Discuss Ogbu's (p. 85) notion that African-Americans, because they were brought to this country as slaves, have a different view of work than people from other cultural backgrounds who are not involuntary minority groups.
A minimum of 150 words
Another view expressed by Ogbu (1989, 1993, 1997, 2004) was that the experience of African Americans, as an involuntary minority group, in looking for work led them to believe that getting ahead is important. However, this belief has not led to concentration on academic work or academic effort. He believed that African Americans perceive a job ceiling (being denied entrance to high-paying jobs).
This perception, in turn, has led to a negative perception of the value of education. He believed that African American youths perceived school learning as a threat to their sense of identity and security, rather than as an opportunity for advancement. His research suggested a sense of disenfranchisement and a distrust of White Americans. Despite their distrust, young African Americans often have high occupational hopes. Ogbu's views are controversial and have been chal-lenged by Hubbard (2005) and Lundy and Firebaugh (2005).
In studying racial discrimination in the workplace, some researchers have included Hispanics and other ethnic groups in their work Comparing Black and Hispanic youth to White youth, reports of racial discrimination encountered when looking for a job pre-dicted later reports of health-related limitations in working (Gee & Walsemann, 2009). In a study including Hispanic, African American, and White adults, Hispanic responders reported work-related illnesses, injuries, and assaults that were related to racial harass-ment or discrimination more than African Americans or Whites (Shannon et al., 2009).
Both African American and Hispanic adults varied in their knowledge of legal issues which affected their reporting of racial discrimination in the workplace (Hush & Kornrich, 2008). When racism was reported, Black, Latino, Asian American, and Ameri-can Indian individuals experienced more anxiety in reporting racial harassment than racial discrimination (Carter & Forsyth, 2010). When they did report problems, indivi-duals told friends or family more often than they told mental health workers. An important counseling issue is how to help African Americans (and other minority groups) to realize their goals. Strengthening work-related attitudes and information can be helpful.
Using community, school, and parental resources to help minority adoles-cents develop attitudes that will be effective in the labor market is an appropriate counseling goal. The challenge to counselors is great because non-White people are, in general, less likely than White people to have access to counseling resources. Just as there are stereotyped attitudes in the United States toward women, there is prejudice toward different cultural groups.
It is difficult for people, counselors included, not to be exposed to and incorporate prejudices and discrimination. It is important for counselors to recognize and cope with any of their own attitudes that will prevent effec-tive counseling of culturally diverse people. Sometimes, reactions are visceral rather than conscious, as the following example shows. Brian is an African American freshman at a large Midwestern university. He has been recruited on an athletic scholarship to play football. He is a large man-6 feet 3 inches tall and 260 pounds.
Like many other freshmen, he has found the transition from high school to college difficult. His football coach, sensing that Brian is unsure about his ma-jor and his course performance, recommends counseling. The following dialogue is from the beginning of Brian's counseling interview:
CO: How can I help you, Brian?
CL: Coach sent me here because he knows that I might be headed for some trouble.
CO: Can you tell me more about this? [Since walking with Brian from the waiting room, the counselor has been aware of a feeling right in the middle of the stomach.
There is a sense of fear, but there seems to be no reason for it. Brian is pleasant and friendly. The counselor becomes aware that the fear is not due to Brian; rather, it comes from old feelings of prejudice based on skin color and body size. Being aware of these feelings