In this essay I will discuss the impact that a person's social class and gender have had on their education, and how these two factors have often dictated the quality of education that a person has been able to get. I intend to describe and critically discuss the impact of a number of educational acts and reforms, and their effect on people from different social classes and genders. I intend to focus on three different time periods throughout this essay, these being the 1940s, focusing specifically on the 1944 education act; the 1960s, focusing specifically on the 1963 Robbins report and the 1965 education act; and finally the 1980s, focusing specifically on the education act of 1980 as well as the education reform act of 1988. Each of these acts and reports have had the aim of either …show more content…
The first is that it did not introduce equal pay opportunities for women teachers (Middleton, 1972, p.190). This may perhaps indicate that the act was not as progressive as it seems to be. It might also indicate that social class, rather than gender, was the main concern of Lord Butler, and other politicians during this time period. Therefore, it could be argued that girls being introduced into secondary education was merely a bi-product of making education free for those from working class backgrounds.
Another criticism of this act is the way in which children's educational trajectories are judged at such a young age. There was a concern that it was unfair to decide which school a child went to at the tender age of eleven, especially considering the fact that the school a child attended would more often than not dictate the type of job that they would be able to get in the future. Dean writes that:
What had happened, in this view, was that the process of streaming and selection had reached dangerous grounds. It was digging ever deeper into the system and was irretrievably damaging the early years of schooling. (Dean, 2011,
One’s identity has the ability to play a central role in one’s schooling experience and in return, affect the way they perceive the world around them. Growing up in an Asian household located in a predominately Asian American neighborhood located in the San Gabriel Valley, I always identified myself strongly to my race and took pride in being a first generation Asian American child. Race has definitely affected my schooling experience in many different ways, both positively and negatively. In addition, there were a variety of other aspects such as stereotypical gender roles and socioeconomic class status which factored into the way I learned in the U.S. education system. In this paper, I will examine how race, class, and gender played a big role throughout my schooling experience.
There was a time when America’s education system was top-notch according to the culture and society. With time, a myriad of things has changed, but unfortunately what has not evolved is the American education system. The country is still following a system which was not designed for the current global economic climate. Equality, as positive as it sounds is not as sufficient when it comes to education. The system treats students equally yet expect a similar culmination and outcome. Every child has his individuality and distinct abilities; one cannot judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree. Conversely, a few of the prominent reasons why the education system is failing are overcrowded schools, the rise of technology, and following the same old school hours.
As individuals, we are all given assigned aspects that define us. Race, gender, and social class are just a few of the characteristics that make us who we are. We also choose to take on certain aspects that reflect our own interests such as careers, fashion, and fandom. When our chosen and assigned aspects come together, our own identity is formed. These parts eventually impact and affect each other with the idea of intersection. The interconnection of being a woman and belonging to a certain career cross and act on each other in ways that are mostly negative. Many women find being successful in their careers very difficult especially women who are based into a male dominated industry.
The education system in America has a long history of struggle and change, as we have grown as a nation we have experienced an ever-increasing rise in diversity. This diversity has caused rigidities between groups and all stratus of society and has been a major impact in debates concerning the educational opportunities in America.
The greatest country in the world still has problems evenly distributing education to its youth. The articles I have read for this unit have a common theme regarding our education system. The authors illustrate to the reader about the struggles in America concerning how we obtain and education. Oppression, politics, racism, and socioeconomic status are a few examples of what is wrong with our country and its means of delivering a fair education to all Americans.
norms of the time period dictate that Feste should fear Olivia and regard himself as the lesser.
In Anderson and Collins’, chapter on “Why race, class, and gender still maters” encourage readers to think about the world in their framework of race, class, and gender. They argued that even though society has change and there is a wide range of diversity; race, class and gender still matters. Anderson and Collins stated, “Race, class, and gender matter because they remain the foundation for system of power and inequality that, despite our nation’s diversity, continue to be among the most significant social facts of peoples lives.” (Anderson and Collins, 2010) When I was a little girl, I never knew that people were classified in to groups such as race, class, gender. I knew there were people that had a different color of skin than
By using the eleven-plus examination (exam taken at around the age of 11) to test pupils' intelligence and abilities in English and arithmetic, three groups of children were identified. Firstly, there were academic pupils, who went to the secondary grammar schools. These schools provided the main route to university. Secondly, there was a group of practical pupils, who were interested in applied science or applied art. They went to the technical schools. Remaining pupils, mostly working class, went to the secondary modern schools where they received a more basic education. Thus, the secondary educational system set up as a result of the 1944 Act was a tripartite system - three types of schools, which, it was argued, were different but equal. As a result, the Act's aim of providing every child with an education was achieved, and the number of pupils in the schools began to rise rapidly. This can be clearly seen in Figure 1:
Social class refers to the system of stratification of the different groups of people in a society. These different forms of classification are, in most instances, based on gender ethnicity and age. Social class makes everyone’s lives extremely different. For example: How long one can expect to live. In a wide range of ways, from success, to one’s health class, social class influences people’s lives (Grusky,2003).
The physical body has been seen as many things both positive and negative. It can be thought of as the temple which houses the soul or can be seen as entrapping, like a cage of flesh. More often it seems that the body, especially women’s bodies, are looked at in more complicated ways than the bodies of men. As I grew up, it began to feel more and more like my body, and the bodies of other women, did not actually belong to us like we believed. Through my Women’s Studies class I have gained more knowledge on the body as a political object. In this essay I will examine six different articles with the similar theme of women’s bodies, the expression of those bodies and how by using feminism as a political standpoint they gain power and ownership of their bodies.
The way society is taught to be socialized is salient and goes unnoticed, therefore it is valid to claim that gender is socially constructed through our everyday practices, whether we are aware of the construction or not. With socialization beginning the instant a child is born, the process is continuous through out adolescence and varies dramatically across the two genders. With guidance from institutions and arenas such as education, sports, music and the mass media gender seems to be coerced, as it comes with a scripted set of behaviors and attitudes. This essay argues that gender is socially constructed on an everyday basis. To further explain this thesis the essay will draw on early childhood socialization of masculinity and femininity,
Throughout our semester together, our Social Issues class has discussed many different aspects of race, class and gender. We have had many opportunities to discuss and share our opinions on different topics and problems we face today. During this course, my outlook on life and other people has changed significantly. The use of projects and papers has further enlightened me to understand the perspective of others. The readings that we have been given each week have proven themselves very beneficial and have assisted greatly in furthering my awareness towards different races, classes and genders.
The textbook identifies four approaches to gender development: biological, interpersonal, cultural, and critical. Define each theory. Then answer the following question: which of the theoretical approaches to gender do you find the most valid? Be sure to include at least two examples from your own experience as well as two scholarly sources to back up your claim.
Bowles and Gintis felt it was important to write this article, because they believe that the politics of education are better understood in terms of the need for social control in an unequal and rapidly changing economic order. This point is illustrated on page 396 when the authors say, “The unequal
It is only recently that sociology has begun to explore the topic of gender. Before this, inequalities within society were based primarily on factors such as social class and status. This paper will discuss gender itself: what makes us who we are and how we are represented. It will also explore discrimination towards women throughout history, focusing mainly on women and the right to vote, inequalities between males and females in the work place and how gender is represented in the media.