It's not the African American aspect of this story that interests me. It is the aspect of attitudes--whether they be ethnically correlated or not.
Politically problematic but I think this includes, at its core, crucial factors to consider. I think this research would have been better conducted not in consideration of ethnicity but rather groups as determined by criteria derived from factor analysis. To me, the point is that memes matter. Both behavioral and belief memes can characterize groups of friends (a better unit of study than a nebulous ethnicity) and provide them with a baseline of comparative likelinesses in achievements of various kinds.
I've long held that we learn far more from failure than success. Success doesn't teach us anything really, accept that it once worked the way it did. This is really from another point of view..
At Books-A-Million (the big book store here in Gainesville, FL), I noticed the science section is very small, there is no psychology section (but only a large Self-Help section that is heavily religious), and no biology section. The religion section is by far the largest of all. I wondered, does this reflect the interests of people in the area? If so, the lack of interest in science is really sad. The contrasting (as opposed to just commparing) science and religion is also a sad societal phenomenon, I think. But then again--while stores mostly buy inventory they think will sell best, the inventory that builds up on the shelves is that which sells the least. So I don't know how to guage this.
The relevance and importance of visual design. I've long suggested that all service design (including software) begin with a walk through of what the customer/user comes to and sees in succession.
A good explanation of how services are best designed with aesthetics as the means to functionality. I always remember from the military that building an effective fighting position required "walking the perimeter"--having one guy in the fighting position taking notes while another approaches systematically from every possible direction. Most importantly, what will the enemy (or customer) see step by step and what steps will he/she take in turn. Always center on the customer's experience (this is rarely done).
It's about posting one's work on line. I know (from memory) this sort of thing has actually gone to court and been ruled in the student's favor--the student is the owner of his/her own work. But this is a whole new twist..