THE PERSPECTIVE OF EDUCATION FROM BLACK–WHITE–BIRACIAL STUDENTS IN MIDDLE AND HIGH SCHOOL

Abstract

The study examined middle and high school Black–White–Biracial (BWB) students’ perspectives of education. In order to accomplish this qualitative research study, the research I sought to (a) gain an understanding of how biracial students viewed themselves in secondary public school systems, (b) understand how BWB students identified within the school environment, and (c) learn how their identities affected their learning. The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to gain in-depth understanding of the overall educational viewpoints of BWB students in select rural, urban, and suburban public schools in Indiana. The design of this research included data collection from one-on-one interviews of BWB students. The one-on-one interviews included BWB students from urban, suburban, and rural areas around Indiana. Through qualitative data analysis, I sought to identify any themes that presented themselves among the responses of the participants. The responses to the interview questions were recorded, transcribed, and coded to identify common themes among their experiences as BWB students. Themes identified included the participants strong sense of being described as a regular person, wanting to know more about their biracial history, along with their current schools doing more to promote more programs toward multiracial students, acting in order to fit into the environment they were in, and the advantages and disadvantages of being biracial. The findings of this study serve as a voice for BWB students and to secondary educational institutions. v Because of the challenges faced by the participants is this study, the findings may also be used to provide secondary institution that are experiencing an increase in multiracial student population, a direction in how to provide educational environments for their multiracial students.