Citation

VanderStaay SL. Anthropol. Educ. Q. 2007; 38(4): 360-379.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2007, Council on Anthropology and Education, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1525/aeq.2007.38.4.360

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

In this article, I provide a portrait (Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot and Jessica Hoffman Davis 1997) of a renowned law-related education (LRE) program, its teacher, and four of its student-participants. Following the portrait, I discuss theoretical explanations for the success of ethnic-minority students in this and other LRE programs. These explanations include the nature of law as a difficult subject, the many convergences between culturally responsive teaching and LRE, and the relation of the content and methods of LRE to the cultural capital, interests, backgrounds, and ethnic identities of the students. I conclude with a discussion of the reciprocal nature of these processes, research on white teachers who are successful in multicultural contexts, the importance of challenging, accelerated classes, and an argument for expanding research on culturally responsive teaching and the achievement of students of color to include attention to the methods and materials of LRE.