Chapter 6: Identification With Academics, Stereotype Threat, and Motivation to Achieve in School

We open this chapter with a challenge to you, the reader: Imagine that you had the opportunity to design your own tombstone. You can put only seven things about yourself on the tombstone to communicate to generations to come. You want to put the seven most important things about yourself, the things that convey the essence of who you are to those who will never meet you. What would you put on that tombstone? Take a piece of paper and write down the seven things you would want to see on that monument.

Think about those seven things you’ve written down. Why did you choose those seven things? What’s special about them? Do they truly capture the essence of who you are?