May 6, 2012
DO TEACHERS SHOW MINORITY STUDENTS A “POSITIVE BIAS” THAT THWARTS ACHIEVEMENT? A new report from the Journal of Educational Psychology confirms common sense: Political correctness and an overzealous attempt to be “nice” or “gentle” with minority students undermines their success by failing to provide the kind of critical feedback needed for improvement. A fake, poorly written essay was submitted to teachers for feedback. The teachers “displayed a ‘positive feedback bias, providing more praise and less criticism if they thought the essay was written by a minority student than by a white student.”






