  The American Physical Society calls on its members to improve the diversity
of physics by supporting an inclusive culture that encourages women and Black,
Indigenous, and people of color to become physicists. In the current
educational system, it is unlikely for a student to become a physicist if they
do not share the same attitudes about what it means to learn and do physics as
those held by most professional physicists. Evidence shows college physics
courses and degree programs do not support students in developing these
attitudes. Rather physics education filters out students who do not enter
college physics courses with these attitudes. To better understand the role of
attitudes in the lack of diversity in physics, we investigated the intersecting
relationships between racism and sexism in inequities in student attitudes
about learning and doing physics using a critical quantitative framework. The
analyses used hierarchical linear models to examine students attitudes as
measured by the Colorado learning attitudes about science survey. The data came
from the LASSO database and included 2170 students in 46 calculus-based
mechanics courses and 2503 students in 49 algebra-based mechanics courses
taught at 18 institutions. Like prior studies, we found that attitudes either
did not change or slightly decreased for most groups. Results identified large
differences across intersecting race and gender groups representing educational
debts society owes these students. White students, particularly White men in
calculus-based courses, tended to have more expert-like attitudes than any
other group of students. Instruction that addresses society's educational debts
can help move physics toward an inclusive culture supportive of diverse
students and professionals.
