Educational Inequality in America Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Educational Inequality in America - Essay Example Educational inequality has been a major priority of researchers in the US. Researchers have centered on the impact of poverty, or of social class, or of gender, or of ethnicity or race on young people's personal experience of education. In a related study on educational inequality, the theoretical concept for their study pinpointed the concept of social division as a lens in understanding the link between class and gender relations in shaping the educational achievements of students from ruling-class and working-class families. Thus, the social dynamics of class relations and gender relations is riddled with numerous tensions and contradiction. These can be seen as structuring processes rather than 'systems' in which social relations is organised and disorganised through time. The interaction of gender and class for a working class signifies a relationship between processes. (Connell et al., 1982:179-81). In addition, Connell et al.'s call for reform is one which does away with the stringent academic curriculum for one which works in the interests of the majority of the population rather than the 'ruling class' minority. The study's conclusion is that certain private schools are organic to the ruling class. It a;sp sjoes-and their distressing evidence which shows the extent to which state schools are a disruptive, disempowering force in the lives of the working class-the group call for a form of schooling organic to the working class. (Connell et al., 1982:179-81).Furthermore, Connell et al. emphasize the 'doing of history' perspective at the individual, group, institutional and structural levels. The basic concepts to their approach are practice consisting of the activities of people as they live their daily lives. The situation pertains to the home, school, and to the social and cultural characteristics of the social interaction. Each level of academic experience is viewed from dif ferent aspects of the same dynamic reality and each exists in a reciprocal relationship with the others. . (Connell et al., 1982:179-81). Children from simple family backgrounds The report by James Coleman was a response to Section 402 of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which called for a survey to discuss the apparent lack of equal educational opportunities for persons by reason of race, color, religion, or national origin. Coleman's findings on the extent of the achievement gap between black and white students between and within regions, and between and within schools, highlighted the importance of families over schools for setting educational performance. (Coleman 4) Coleman sets this conclusion: "The sources of inequality of educational opportunity lie first in the home itself and the cultural influences surrounding the home. Second, they lie in the schools' ineffectiveness to free achievement from the impact of the home, and third, in the schools' cultural make-up which reinforces the social influences of the home and its immediate settings. (Coleman 10) Children from poor families deal with fewer resources in their schools Five areas are examined when building a causal argument for racial differences in academic achievement: student qualitiess and attitudes, family and home settings, peers, schools and faculty members, and neighborhood locations. Variables pertaining to students cover factors such as age and sex, attitudinal levels of the student's commitment to school, aspirations and