I have a memory of the first time i realized when i was black. It was when at seven or eight, i was walking home from school with neighborhood kids on the last day of the school year - the whole summer in front of us - and i learned we "black" kids couldn't swim at the pool in our area park, except on Wednesday afternoons.
This is an extremely important quote because it describes what was literally a life changing moment. So many concepts were introduced to the young Steele in that one moment; the concept of race as something that made a difference or divided people. He knew the color of his skin by looking in the mirror, but in the same way that he knew the color of his hair, the color of his eyes, the size of his ears. He had never realized that the color of his skin was something that affected other people before. This was that defining moment.
It was also his first introduction to the concept of stereotyping; as a black kid he was stereotyped in a way that made others judge him before ever meeting him. This triggered his fascination with stereotypes and the effect they have on both oneself and others.
Whistling Vivaldi is about the experience of living under such a cloud - an experience we all have - and the role such clouds play in shaping our lives and society.
Each "cloud" that the author writes of in this passage is a stereotype, formed from an experience of, or a belief about, a specific group of people. Each of us has some kind of cloud. A poor, black boy is stereotyped as trouble. A cute, blonde woman is stereotyped as dumb. A rich, successful businessman is stereotyped as a snob. Even those of us who have been the victims of stereotyping still stereotype others. Every "cloud" is a feature or a factor about our societal level, ethnic background, gender, and we all live each day mitigating these clouds in some way.
Among students with comparable academic skills, as measured by the SAT, lack students got less of a return on those skills in college than other students. Something was suppressing the yield they got from their skills.
Why does the performance of black student tend to drop off more in college than the performance of white students with identical grades and achievement levels in high school? Steele's research throws up some interesting hypotheses as to why this might be. Steele found that black students tended to put more pressure on themselves to achieve, because of their awareness of a stereotype that suggests they are less intellectually able. This translates as putting too much pressure on themselves and eventually this pressure causes a kind of academic implosion where they are physically unable to perform at their usual academic level.
There is also research in the book to suggest that a fear of failing and of conforming to a social stereotype paradoxically creates the situation that the student fears; in other words, fear of conforming to the stereotype becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. This is what causes a growing gulf between students with identical scores and abilities as they go through college.
