The Review of Higher Education

Framed within the debate on African American "anti-intellectualism," this study examined a longitudinal sample of 460 African American students' intellectual self-concept and college grades (GPA) through regression analyses resulting from their college experiences. The findings showed that the college environment had a modest influence on African American students' intellectual self-concept but quite a significant impact on students' GPAs. The author suggests that African American academic achievement in college has more to do with the educational environment and a robust intellectual self-concept at college entry than with a culture of "anti-intellectualism" among African American students.