Analysis Of Inequality By Design: Cracking The Bell Curve

The United States of America has a long and complicated history of segregation and inequality. Though the country has fought fiercely to redeem itself by eradicating the practice of inequality in many areas, there are still some concerns that remain. These concerns are present in the public education system, and relate to the time-honored practice of educators to group and educate students by their ability level. This paper will discuss how students historically have been classified based on ability tracking and grouping, the legal issues created by this classification, and what the Constitution requires in order to maintain equal protection rights for all citizens.

Although most American views prosperity as an individual effort, still the society is stratified and there is no way to ignore the class factors on individuals. The educational and economical life of a child still depends on the educational level of their parents and the wealth they inherit from their parents.

With landmark Supreme Court decisions in regards to education such as Brown v Board of Education, which made segregation within schools illegal, one would be inclined to believe that modern schools are void of any inequality. However, at a deeper glance, it is apparent that there is a glaring inequality within public school systems at the national, statewide, and even district-wide level. Such an inequality has drastic results as the education one receives has a high correlation to the college they will attend, and the job they will work. It is in society's best interest that public school systems be improved to equally supplement students with the tools necessary to succeed. While the public school system aims to reduce the inequality within it, they have proven ineffective in guaranteeing children of all races and economic classes an equal education.

the term receivement gap is useful because it focuses attention on educational inputs-what the students receive on their educational journey, instead of outputs-their performance on a standardized test. This refocusing also moves attention away from the students as the source of these disparities, and toward the larger structure and forces that play a role in their education and development (p. 417). Venzant-Chambers (2009) asserted the issue of the Black and White achievement gap must be viewed through other lenses opposed to the single view of Black students cannot perform as well as White students. Venzant-Chambers (2009) offered other avenues by which to examine the achievement gap such as school tracking, examining the

Were they really concerned about Jerry’s success? Lindsey, Robins, and Terell (2009) denounces, “this system of oppression existed because those who benefited from existing practices felt no need to address disparities” (p.75). Standard 5 of the Florida Leadership Standards mandates, “promotes school and classroom practices that validate and value similarities and differences among students”. An inclusive learning environment could have resulted in empathy. If the students could understand that everyone reacts differently, some problems could be avoided. Moreover, a differentiated classroom could have guided Jerry’s effort to use a positive approach to attain his academic goals. Teachers could have used a differentiation approach to keep Jerry’s attention in the task and away from distractors. Tomlinson and Allan (2000) describe the differentiated classroom as flexible. They continue explaining the principle, “all students consistently work with “respectful” activities and learning arrangements” (p. 7). However, differentiation takes time and effort. It was easier to have an associate to look for Jerry’s negative behavior to evidence that he did not belong in the regular setting. This way, the faculty continues the teaching and learning process as if the students were homogenous. Since most of the students benefited, there was no need in the educator’s mindset for change to address disparities or achievement gaps.

Social inequality stems from many facets of life and mindsets reproduced continuously in America. The main backbone of systematic inequality is formed off of race, gender and class, which all contain crucial aspects that further oppress those subjected to inequality in various aspects of life. The resources-schools, occupations, invested parents- around one fuels the opportunity in their lives, a concept highlighted by Malcom Gladwell, in his book, Outliers. Situations one are brought up in or uncontrollable genetic aspects can very easily restrain their opportunities. Racial discrimination, gender roles and inferiority and the lack of fluidity in the low and working class push inequality, which simultaneously influencing the rich and privileged.

Schools are sometimes described as sorting machines which categorize students based on their skills and interests. This process can perpetuate inequalities.

When analyzing the implications a tracking system has on educational outcomes among middle-class students in private schools, Adam Gamoran found that ability grouping is not equitable. This is due to the evidence reflecting that “in the U.S. tracking leads to inequality as students in schools with a tracking system do better than those in general or vocational tracks” (Gamoran, 2000, 235). For example, when students are placed in high tracks, they are more likely to achieve academic success compared to their low track counterparts. Therefore, while high track students are gaining from this system, low track students are at a disadvantage of falling behind (Gamoran, 2000). This ties into the unequal instruction provided to students placed in high tracks versus those placed in low tracks. According to Gamoran, high track students are placed in courses that better prepare them for college and are taught by instructors that spend more time preparing for classes, are more experienced, and inculcate critical thinking skills in their students. On the other hand, low track students are taught through worksheets and recitation and are assigned to instructors that spend more time on behavior management as opposed to actual instruction. However, because

expectations for all students can combat marginalization. The schools included in a study by Ragland, Clubine, Constable, Smith, Council of Chief State School Officers and Texas University (2002) set measurable and high goals for all of its students, while minimizing formal categories and labels. This enables faculty and staff to focus on creating educational opportunities for the students and assess areas for improvement in student and teacher performance. Without tracking and labels, the focus is on the individual, where it belongs, regardless of race or socio-economic status”, ( Carbone II,Steven,2010)

Tracking is the grouping of students by perceived academic abilities for instruction. As a pedagogical strategy, tracking was initially introduced into U.S. public schools in the early 1900’s as a way to educate and socialize the broadly changing population of urban, northern cities that swelled from European immigration and poor southern black transplants seeking better opportunities. Societal beliefs of the time regarding distinct division of classes and the requisite assimilation of immigrants into American culture resulted in new educational laws that popularized a system that segregated classrooms into “slow, bright and deficient” (Ansalone, 2010, p. 4) levels of learners. Tracking was viewed and used as a practical strategy in

Ferraro et al. (2009) developed cumulative inequality theory by integrating various theories in a systematic way incorporating elements of both macro and micro sociological content. In order to clarify the meaning of cumulative inequality theory, Ferraro et al., (2009) offered many inter-related axioms- and propositions that aided in the further development of the theory. While developing the theory, the authors critiqued the cumulative advantage/disadvantage theory and provided their rationale for why they developed or preferred the term cumulative inequality instead of advantage/disadvantage. They critiqued that cumulative advantage/disadvantage theory lacked the essential elements they considered necessary to be a theory (Ferraro et al., 2009). Further they argued that many social science scholars use the terms disadvantages and risk interchangeably, however, they are separate terms and therefore it is necessary to understand the difference between them. They defined disadvantage as “an unfavorable position in a status hierarchy due to structural determinants and/or behavior that reflects the past and the present circumstances of one’s life”. In contrast, they referred to risk as “the probability of hazard or a negative event occurring in the future” (Ferraro et al., 2009). Eventually risk becomes a disadvantage when it turns into a negative outcome. Disadvantages increase risks which in turn lead to subsequent disadvantages and the cycle continues. The authors believe

In this case study, a third year first-grade teacher was faced with the dilemma of whether or not to talk to the principal about her concerns. One of her concerns was that two of the other first – grade teachers (who were very good friends with the principal) were always getting the high achieving students that came from wealthy backgrounds in their classroom. Her other concern was that these two teachers always had higher test scores because of the high achieving students that were placed in their classroom. This made her scores look bad because she always received the students that struggled to perform. The third year first- grade didn’t mind teaching the struggling learners but she did feel that ALL students would benefit from mixed classrooms. Therefore, she was faced with the following questions: Should I talk to the principal or not? Should I talk to the other first grade teachers? Should I talk to someone else? Or, should I just ignore the situation to keep things from getting worse?

Inequality in the society has been an issue since the history of the universe and as we think we are bridging the gap between the rich and the poor we always find out that it is as a wide as it was. The poor will always exist in the society as the inferior group while the rich are the superiors who control various aspects and sectors of the society.

As long as the school system has been in existence, there have been many cases of discrimination in one form or another. Blocked opportunities for students of a certain race and or in a lower socio-economic group have always existed. Many school officials, including various faculty members, have been responsible for rerouting minority students suggesting less demanding classes with the belief that these students could not handle the more advanced course work. This particular form of discrimination has been labeled tracking. For many years, racial minorities have been battling, and at times succumbing, to this form of discrimination.

Society holds many structures that mould human performance and produce opportunities for some, but inequalities for others (Morrall, 2009). These structures in society are organized by the hierarchies of class, ethnicity and gender (Crossman, 2016). Due to having a society based on hierarchies, social inequalities are inevitable. Social inequality refers to the ways in which a group or individual of a certain social position may receive unequal opportunities or distribution of ‘goods’ such as education, income, living conditions and healthcare (Walker, 2009). These unequal opportunities may be given to someone because of their ethnicity, gender, income, religion or social class (Walker, 2009). For example, people in a high social class will be able to pay for their children to go to a good private school for a good education, whereas lower-class or working class people will struggle to afford the same education.