text: why is that black boys do particularly badly in school? whereas, other ethnic minorities, such as asians and people form an orinental background, do rather well. is it because they take more notice of gangster rappers because they seee them as black role models? um... when i was growing up, the black guy in my private school did pretty well. not only was he popular, and smart, he was also a jock.   in my son's private school, the black kid is the genius of his class. they even skipped him ahead two grades (i didn't agree with that, because he was one of my son's good friends and now he doesn't see him anymore).   not all black boys do particularly badly in school, i guess it just depends on who their parents are.  ----------- after reading more of the responses, i began to wonder how many people who answered here actually know black people or have them as friends or peers? it seems like many people are responding only to what they hear on the media or with their limited experience with black people.   i've known many black people who are upper middle class, well educated and have both parents. unfortunately i went to an all girls high school, so i did not include that information since the question specifically asked about black boys.     i don't know how the rest of the world works, but in my experience the black people i've come across have been as intelligent as anyone else, and sometimes more so.   the only time, i've come across ignorant black kids was when i tutored reading in poor school districts, but many of the kids were ignorant regardless of race. yes, those kids had tough lives and had bad role models. many wanted to work in mc donalds when they grew up so they wouldn't be hungry. but the ignorance wasn't race dependent. and i found that the ignorance could be rectified. all the kids needed was someone to believe in them,  to work with them and someone to look up to.   btw, i'm asian american. 