Richard Bridge, in re-reading my response to your comment about problems that children have with authority, I feel the need to clarify that I definitely believe that some African American students have real problems with accepting authority.

Speaking as a person who worked {and will continue to work} as a substitute teacher in a public elementary school {ages 5-12 years}that is located in a poor/working class Pittsburgh, PA neighborhood that is predominately African American}, I think that teachers, school administrators, and school staff have problems with many of these students because the students have very fragile egos and consequently have low self esteem.

It seems to me that because these students' self-esteem is so low, any perceived "assault" or any actual 'blow' to that self-esteem causes immediate counter-measures by the student to shore up her or his self-esteem. These "counter-measures" include "talking back" to the teacher or staff {to reinforce a tough guy or tough girl stance that "nobody can tell me what to do} and/or pushhing or hitting back because "he [or she] hit me first". Another way of "saving face" is when students show off or clown around in front of his or her peers to gain their approval and further show that what was going on didn't "phase him or her". I believe that some students have learned these "counter-measures" by imitating their peers. In addition, I believe that some of the responsibility {perhaps a better word is "blame"} for this comes from these students' parents, guardians, and/or older brothers, sisters, and who have taught them to value acting {or being} tough.

In my experience, the smaller the classroom, the less need some "problem" students felt to show off or pretend to be "tough guys or tough girls". Of course, there are students who need psychological or medicinal intervention to help them manage their behavior. But I don't think that is needed by most of the "problem" students I have had [and as a substitute Art teacher I had students from the entire school]. Given the behavior of the children, {and my knowledge of these children from my previous contact with many of them because of my after-school programming, as well as as a result of knowing some of them because they were in my daughter's kindergarten classes}, I would say that the problems with children rejecting authority can start to occur as early as 1st grade {ages 6, 7 years years}.

In the case of African American children, this can have something to do with why other Black children are teased or taunted for "acting White". If so, it's because these children/teens "who are acting White" aren't acting tough, and aren't acting defiant or in other ways are acting counter to the norms set by other children/teens. {I add this in part to clarify and expand on my previous statements about what I think is the meaning of "acting White"}. However, I can state without hesitation that "acting White" wasn't an expression that I've heard in the elementary school in which I worked and volunteered. The few White students in the school {only seven out of about two hundred} appeared to be treated as just another student by their peers. In contrast, a number of times I have heard other Black studens tease and taunt darker skinned Black students, calling them "Blackie" or African. And I also have heard some darker skinned African American students in the upper grades taunt lighter skinned African American students {who may or may not have been of mixed racial ancestry} "White boy", Puerto Rican, or Filipino.

All of this to say, there's a lot of work that needs to be done in these schools and in these communities to help children and teens feel better about themselves, to feel better about others, and to learn how to manager their anger and other emotions.