Peer-language benefits depend on whether intergroup relations turn hostile.

Evidence

Advocates of desegregation argue that blacks will benefit because they will be put in contact with classmates who have command of the standard vocabulary which often times the black students do not. Critics say that these new peers will not necessarily be beneficial to the black students and that it will depend on the type of relationship they develop. If the two groups become hostile or violent towards each other then the black students will not benefit from this interaction (Jencks, 98). — Marcy Crouch, Magnet Schools and Other Means of…, 31

Categorization

• SEED: Possible essay: ‘Desegregation is a Contact Hypothesis experiment at national scale’ - the whole debate hinges on Allport’s conditions for intergroup contact (equal status, shared goals, institutional support).
• XREF: Directly echoes Allport’s contact hypothesis and its four facilitating conditions from social psychology.