Education Institution of the American Society - Research Paper Example

Abstract Socioeconomic realities, particularly social class inequalities and racial segregation can be investigated through the educational policy and practices of the American society. There are several educational institutions in the United States that were discovered by some researchers which perpetuate class and racial inequalities through prejudiced and unbalanced teachings. However, there are current efforts to include in the curriculum lessons in multiculturalism and ethnicity to mitigate class and racial discrimination in school. In this paper, the origin of class and racial discrimination in American schools, overview of the past and current experiences of schools, particularly public schools, in handling problems of discrimination, the possible impact of these discriminations to both the students and the school professionals, and lastly the possible solutions to mitigate these unfair treatment experienced by the nonwhite and poor children in schools, will be inclusively discussed. I. Introduction Education fulfills a vital role in both providing opportunities for social mobility, and simultaneously perpetuating major structural inequalities. The principle of education in the United States is that it provides opportunity to balance the class structure, and the idea of an ‘open’ class structure implies that individuals have to acknowledge their position as somewhat ‘deserved,’ and not as merely passed on, or in a more sociological term, ‘ascribed.’ Not all groups or individuals have accepted this as true, obviously, and the fight in the 1950s and the 1960s over the racial state, and the revival in the 1960s of the women’s movement (Rothstein, 1995), are traditional and manifest evidence of this. However, there no longer exist any recognized barriers to the highest step of the social ladder. The manner in which groups and individuals are equipped for, and equip themselves for, their own positions in the future, hence abandoning the class structure mainly intact, has to be thoroughly evaluated. Within the recent decades there has been a substantial amount of work on the manner in which social inequalities are perpetuated through education. There have been studies on educational policy and student racial background and social class. There is a pressure in this type of research, even though not normally confirmed, which I intend to cover in this paper. There are those who put emphasis on the disparity in the dissemination of information through school based racial and social class background of students. Such scholars stress that schools vigorously prepare and train students for unfair and unequal futures. Others concentrate more on the manner in which students create cultures in educational organizations, and claim that these constructed cultures themselves perpetuate major inequalities. In this paper, therefore, the educational policy in the United States, primarily in public schools, will be discussed as one of the established institutions that encourage racial and social inequalities. II. Historical Perspective: The Management of Local Schools through Racial and Class Dimensions The notion of social class has had an extended history in the American sociological culture as well as in American educational institutions. As R.A. Dahl proposes that the democratic ideal of the American society is not an issue of equality but of distributed inequalities, such inequalities have a tendency to develop disproportionately around the notion of social class (Shapiro & Purpel, 1998). Social class, beyond the concept of either racial or ethnic background, has a tendency to be a better determinant of school effectiveness, apart from the standard determinant. This is not to argue that in the American society race and ethnicity are not associated to social class, or that individuals of particular racial and ethnic groups are not more probable than others to be situated in poverty and with troubles in public schools. Sadly, they are. However, if the parents of a child are members of the African-American racial group, or if the parents of that child are Mexican American, and the father of the child is a lawyer and his or her mother is a doctor, that family is not considered living in the threshold or even below poverty line. The possibilities of that child being enrolled in a public school could be low yet, if the child is in indeed in a public school, the child’s opportunities of school and life successes are significantly high (Shapiro & Purpel, 1998). Furthermore, if the parents in this kind of family prefer to manipulate the management of public schools in most cases or some certain decisions influencing the experiences of their child, their likelihood of manipulating that outcome is considerable. Not accordingly with the possibilities of children be they of particular racial background if their mother is unmarried and a teenager, jobless, on welfare, with a very low educational achievement, and living in extreme poverty. The argument put forth is that the social class status of a student is a better determinant of his or her school performance and more probable to influence the ability of the parents to manipulate the governance system that characterize their child’s educational achievement than is either racial or ethnic background (Glotzer, 2005). One of the valuable parables for African American and Hispanic from the upper-middle and upper class of the American society is that since they are nonwhite they possess no influence and power and, hence, wield none. That parable rests of the truth that, commonly, African Americans and other nonwhites possess less political authority and power than do the whites. Power is unequal, but it is distributed. Its uneven distribution in a highly capitalistic, free market social order is almost constantly better attributed for by social class basis and its associates than it is by racial or ethnic origin (Rothstein, 1995). However, if an individual is a female nonwhite, the possibility of also being less educated, unemployed or underemployed, an unmarried parent, and poor is decisively increased. Under these circumstances the political power to manipulate the governance of public schools, which some argue is the greatest hope of altering one’s socioeconomic states, is extremely small. One is not merely prone to be deprived and underprivileged but one is more probable to remain in that condition. III. Racial Segregation, Class Stratification and Schooling There is a very old debate over the comparative effect of social class status and racial background on academic performance and school experiences and outcomes of African Americans and other racial minorities. A key concern is whether the virtually low academic performance of African American students is for the reason that the students come from low social class statuses or for the reason that they are members of a racial minority group. Even though race is acknowledged as a factor, the prevailing perspective is that the mediocre academic performance is because of the low class status of the children (Glotzer, 2005). The concern regarding how much social class status affects school experiences and academic performance of African American children is turning out to be progressively more significant these days due to the current developments in the investigation of the class structure within the population of African Americans in the United States. These developments have resulted into the argument, for example, that the African American population is currently divided into two uneven, isolated, if not antagonistic classes: the prosperous middle class and a dejected or miserable lower class (Rothstein, 1995). Students of African American education who have usually preferred justifications of African American academic performance trends with respect to social class statuses have not been unaffected from the recent idea of black class structure (Rothstein, 1995). Certainly, the underclass notion has produced considerable interest among scholars that race as an important factor ever more retreated into the background. D. Easton elaborates that politics is the “authoritative allocation of values” (Shapiro & Purpel, 1998, 91). Specifically, he indicates that in a multicultural and pluralistic society, there is bound to be, to a certain extent, a broad array of values, goals and traditions. As these diversities generate varying demands, and there are just adequate resources to address those demands, the politicians make a decision regarding on whose demands will be addressed and on whose will be taken for granted. Currently intricate school districts, in particular in the massive urban areas, there are about a limitless set of demands and an extremely limited availability of resources. Significantly, the local school board, a committee of typically five to nine individuals, makes those decisions through the power granted to them by their communities. They commandingly distribute values (Shapiro& Purpel, 1998). Yet the question is, whose values do they distribute? Almost certainly school boards distribute the values they have confidence with and that they themselves embrace. How might they do otherwise? Who would intentionally do something that influenced life chances of children if they did not think it would be beneficial or helpful, if they did not give importance to it? Generally, local school boards decide to take on steps which they think would be best for every child. Yet is there anything that is certainly beneficial for all children, provided with the fact that children enrolled in public schools are significantly diverse, from the gifted to the disabled or retarded children, from college-focused children to highly risky children, from the practically wealthy to the depressingly poor? Which sector of the community will be stood for? Could some parents of children attending public schools give importance to what the school board fails to do so? Seeing that social class and values are significantly interconnected, it should prove informative to investigate the social class of the parents as well as of the school boards. Why not return the schools to the hands of the people? Why not make an effort towards democracy? Even those individuals who consider human beings as a “great beast” should acknowledge that, left to their own mechanisms, majority of those in the natural habitat are aware of how to and do rear and nurture their young. Definitely human beings will perform no worse. Conclusively, majority of the ‘doctors’ of school board reorganization, just like real physicians, are recommending ‘more of the same.’ If we aim to change the dilemmas of the children coming from the lower classes, the racial minority, the ethnically diverse, and the miserably poor, if their opportunities in school are to progress, first we should reform, in fact restructure, the management of local education in the society’s largest educational institutions. We should take into account making the system manageable through radically cutting down the size of those areas in order to make them probable to represent. We should return the educational institution to the people. In the meantime, children are probable to experience race discrimination at an early age, before they actually attend schools. Nonetheless, the schools fulfill their roles, as they have fulfilled traditionally. Schools have long been and are strongholds of segregation in the main cities of the United States at present, and have been in effect excluded since their initial days. There was the time subsequent to 1954 when the Supreme Court authorized assimilation in the nation educational institutions. Yet these legal demands were opposed all over the country, and at present the school districts in the inner city of the United States are more secluded than in the past. Hence children are obliged to go to segregated schools, wherein their language and distinctive cultures are subjected to prejudiced outlooks and traditions. These experiences are element of the socialization in which individuals from various racial backgrounds and cultures become aware on how dissimilarly they actually are when matched up to the prevailing white culture (Rothstein, 1995). The neglect that children of African American background experience in schools can occasionally be similar to what children of the working class experience. However, the experiences are not similar by any way. Sustaining social distance is to a certain extent dissimilar from sustaining racial difference, even though quite a few of the impacts are identical. Prejudice against children due to their racial backgrounds creates confusion and distress in youngsters who experience it (Carrier, 1986). The textbooks read in our schools rarely demonstrate African Americans in positive ways, and children eventually become aware that their racial memberships are not respected or acknowledged by their teachers and the schools. They become aware that teachers evaluate them through their academic performance in class and through the color of their skin. The distress that this brings about is acute, since it contradicts with the individual identities that children embraced before they attend such educational institutions. Children could turn out to be uncomfortable of their color in such circumstances, accusing their families and their selves for the negative experiences they have in schools. When these events are put in to those that build up in families that are having difficulties to survive on the peripheries of an unfair labor market, depression and self-rejection frequently occur (Weis, 1988). The implication of these social-psychological strains to abide by to a culture and society that will not permit it to effectively do so creates a self-collapsing impact. Schooling aims to teach black children their worthlessness in the educational and in the larger social dimensions. It requires that they recognize schooling’s descriptions and alludes to the exceptionally high incidences of academic failure as substantiation of African American insufficiencies. Through humiliating, segregating, and isolating black children, teachers provide youngsters a genuine sense of their position in the social hierarchy of the United States. In these mentoring and socialization acts, African American children become aware that they perhaps do not have a chance to become president of the United States; specifically, they become aware of their position in the economic and social hierarchy (Weis, 1988). Some become aware of the indications of racism and lose a great deal of their self-confidence, turning out to be embarrassed of their families and tradition. Other children of African American heritage act in response to the messages of racism of state schools through excluding them, aiming to reconfirm their identities as capable and sensible individuals through returning to familial, residential or nationalist factions. They emphasize the worldviews and traditions of their race and attempt to understand the precise character of the racism that is thrown against them (Carrier, 1986). As educational institutions is teaching these children they are shameful, undeserving and incapable, African American groups are attempting to work against these teachings and their influences on the personality and social identities of children. From time to time these notions find their way into sections of the curriculum of a particular school. Yet these knowledge are eventually overcame by the other educational requirements of state schools, requirements that concentrate on test scores that are in fact racially and culturally prejudiced against African American students (Shapiro & Purpel, 1998). IV. Conclusion So where do we go from here? What does this all mean? Essentially, decision making is an active rather than a one-dimensional process. It suggests that thinking that people, regardless of what level of educational achievement, make decisions on the basis of much more than the realities of the situation. Their individual culture, social class, racial background and outlooks are essential components to understanding the decision making process. Actually, by examining merely the professional norms regarding the decision making process we take for granted the influence of the individual making the decision on the decision made. This leads into an emphasis on the child, adolescent or family that is undergoing the crisis and gives a justification to hold the victim responsible for their predicament. I hope this discussion of the impact of social class and racial background poses powerful concerns about taking ourselves for granted when making decision that influence the lives of people. Then how can we lessen the effect of our own social class and racial background on our decision making? I think we should begin with the recognition and understanding of its effect. Second, we can give secure and safe locations for professionals and students to discuss about and investigate what elements of their own background could pour out. With respect to management, an environment should be created that permits both the social workers and manager to talk about their personal beliefs and outlooks regarding particular client groups and concerns. It would facilitate if the environment was liberated from judgment and oriented on guiding social workers understand their values and outlooks and how they affect their decisions regarding their clients. Furthermore, case study presents an opportunity to embark on discussing how teachers and social workers view their clients. However, it is imperative to develop a secure and nonjudgmental context where experts are free to talk about their outlooks without being mocked and informed they are wrong. The solution is recognition since merely then can genuine reform take place. The place to start with to affect how social class, racial background and outlooks of experts influence their decision making is within the system of educational institutions, not just for professional education, other than a continuing course for the start of the formal educational practice. In several instances, universities and colleges are starting to demand lessons in multiculturalism, racial and ethnic traditions, and to discuss the subject matters of classism and racism. Several of these curriculums discuss knowledge about particular groups. While this orientation is significant, it should be carried over to the level of self-consciousness. With respect to race, educators should be equipped to assist students wrestle with their individual racial identity development to move them through the phases to build up a constructive identity. Scholars should as well acknowledge their own social class, racial background and outlook and how that influences not just their teaching, but treatment to students. Regular professional training is a vital addition to professional education. Making use of the real life experiences of educators and social workers on how they make decisions and an element of themselves that pours out over the decision making process is a primary training requirement. Ordinarily, training takes care of skill development and special matters associated to concerns that professional confront. While this is significant, making a closer examination on how we recognize what skills are required or particular projects are catered to can give hints for our personal prejudices. References Carrier, J. G. (1986). Learning Disability: Social Class and the Construction of Inequality in American Education. New York: Greenwood Press. Glotzer, R. (2005). Unequal Childhoods: Class, Race and Family Life. Journal of Comparative Family Studies , 152+. Rothstein, S. W. (1995). Class, Culture and Race in American Schools: A Handbook . Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. Shapiro, H. & Purpel, D.E. (1998). Critical Social Issues in American Education: Transformation in a Postmodern World. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Weis, L. (1988). Class, Race and Gender in American Education. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press. Read More