Interpretations of the differences between the African American child and the Caucasian child in North America follow two major trends. In one the differences in the African American child are viewed as deviance from the Euro-American norm and therefore inferior or pathological. In the other, the differences are viewed as deviant but adaptive forms of behavior for living in environments of oppression and poverty. In both these interpretations it is assumed that the norm is the behavior of the middle-class Caucasian child. The result of these ethnocentric assumptions has been the continued educational failure of the African American child. African American scholars should investigate specific behavioral patterns in the African American lifestyle in order to formulate theoretical notions and programmatic interventions which take cognizance of these patterns without necessarily seeking to modify them. Areas for further study include African American linguistic patterns, oral communication, people vs. object orientations, visual and motor skills, body language, thinking and problem solving, and spontaneity. (Author/PMR)