Can you hear me now? The voices of high achieving black males emerge in predominately white high schools

Dissertation supervisor: Dr. Juanita Simmons.Includes vita.Horace Mann has been recognized as describing education as "the great equalizer." Further examining that statement would unveil American society's admission that there are in fact--or maybe just opinion--inequitable experiences that exist among American citizens. Education should be the equalizer, but can it truly do so when it serves as an institution that is a mere microcosm of the greater society in which unequal experiences exist? Racism is a pervasive and enduring factor in American society and impacts the lives of Black people unceasingly and unrelentingly. Whether individuals are conscious or unaware of the impact of institutionalized racism and unconscious bias play in the social and academic experiences of Blacks, the fact remains that racism is ubiquitous in the United States. This qualitative case study of 11 high-achieving Black males (HABMs) attending predominately white high schools sought to add to the growing body of literature on HABMs. Using critical race theory as a guiding paradigmatic perspective and the concept of identity development as a framing concept, the goal of the study was to highlight HABMs social and academic experiences while gaining additional insight into their conceptions of authentic identity development and identity expression. Furthermore, centralizing the voice of HABMs provided an opportunity to challenge common notions of Black male underachievement and upend the dominant narrative about Black male identity.Includes bibliographical references (pages 206-216)

Unprecedented Arctic ozone loss in 2011

Chemical ozone destruction occurs over both polar regions in local winter–spring. In the Antarctic, essentially complete removal of lower-stratospheric ozone currently results in an ozone hole every year, whereas in the Arctic, ozone loss is highly variable and has until now been much more limited. Here we demonstrate that chemical ozone destruction over the Arctic in early 2011 was—for the first time in the observational record—comparable to that in the Antarctic ozone hole. Unusually long-lasting cold conditions in the Arctic lower stratosphere led to persistent enhancement in ozone-destroying forms of chlorine and to unprecedented ozone loss, which exceeded 80 per cent over 18–20 kilometres altitude. Our results show that Arctic ozone holes are possible even with temperatures much milder than those in the Antarctic. We cannot at present predict when such severe Arctic ozone depletion may be matched or exceeded