulfilling prophecy’.
In our communities now, so much of our time energy and effort is spent on working with “At Risk” youth, and labeling our black kids as “developmental disabled“. This often leads to lower classroom expectations, lower community expectations and tolerance of behavior and performance that is far beneath the actual ability of our kids. We expect them to not be able to perform at a high level, and consequently our subconscious and often conscious reaction to them reinforces this expectation. When they do perform poorly, largely based upon our not pushing them to excel, we say to ourselves, “Yep, they were ‘at risk’ and ‘developmentally disabled’ so they are right where they should be“. Thwarted growth through our communities and schools lowered expectations. So many of our kids are “Pygmalion Victims”.
The truth of the matter though is our kids are performing way under their potential, and we should demand and expect that they can achieve much much greater academically and socially. We have created a climate where our community and nation think that success for a black man is simply staying out of prison and not having a kid you don’t see. Those expectations influence people’s behavior and our perspective of ourselves in so many ways. But we are greater than that.
Our black kids have a great potential, it is up to us as black leaders, and individuals who care and love our black kids to expect greatness, and provide the frame work to bring it out.
Consider ourselves.
Staff Writer; Dell Gines
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