Blacks’ Greater Exposure to Excessive Heat May Impact the Racial Educational Gap

A new study by researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles, Boston University, and Stanford University finds that greater exposure to excessive heat by Black students compared to White students may be a factor in educational achievement gaps.

The researchers combined standardized achievement data for 58 countries and 12,000 U.S. school districts with detailed weather and academic calendar information to show that the rate of learning decreases when there is an increase in the number of hot school days.

They found that students throughout the world performed worse on standardized tests for every additional day of exposure to 80 degrees Fahrenheit or higher. But in the United States, the researchers found that increased exposure to heat only impacted test scores for Black and Hispanic students, not for Whites. The authors speculate that schools attended by Blacks are less likely to have efficient air conditioning. These Black students, too, may lack adequate air conditioning in their home environments.

The authors conclude “that climatic differences may contribute to differences in educational achievement both across countries and within countries by socioeconomic status.”

The full study, “Learning Is Inhibited by Heat Exposure, Both Internationally and Within the United States,” was published in the journal Nature Human Behaviour, It may be accessed here.

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7 COMMENTS

  1. Here’s another explicit and vicious attack on the so-called Black community from White academia via UCLA, Boston University, and Stanford University. This inherently flawed study is nothing more than institutional racism of the highest order. In my view, this is the type of racist research that Adolph Hitler would use to justify his racist ideology regarding the “intelligence of Nordic people” being the “superior race”. Nothing could be further from the truth UCLA, Boston University and Stanford University and shame on you. Further, one shouldn’t be too surprised considering each of these bastions of White academia have a long storied history of using the so-called Black community as a petri dish to solidfy their racist proclivities.

  2. The highest achieving Black Americans tend to be Nigerian Americans and I’ve never heard of it being anything but hot in Western Africa. This research is rubbish and a waste of money. It makes me want to steer clear of UCLA (known for its dearth of non-athlete Black students), Boston University, and Stanford.

    • David,
      The first part of your comment is inaccurate on numerous levels. Let’s be clear. the 3rd world country called Nigeria only send those with degrees to the US. If Nigerians were so “high achieving” why don’t they use their talents to develop that 3rd world country. For those that disagree, when was the last time you visited the Niger Delta. Also David, you never try to compare the collective accomplishments of “native born” Black Americans to any other “African from the Diaspora” because it’s a false argument. That said, you’re correct about those PWIs.

      • Michael,
        The Blacks who are attending the most selective colleges and universities in the U.S. are disproportionately the children of either West Indian or African immigrants. I attend medical school and my black classmates are disproportionately Nigerian and Ghanaian. Black Americans bring up the rear academically, even amongst Black Americans in the diaspora. Now, it is true that their most upwardly mobile and educated immigrate and so I will concede that those who come over are the “top” people from their country. The highest earning and most educated subsection of Black America is the Nigerian-American community.

  3. This so-called “research study” is nothing more than an contextual attack on Black America. As shown by the surnames of the “reasearchers” they’re definitely are not part of Black America and hail from countries that are collectively adversarial towards Black America. Last point, this type of racist research is no different than what Joseph Goebbels produced regarding the “Jewish community” in the late 1930s to mid 1940s.

  4. Hey David,
    I agree partially with point on the number of “West Indian and other African immigrants” who attend White America’s so-called best colleges. For many of these individuals pontificate about attending these selective PWIs as pure validation from White America and the White world in hopes of distancing themselves from their Africanity. The question that needs to asked in why these same individuals don’t matriculate at “best universities” in their own respective third world country? Further, your comment is another another glaring example why “native born Black Americans do not support those from the African Diaspora who live in the US. Many of your ilk are in the US to escape their own “civil war, failed economies, and neocolonial countries” along with having the same racist mentality towards native born Black Americans as your White and now Chinese master’s. Regardless, you and your ilk will be reminded from White America where you’re from. You can’t escape your Africanity.

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