I’m going to be talking about the following piece ‘More schools opening Advanced Placement courses to all students’ by Teresa Watanabe. Her main stance is that increasing AP courses offered in school is allowing more access to low income students, however some students are taking the courses without fundamental, adequate academic skills needed in order to succeed. I will be focusing on the theme of cultural deficit views to explain the achievement gap. I’ll be critiquing the way AP classes are being offered in a widespread manner nationwide, and I’ll be looking at the concept of academic capital, deficit perceptions related to educational achievement, and the effects of AP courses as an intervening variable. I argue against allowing students …show more content…
However, some students reap more benefits than others. Students from higher socioeconomic status enroll in more AP courses compared to their lower socioeconomic peers, “To maintain their competitive edge, students from advantaged groups, such as high-SES families, will pursue an increasing number of distinctions, a dynamic that their schools facilitate. While opportunities to learn may increase among schools serving disadvantaged populations, they will increase at the same rate—or at a higher rate—at schools serving advantaged students.” (Klugman 1) The advantaged population will be further enforcing the EMI theory by enrolling in more classes at a higher rate to maintain their spot at the stop. The EMI theory, effectively maintaining inequality theory, explains how inequalities are effectively maintained and the ways equality of opportunity has not been achieved. As the numbers of AP courses rise, the students from the dominant culture will be quick to profit from the new …show more content…
In educational institutions they ignore certain students by being unaware of students’ funds of knowledge and their truth depth of knowledge. (Rios-Aguilar 164) Students have a wide understanding over a range of topics, but schools maintain a deficit perception of culture when it does not adhere to the dominant education system. If we were to bridge funds of knowledge and capital we would have the potential to have a better insight into students’ opportunities and experience in educational institutions. (Rios-Aguilar 163) Wolfram et a. clarifies how essential it is for students to attend a school that acknowledge distinct cultures and backgrounds, “When schools do not systematically accommodate different language varieties, some group of students do less well in the gate-keeping activates that determine program access, placement, and progress (Wolfram et a. 87) Program (such as AVID, honors, etc.) may have an essential role in college acceptance. Schools should allocate their resources and funding towards equipping teachers with imperative skills and knowledge to teach students from all socioeconomic backgrounds. Some of the qualities of a superior teacher are being academically prepared, knowledgeable about the subject they are teaching, and hold an interest in students’ needs. Having a good teacher is essential to a student’s success. (Watanabe
Through my high school years, I have taken many challenging academic courses, extracurriculars, and community service. By taking AP classes through high school, I have become more prepared for challenging courses in high school and have become more responsible and independent for challenging work, from these Ap classes, I have become more prepared for Honors College. since sophomore year, I have taken the highest level course available. By being in a regular level course I did not feel as if I was being challenged enough and desired more. The high-level courses challenged me and pushed me further as the more challenging it gets the more prepared I would be for the future. As a highly motivated student, I like to be around other students who
In the reading, Culture and Power in the Classroom: A Critical Foundation for Bicultural Education, Antonia Darder argues that education is a critical tool and necessity for the advancement of people of color. She highlights that education is tied to status, which in turn, then gives you power in society. She helps us see many of the flaws in the school system that prevents students of color from excelling in the academic world. She points to us, that although there are many things within the school institution itself that fail students of color over and over again, the blame is always placed on the individual. She also highlights that there are many myths about students of color that say that their failure is tied to coming from cultures and backgrounds that do not value education. Finally, Darder argues that conservative educators hurt bicultural student’s education, and liberal educators, although may seem the better option, still fail to attack the institutions that help foster failure in the education setting. They also end up alluding to student failure to individual failure.
For students at RYP, the achievement gap, referring to the disparity of educational performance of students by race and income stems from overlapping societal injustices
Cultural differences pose several barriers for students and may impair their opportunity to learn. These barriers are created by differences in language expression, communication style, preferred learning style, gender-role customs and behaviors, and limited parental involvement due to these cultural or socioeconomic barriers
Education is a necessity across the globe, from America to Africa to China. Some education systems, however, are more successful than others and hold differing views and approaches to education. Culture greatly impacts education, which in turn impacts further opportunity. As unfair as it may be, a child’s cultural background largely determines their level of success. The American education system is lacking when compared to various other world cultures, and this is causing the socioeconomic gap to grow. Because of this inadequate education, more and more families are dipping beneath the poverty line. This could be due to poor discipline as well as the diversity of students. The diversity of the students results in a wide array of needs that are not being met by the public education system. This issue could be minimized by working to create a more inclusive academic environment to ensure equality and success.
Most schools provide many AP credit course work. Other schools also provide being able to take college credit plus courses. The question is, do you think administrators should push more students to take college classes with many more options to choose from, or take an AP course that is provided within the school.
Teachers must learn about their student’s cultures if they want to educate them to the best of their ability. Many of the students in culturally diverse classrooms will want to learn in different ways. Some will want to learn in pairs, groups, as a class, or just alone. If the teacher is educated in their culture then lessons can be adjusted to appeal to every student as much as possible instead of forcing some to forget about their culture and learn like others. Students from
Gaining learning and experience about other cultures background will enrich my multicultural knowledge. Therefore, as an educator I must learn about others culture. As I begin to learn about others cultures I will understand how values influence the ways families interpret the instruction that feels right to them. A close study on Figure 3.1 implies that a teacher’s point view or the way the students are treaty can affect their learning. It keeps narrating the story of a teacher that had to learn her students’ roots, their culture values, to get to know them in order to reach them in an academically level. The cultural values are very important and cannot be overlooked, they shape our intrinsic motivation. Many families try to keep their values and belief intact at home, so their children when they step in a classroom. Monica Brown, is the Department editor of Diversity Dispatch, argues in her article, Educating All Students: Creating Culturally Responsive Teachers, Classrooms, and Schools, that nowadays it is noticeable the diversity growths in schools, however, this is not the problem. The problem is the way teachers have responded to the diversity growth. (Brown, M. 2007). Therefore, this will affect the students learning. Brown cross with a strong point in regarding the lack of sensitivity some educators show towards their students’ culture. As educator I don’t want to be one of many teachers Monica Brown speaks on her article. I will understand that I must respect my
High school is a very hectic time in a teenager’s life. There are multiple different things going on, such as classes to choose, who to be friends with, deciding on colleges and careers, and much more. There are many classes to choose from. Once classes have been chosen, it is now time to pick what level is most beneficial: regular, honors, or Advanced Placement. But be warned, Advanced Placement classes do not benefit US students because they are too rushed and the students are not prepared to take them.
is through socioeconomic status. According to Sean Reardon, a main outcome of the widening income gap for families has been a widening gap in achievement among children, which he refers to as the income achievement gap (Reardon, 2011). Therefore, the children of the poor remain at an educational disadvantage when their parents’ income becomes as much of a predictor of their educational achievements, as their parents’ educational obtainment. To emphasize the results of the income achievement gap, Reardon states, “As the children of the rich do better in school, and those who do better in school are more likely to become rich, we risk producing an even more unequal and economically polarized society” (Reardon, 2011, p. 111). For example, as standardized testing shifted towards standardized achievement testing to determine a student’s academic achievement, parental investment in their children’s cognitive development began to increase. Educational disparities occur when affluent families can very easily afford tutoring outside of the classroom for their children to perform highly, while children being raised in impoverished homes are at a disadvantage, and at a lower chance of doing well on these exams. This becomes problematic when SAT reading, math, and writing scores increase with income as exemplified by the disproportionately small amount of minority students in higher education (Brand lecture,
The structure of our learning environment currently has few parallels to the outside world and it is unlikely that can be remedied. Instead, the trouble of a changing the entire system could be avoided and the benefits would be similar if we were had regular speakers come in and talk and were taken on regular field trips to learn how the things we learn in class are applied throughout the world. Not only would this be an opportunity for students to learn more in depth in a way that is more engaging than reading from a textbook, but it would provide students with time to learn about future career choices.
For example, Jonathan Kozol demonstrates that “the divergent experiences of students in a resource-rich and resource-poor educational systems demonstrates a difference in the distribution of cultural capital” (Ore 226). For students, cultural capital is crucial to seek opportunities and succeed in the future. Therefore, those who lack this asset are often set up with more disadvantages than those who are raised in a resource-rich class; thus, contributing to the general gap between the middle and working class students.
Having the opportunity to have worked with diverse students has opened my eyes to the importance of learning about different cultures, their beliefs and practices. Being aware and learning about the different cultures my students came from helped me from misinterpreting certain behavior displayed by the students. In order to do this the first thing a teacher should learn is that everyone has different ways of culturally adapting to a new country, while some are able to fully assimilate, others undergo the process of selective acculturation or embrace enculturation (Coleman, 2013).
Teachers should advocate for all students’ backgrounds and cultures to better their students’ learning. To accomplish this, teachers should be informed about their students’ home lives, be conscious of how and what they should be taught, and ultimately make their education a priority. Students from poverty in a multicultural classroom need the correct tools and teaching approaches from their teachers.
On a broad basis, the discussion in this article of problems being handled in a ‘general’ way speaks volumes about our own pluralistic educational needs. We learn in class that it is important to not judge students based on their backgrounds, and that it is important to approach all cultures as unique. Using a broad stroke to try and cover diversity does not work. In a similar way, trying to solve the problems of rural schools using a broad stroke (using methods that normally apply to similar problems in an urban setting, for instance) will not work. As educators, it is important for us to consider the unique problems of the rural setting and to consider how these issues affect our students. “The interactions between teachers and students determine the quality of education. Teachers send messages that tell students that they have potential and that they can learn. Teachers who know their subject matter, believe that all students can learn, and care about students as individuals can have a great impact on students and their learning,” (379 Gollnick and Chinn). In absence of funding and resources, teachers can still take great strides in providing students