Chapter 14: Minorities Education

In this paper, I will explore the aspects regarding racial inequality pertaining to education in the United States of America. It has come to my attention, based on my observations, that race is a definitive factor that plays a role in establishing socioeconomic status. In relation to socioeconomic status, variables correlating with race that I will be focusing on, is the educational and wealth aspects. An individual’s level of education is pivotal to establishing stable, consistent wealth and vice-versa; the access for quality education is inconsistent primarily among minority races/ethnicities. According to historical records ranging from the year 1980 to 2000, between Whites, Hispanics, African-Americans, and Native Americans, the educational attainment gap is widening (Kelly 2005). Education is seen to be a source of respect and key to gaining a higher income, which transfers over to greater wealth. Acknowledging the slow expansion of the educational attainment disparities, I argue that the society’s perceptions and actions addressing race perpetuates and produces social inequalities by limiting opportunities despite “equal” resources, privileges, and rights through social policies that have contributed towards the quality of America’s education system.

Minority serving institutions have been an integral part of the education system in the United States since before the Civil War (LeMelle, 2002). Historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) have, for much of their existence, been criticized for the level of academic rigor, political context, and their social agenda have created controversy for generations. With that being said, HBCUs hold a valuable place in the landscape of US higher education institutions. The culture, history, and perspective that is taught and shared are unparalleled and cannot be replicated at a predominately white institution (PWI).

For centuries African Americans have fought for equal rights, one of them being an opportunity for the chance to get an equal education. Many people believe that African Americans have an equal or better chance at getting an education than other students. This is not the case when in fact, it is actually harder for these three reasons: African American students tend to come from harsh, poverty stricken atmospheres. Shattered family lifestyles that make it difficult to pursue a higher education because they have not received the proper information. Secondly, just because African Americans are minorities does not mean that they receive a vast amount of government assistance or financial aid to pursue a higher education. Lastly, African

Racial disparities exist in every aspect of our society. It exists in religion, socioeconomic status, life-chances, media, etc. It affects everyone even if they realize or not. Education is one of the things that are also affected by the racial stratification occurring in the United States. In this paper I will look in to whether Tennessee is better or worse for educational advancement by comparing four races and their high school graduation rates on the national and state levels. The four races used will be; Asian, Black, Hispanic/Latino, and White. I will then tie specific theories to why these disparities may exist. This will hopefully give insight in to this touchy topic and provide a starting point for correcting the gap.

In the mist of the countries involvement in one of the most grueling wars in history new barriers were broken to make room for an equal America. Although true equality was not reached, these short four years would lead to the turning point in American acceptance toward diversity, both in and out of the work place. The movement of thousands of men overseas create a substantial gap in the work place, creating a never before seen chance for women, Blacks, and immigrants to flood the many war based jobs. At the same time, the Japanese faced radical discrimination for the events in which provoked the United States entry in to the War. In the years incasing WWII opportunity opened to those who had been affected hardest but

Racial inequality persists in the current U.S. education system, despite nationwide efforts to promote the acceptance of students of all racial and ethnic backgrounds. Minority students, most notably African American and Latino, receive lower qualities of education compared to the Caucasian majority and are, as a result, at an indisputable disadvantage after primary and secondary education. According to a 2014 study conducted by the U.S. Department of Education, “students of color in public schools are punished more and receive less access than white students to experienced teachers” (Abdul-Jabbar 31). Higher suspension rates and an increased frequency of corporal punishment use, allowed in 19 states as of 2014 according to Business Insider (Adwar), for minority students are two disciplinary examples of underlying racial discrimination with the current U.S. education system. Economic repercussions of racial inequality in education have been proven to include wealth gaps, higher unemployment rates, and financial instability for minorities in later life. Due to the prominence of racial segregation within schools, it remains a controversial point of debate in modern-day society, resulting in attempts such as affirmative action to establish racial equality in education. In Grutter v. Bollinger (2003), the United States Supreme Court declared affirmative action to be a justified policy in the

So is important that we, critically, self-assess our attitudes and values, to find out what is necessary to improve or to change, towards a better understanding of the school diversity, a better awareness of possible barriers and how to face them, in a way to promote inclusion on school environment. Not making suppositions about children and young people and have a wider knowledge about their backgrounds, interests, abilities, individual needs and positive attributes, will help us to provide more efficient, suitable and personalised support for them. Is also important, to take in to account, at all the time, the importance of that diversity and the ways to avoid discrimination. Schools (in their policies) and we, as component part of the school, have the duty to guarantee that, anti-discriminatory practice (and not discrimination), is promoted.

All minority groups seem to face similar barriers that make it difficult to adjust to schooling in the United States; barriers such as, language, cultural aspects, social economic status, etc. However, Ogbu advices to his readers, that a deeper cause is also at fault for poor academic achievement. In this article, the idea of voluntary and involuntary groups is introduced. Voluntary being those immigrants willing to move to the United

The most memorable time when I was impacted educationally by diversity would be my freshman year in High School. I had gone to a private Christian school from Kindergarten through 8th grade. My mom thought that it would be a great idea to send me to public school for my freshman year. Mind you, I lived in Dallas, TX at the time and public school is quite different than private school there. I was not only the minority in school, but I was one of five Caucasian kids in the entire school. I was made fun of for being white, coming from private school, and for being smart. Just like the article, Helping Diverse Learners Succeed, I had to learn about my new environment. I didn’t understand why the kids were mean to me and why

America was founded on the back of the black slave. The first black slave was brought into America in 1619 by the Dutch, and the industry spread like wildfire (History.com Staff). The southern economy relied on slave labor for tobacco and cotton until some of the states’ soil became so nutrient poor that they found a new cash crop, breeding slaves. However, those of Hispanic descent have only in recent years faced discrimination proportionate to African Americans. With the increase in anti-immigration culture, Hispanics are being stigmatized as well as falling victim to hate crimes. In recent history however, the U.S. has made continuous strides in equality for the black and Hispanic populations, but years of discrimination and abuse has aided in keeping our colored minorities from making progress in our society.

Is the education system excluding minorities on the basis of gender and culture? The United States has become one of the most culturally diverse places to live in. The increase in minorities immigrating to the United States has drastically risen. With this in mind, should policies, laws, and institutions, such as education, be restructured and modified to include minorities? Due to their personal experiences, Adrienne Rich, Mike Rose, and Bell Hooks in The Presence of Others, believe education can be seen as the practice of exclusion (93). All three authors argue that in order to prevent the exclusion of minorities in schools, modifications must occur within the system. Mike Rose argues that

The problem of educational disparities among various ethno-racial groups that make up the United States has been a long studied topic. Theories have ranged widely in what they consider as the primary factors for these disparities. Biological and individualist perspectives have cited inherent genetic inferiorities as the cause of these disparities. Others have taken into account social forces but have maintained that the cause is due to the creation of a culture of subordination and poverty that does not allow social advancement. Still others have tended to focus on systemic inequalities and on the roles of prejudice and discrimination (Sidanius et al, 1998).

Claude Steele is a social psychologist with a focused interest in self-affirmation theory and its role in self-regulation and the academic under-achievement of minority students and women. Steele explained the academic under achievement of minority students with stereotype threat which is when racial and gender stereotypes can affect minority and womens grades, test scores, and academic identity.(Lasnier, 2009).For many years’ stereotype threat has affected minority students learning making it hard to focus on school because of their environment putting stereotypes in their heads such as already having in your mind that “men are better than women in sciences (Gorlick, 2009) or “I’m black I’m not going to graduate anyway so why even try on

Like it or not, there has always been diversity among students in the classroom. It is the fact that each and every student is unique. From every circumstance, students bring a varying set of values, perspectives, and beliefs to the learning environment. Understanding the character of students is important in order to become a competent teacher. In fact, teachers should be aware and recognize students, as unique individuals, all acquire information differently than others. Some of these differences are due to developmental variations in cognitive, physical, intellectual, moral, emotional, and social changes caused by maturation and experience. And this reality of classroom conditions makes instruction much more challenging for teachers and

There are many factors that play a role in the learning process for every human being. Race, religion, language, socioeconomics, gender, family structure, and disabilities can all affect the ways in which we learn. Educators must take special measures in the delivery of classroom instruction to celebrate the learning and cultural differences of each of their students. As communities and schools continue to grow in diversity, teachers are searching for effective educational programs to accommodate the various learning styles of each student while promoting acceptance of cultural differences throughout the classroom. It no longer suffices to plan educational experiences only for middle-or upper class white learners and then