Cultural Context : Looking For Inequity Essay

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.

On May 17, 1954, in the Supreme Court case of Brown v. Board of Education, the High Court, for the first time in American legal history, challenged the “separate but equal” doctrine previously established in Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) and outlawed racial segregation in public schools. The decision, igniting fierce debates throughout the country, was met with violence and strong defiance in the South. The years after Brown, however, saw the passing of several important Acts: the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and the Fair Housing Act of 1968. Today, Americans remember Brown v. Board of Education as a success in African Americans’ struggle for equal rights, a change of sea tide for the civil rights movement. While

The Brown v. Board of Education of 1954 is known for desegregating public schools in the U.S. In 1954 the Supreme Court ruled “in the field of public education the doctrine of separate but equal had no place” (Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, 1954). It was the 1st major educational policy. The Court’s decision in Brown created not just desegregation strategies, but also instructional approaches such as Title I programs, magnet schools, and bilingual and multicultural education (Contreras & Valverde, 1994).

Desegregation has been a pressing matter throughout the United States since the early 1600’s. Since the day that the first African slaves were brought to America, people of color have been fighting to gain equality, even to the death. They have made significant progress, one of the most important being the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation ending slavery. Another significant advancement for racial equality was the ruling of the trial of Brown vs. Board of Education. Had the supreme court not issued the federal mandate of Brown vs. Board of Education in 1954 to enforce integration in public schools, desegregation would not have happened until after the civil rights leaders and activists completed their movement in the mid-to-late twentieth century.

“We conclude that, in the field of public education, the doctrine of ‘separate but equal’ has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently equal.” This case began in Topeka, Kansas where an African American man grew upset with a white school, due to them not accepting his daughter’s admission and ordering her to attend a school further away. The NAACP quickly caught onto the case and supported it completely. The case was not successful at the district level but rose to the Supreme Court and won on May 17, 1954. (History- Brown) This hearing ended legal segregation in America. Brown v Board of Education was a revolutionary lawsuit as it furthered the civil rights movement in The United States as well as reforming America’s education system.

The Supreme Court’s 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision ending de jure segregation was a watershed moment in American history. The hope was that by striking down state laws that maintained racially segregated public schools, America would embark on a new course leading to integrated public schools. The Court recognized the critical role that public schools play in shaping American culture and promoting the well-being of the nation. In addition to ensuring Constitutional rights to equal protection under the law, the Brown decision paved a path for students to receive educational services in integrated learning environments that reflect the diversity of American society. In the immediate aftermath of the Brown decision, states across America

Brown v. the Board of Education was a Supreme Court decision held in 1954 in which the Equal Protection Clause was being violated in segregated schools because “the city’s black and white schools were not equal to each other and never could be”. At this point in time, schools (along with

This month, American people will be reminded that sixty-four years ago, the Brown v. Board of Education case desegregated public schools and transformed a piece of the history of education in the United States. The integration of black students into a white-dominated education system seemed idealistic in 1954 when the decision passed, yet it faced many conflicts when society showed their discontent with the verdict in various ways. During this time, many focused on the nine brave African American students from Little Rock, Arkansas, who enrolled at Central High School as the first students to be integrated. These students were called the Little Rock Nine, and they forced the acknowledgment of the issue of segregation by attempting to get an equal

The Civil Rights era of the 1950’s and 1960’s ushered in copious federal spending directed towards the desegregation of American Society. Moreover, the ultimate goal was the creation of a leveled playing field that would allow minorities opportunities to gain access and reap benefits that had not been traditionally extended to them, thereby resulting in large disparities in wealth, resource, and education between races and cultures. In a courageous attempt to amend these woes, Congress passed a series of legislation designed to achieve these ends. One of the most notable pieces of legislation passed during this era was the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965. Created with all-deliberate intention of desegregating schools

It’s been 60 years since the Supreme Court struck down the concept of “separate but equal” schools in Brown v. Board of Education, but today, most black students attend schools that are majority non-white. The percentages of black students attending a majority-non-white school today is 74.1 percent, it is little changed from figures in the 1960s. Nearly 40 percent of black children attend schools that are almost entirely (more than 90 percent) non-white. “Americans simultaneously believe that schools are places where social inequalities should be equalized, where the advantages or disadvantages that children experience in their homes and families should not determine what happens to them in school-in essence, that school is a place where children should have equal chances to make the most of their potential.” (Inequality) The 1991 article Savage Inequalities written by Jonathan Kozal highlights the fact that every person is entitled to the right to receive quality care and education. Kozal, revealed there can be overwhelming social factors that prevent students in a small Illinois town from getting an equal education. The author shrewdly described the morbid living conditions experienced by the residence of East St. Louis, Illinois. A predominately black community near the banks of the Mississippi River. However, despite the conditions that the city 's kids must endure, these students refuse to wallow in misery. The didn’t believe the hype. Even though, these students have

Racial disparities in educational funding clearly exists throughout the United States. The states that their per-pupil expenditures for Black and Hispanic students hover around 90 percent of those for white students include Illinois, New York, and Pennsylvania (Baker). Massachusetts and New Jersey are one of the few states that high poverty areas receive greater support from the state than low poverty districts (Baker).

Despite overall improvements in breast cancer survival in the past 10 years, significant disparities persist which result in inequitable delivery of healthcare. Women with invasive breast cancer from lower socioeconomic statuses (SES) are more likely diagnosed at later stage, receive suboptimal treatments, and have higher rates of breast cancer mortality than their less deprived counterparts1–3. Less is known regarding disparities related to levels of rurality or urbanization in breast cancer. One study has found that, after adjusting for socioeconomic status, white women with breast cancer living in rural areas had marginally higher mortality rates than those living in urban areas2. Moreover, several studies have demonstrated differences in breast cancer management between rural and urban hospitals4,5. Although SES is correlated with rural-urban residency, few studies have accounted for both factors in their assessment of breast cancer disparities.

2016 marked the 70th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education, the divisive court case that began integration in public schools. However, disparities between white students and ethnic minorities are still widespread in American society and school systems. In fact, as of 2015, race and ethnicity proved more influential than parent education or income in test score differences (Geiser 1). Similarly, while differences in long-term success between white students and minorities can be attributed to a variety of factors, they take root in school. Controlling for test scores eliminates the wage gap between Hispanic and White workers (Fryer 3) and cuts the gap between black and white men from 17.9% to

In 1966, James Coleman (as cited by Tomul & Polat, 2013) published his findings on student achievement in a report known as the “Equality of Educational Opportunity” report, which was also known as “The Coleman Report.” Tomul and Polat (2013) stated that Coleman’s report showed that levels of school funding did not have as much of an impact on student achievement as the level of teacher effectiveness or the background of the student and that standardized tests did not measure intelligence, but merely cultural knowledge, which was considered to be a disadvantage for minority students. Factors affecting achievement that occur at the school level such as low expectations, lack of acknowledgment of cultural diversity, larger class size and lack of rigor in courses that are offered in lower SES schools have been shown to have negative outcomes for students from lower socio-economic families (“Identifying Factors,” n.d.). In addition to the problems faced in the schools, students from lower socio-economic backgrounds experience difficulties in neighborhoods as well. Lower income areas do not offer the amenities that higher income neighborhoods do such as libraries, parks, museums, quality child care and jobs with higher prestige factors (“Identifying Factors,” n.d.). This often leaves students from these neighborhoods

Racial and ethnic disparity in instruction has a long and constant history in the United States. Starting in 1954, nonetheless, when the Supreme Court ruled in Brown v. Board of Education that racial