The objective of the research reported here was to discover and describe two sets of categories used by teachers in perceiving and thinking about their students--one set common to all or nearly all teachers from inner-city schools with Afro-American enrollments; and the other set common to all or nearly all teachers from suburban schools with white, middle-class enrollments. Forty women were interviewed, all of whom were teachers of either the first or second grade in Chicago or one of Chicago's rapidly growing suburbs. Twenty teachers were interviewed from ten predominantly upper middle-class suburban public schools, with 98 percent or more white enrollments; twenty teachers were interviewed from thirteen predominantly lower-class inner-city public schools with 95 percent or more Afro-American enrollment, for the twelve to fifteen years preceding this study. The study failed to find the expected differences; teachers in racially stable suburban schools with white middle-class enrollments used the same cognitive categories in perceiving their students as did teachers in racially stable inner-city schools with lower-class Afro-American enrollments. It was inferred that it is the special circumstance of teaching in a racially changing or recently changed school which triggers an exaggeration by teachers of the perceived undesirable "differences" and "unteachability" of lower-class black students. (Author/JM)