Why do so many African American and Latino students perform worse than their Asian and White peers in classes and on exams? And why are they dropping out of school at higher rates? Common wisdom holds that racial stratification leads African American and Latino students to rebel against ""acting white,"" thus dooming themselves to lower levels of scholastic, economic, and social achievement. But is this true? Do minority students reject certain practices, such as excelling in school, and thus their own mobility, because they fear that peers will accuse them of forsaking their own racial and ethnic