The Problem of Education in the United States

The Problem of Education in the United States

Introduction

Racial discrimination has had a long history in the United States of America. Apparently the discrimination is so ingrained that it has become a tumor even to school going children. This is because racists and other activist of racial discrimination have found schools as the perfect avenues to trap and train unsuspecting students into becoming self-inflicted racists. Essentially if the right parameters are put in place, then racism can be rooted out of the American society and that is the motivation for this research. It is because of the social problem regarding racism in the American schools that triggers this research that might be the starting point into a renewed war against racism among elementary schools students in the various states in the US (Orefield, 2001). As a result this paper aims at educating teachers, students, racial activist and conservatives at various stages and levels on the pertinent dangers that come with racism in schools and the possible ways of handling the scourge. Additionally, this research will trigger equivalent researches into racism among elementary schools which then focuses the scope of this research to school going children at their elementary level of study.

Part I: Background Information on problem of education in the United States

Population segment for study

According to a research conducted by George Farkas titled ‘Racial disparities and discrimination in education’ there is evidence that the governments focus has been shifted away from certain social issues. For instance, racism among school going children is rife yet it is rarely talked off. In fact it is a less talked of subject unless when accorded attention from educational analysts while illustrating reasons for possible diminishing education standards in the United States educational system. In order to accredit his research on racial discrimination in education, Farkas conducts a study using students from the Pennsylvania State University. His population segment gives special attention to students who are likely to have experienced discrimination at any stage of their lives. Consequently his research established that averagely African Americans, American Indians and Latino school going children were the most vulnerable to racist discrepancies. Evidently research by Farkas and other researchers eager to establish discrepancies in the US social and cultural systems, seems to have delineated themselves from the root cause of corrupted mindsets exhibited by students past their elementary levels of study (Farkas, Lleras & Maczuga, 2002). As a way of establishing the root cause for current failures of the social system in the education in the United States, there arises the urgency of investigating school going children at the elementary schools around several states where both majority and minority communities reside in the United States of America.

Racism as a major social issue in the United States

Racism refers to ethnic discriminations or biases against people of a certain race. The key determinant to racism has been identified with skin color and accent which have added up into escalating the levels of discrimination at all stages of growth in the American society. Racism traces back to 1400’s when colonialism was widespread in North America. Europeans colonized Americans and Africans which made the white settlers in the ancient America to adopt the feeling of superiority because they believed they were more civilized than other races. The Europeans who are rather white started enslaving other races and grabbing their parcels of land which ushered in the realities associated with racial differences, discrimination and exploitation. Such acts also changed the definition of racism which became focused on coordinated practices designed to deny people of minority races access to equal representation, rights and resources (Darity, 2005).

The concept of racism became entangled into learning institutions which came to be known as institutionalized racism which is propagated into social institutions and later on diffuses into each and every segment of our societies. The most affected races have been Native Americans, African Americans, Latin Americana and Asian Americans. Because of racism, structured institutions have suffered from slavery, segregation, racial profiling and reservations (Jeff, 2010). Among other factors undermining the fight against racism has been racial politics which has been implied through during the American presidential elections thus such social factors as social-economic inequality and racial stratification in education, governance, housing and employment have dominated the United States. Despite contributions made by the United States Human Rights Network among other human and civil rights organizations, discrimination against Latin Americans, African Americans and Muslims who are the minority communities in the US is a common phenomenon.

Documented statistical and background data on racism in the American education system

The American education system has been plagued by discrepancies resulting from social issues. Empirical research by educational analysts established that unlike European children in America, African Americans, American Indian and Latino children start kindergarten and first grade schooling with relatively lower pre-reading skills, poor mastery of oral language and lower pre-mathematics skills (West, Denton & Reaney, 2001). In addition, they have a lesser understanding of general knowledge and were perceived as being less suited to the learning environments as compared to that possessed by their colleagues of white or Asian American races. Because of these perceived factors emanating from racial prejudice, there has been a performance gap in the results identified among students at various levels of academics curriculum. Moreover there have been disparities in school entry-marks accruing from such perceptions that the whites are superior to blacks of the same age group. Courtesy of such biased research findings and documentations that are bound to trigger racism, other researchers in opposition of Sufism and racism have made findings that discrimination identified extensive cases of racism with school administrators and teachers. Such findings have been enabled by use of curriculum trackers and placement systems. With such a system in place it has been possible to monitor performance before and after student’s admission into different schools across states in America. Using this technique identified that ethically minority students were often disadvantaged; the trend was further attributed to teachers who overlooked the expectations of the students because they had lower expectations of their capability since they are biased with racist ideologies.

Secondly the teachers and administrators proved to be less encouraging to the students from the minority races thus exposing them to unfair practices especially during rewarding, motivation and awarding of marks. Evidently there is widespread racial discrimination starting from preschools, early elementary, later elementary, middle and high schools all the way into institutions of higher learning and even at the places of work (Howell & Peterson, 2002). Teachers involved in propagating racism were identified as having been able to incite elementary schools students into having divergent cognitive development which then necessitates the development of behavioral discrepancies polarized by racial thoughts and mind frames. Owing to the teachers radical effects on the cognitive and behavioral perspective of the children at preschool and elementary level of schooling, the different groups of children are thus brought up being poisoned with ethnic divergent minds. This research was supported by the Children of the National Longitudinal Study of Youth Cohort in conjunction with the Department of Labor and Infant Health and Development Programs.

Social cultural factors contributing to racial discrimination

Social factors represent collective activities conducted by the communities in which people live such as stereotypes and media influence while cultural factors are beliefs based on traditional practices of the communities or ethnic groups. Apart from historic and political factors that have been contributing to racial discrimination in the United States; there is the factor of social and cultural differences. Civil rights that were passed after the Second World War have been subjugated by some people leading to social and cultural differences. Specifically social factors such as forced segregation of people into blacks and whites both at entertainment venues, schools, residences and hiring or contracting of services is a contributing factor towards racism. For example Latinos are socially believed to be passionate, violent, hypersexual, lazy and having been artistically endowed in literature, music, films and television. Second, social factors exhibited by teachers and administrators who show preference for one race to the other have been a key factor in escalating racial prejudice. On the other hand cultural believes historically held by both the whites and black races have undermined acceptance of other races. This is because cultural believes have been institutionalized to portray some races as having more substantial gains in terms of public employment, educational inequality and black poverty (Henry & David, 2002).

Political, economic, legal, practical and ethical aspects of racial discrimination

According to Brown, (2010) racial discrimination has been seen to impact on different aspects of an average American citizen with the most prevalent of these impacts have been experienced in the economic, political, legal, practical and ethical spheres. To begin with political impact, this sphere of racial prejudice is amplified by electoral campaigns in the US. It is during campaigns that racial advertisements have been known to crop with the intent of favoring one race over the other on the grounds of minority and majority. Likewise before the President Obama regime, his predecessors have had preference for racial ideas.

There is also the impact of racism on economic development in the US. Economic growth and development is a joint effort that is stimulated by both blacks and whites. In the event that one race is favored against the other then there will be disparities in distribution of resources which in the end reduces the purchasing power of the minority communities. Such practices adversely affect economic growth and development. Legal implications have appeared in form of racial profiling where profiling is a matter of prejudiced treatment of suspects or potential suspects by the police with regard to their race. For instance African Americans are often mistreated by law enforcement units more than the whites because of the racial prejudice implicating black people with violence, drug dealing and organized crimes (Brown, 2010).

Practically racial discrimination has been hurting to the advancement of education in the US. This is because one race especially the whites are favored against their black counterparts thus the educational system becomes biased from lack of practicality. The other impact is that people lose trust in other races which makes the communities feel insecure and the whole idea of community policing is compromised because of fear of racial profiling (Ronald & Steven, 2006). Ethically, racial discrimination is neither moral nor legal yet there are no stringent measures against such practices. Thus racial discrimination also impacts the view of the public on government policies that are meant to protect minority groups.

Multiple levels contributing to the perpetuation of racism

Essentially there are three levels, individual level, group level and societal level of racism. The perpetuation of radical ideas regarding racism is first perpetuated by social stereotyping and mentality which at times is exaggerated by social media. Stereotyping by itself is stigmatizing and dehumanizing (Wright & Taylor, 2009). The ideas then converge as communities merge and form social classes whereby groups at different levels are seen to propagate resist ideas. Such groups have been blamed for racial riots faced in America during the 1950’s and 1960’s when blacks were fighting against segregation, apartheid and slave trade. From the group level the radical ideas then trickle down into individual’s conscience which is then polarized with the thoughts of superiority in the case of majority race and inferiority among minority races.

Personal, professional and ethical implications of racial discrimination on US society

Institutionalized racial discrimination is dehumanizing and stigmatizing to the minority groups. This is because the minorities are often abused, oppressed and constantly marginalized during allocation or resources. The end result is bruised self-esteem which reduces the personal and professional capabilities of a person. For example most blacks in the United States abuse drugs to reduce the social stigma that has been associated with African Americans. On professional grounds, the education system has been in constant favor of the whites thus they are often perceived as being superior to their white counterparts of the same age. Ethically people have adjusted their attitudes towards racism which makes it even harder for the minority races to survive in society.

Relating two sociological perspectives

There is a correlation between media and racial prejudice. In this case media involves social media as well as information media. Apparently there have been talks of prejudice among blacks and whites over social media. These two perspectives have negatively affected students at all levels of learning because of the stereotypic electronic messages and content transmitted through such media. Research identified data that implicated blacks (Africa-Americans) through the Black Entertainment Television as making attempts to corrupt the whites by producing videos of scantily dressed women and musicians glorifying gangster lifestyles.

Part II: Research proposal

Research study

This research identifies the scopes of racial discrimination students in the United States. Therefore there is need for research to ascertain the credibility of the information researched in the preceding chapter regarding racism as a major problem facing the educational system in the United States. As such this study aims at finding out the impact of racial discrimination in the US education sector.   The dependent variable that is to be measured is the number of children affected by racial discrimination and the independent variables which needs to be organized and manipulated is the various schools in different states in US. The reason for measuring the level of racism is to find out the exact situation and try to find out possible solutions to address the problem.

Time scale

Every study is required to be completed within a certain period of time. Time allocation is therefore essential consideration in conducting a study and any researcher must factor this. The study is expected to take duration of three months. There are various exercises that are required to be conducted to ensure that the study becomes successful. The researcher must come up with a plan on the locations that the study will be carried out, identify the schools, and logistical requirements. Time is also required to prepare instruments of collecting information and the time to gather the information and analysis. All these activities require some time to be executed.

Participants

The study must include subjects to be investigated. In this study, the participants will be school going children. The children that will be included in the study are those in the elementary schools. This is because, they are the ones affected with the problem of racists. Various schools will be investigated to find out the level of discrimination. These schools will come from areas where there are majority and minority communities.

Staffing

For the study to be effective, it requires competent and professional staffs to assist in the process of data collection. This study because of its nature cannot be conducted by an individual alone. Therefore, it requires adequate personnel to help in the process of data collections as well as analysis. This study will involve 30 personnel that will be hired to help make the process a success.  A large bunch of the personnel will be deployed in the field to gather the information from the schools on the study topic.

Statistical analysis method

The research design is a survey where information will be gathered from the natural setting. The information will be collected and analyzed using Analysis of variance (ANOVA) as one of the statistical analysis method. This method is selected because it will help the researcher in identifying any differences between the variables selected (Chance & Rossman, 2005)). In his case, it will be instrumental in helping to find the variations or differences in terms of the level or magnitude of racial discrimination in various schools in different states.

Subject in the study

This study, because of its nature, will require a large number of subjects to be incorporated to ensure that it achieves representation and provides a clear picture of the situation. The total number of subjects that will be included in the study will be 200. This number will be arrived at through simple random sampling process. The schools will be randomly sampled through secret balloting. This will ensure that all the sampled schools have equal chances of being selected. Then from the schools selected across various states, a sample of 200 subjects will be selected to be included in the study.

Importance of the proposed study

Every study carried out by a researcher has a purpose or an aim that it wants to achieve.   This study is equally important in that it will help to provide an understanding of the problem of racism in various schools. Racism is a major problem in various US states especially where there are minorities. These minorities are discriminated on the basis of their skin color and ethnicity among others. This is a problem because it affects the psychology of the students making them record dismal performance compared to their colleagues. This study therefore is important as it helps in creating an understanding and awareness of the racism problem.

Various schools and educational organizations and agencies will use the data from the results to tackle the process. These agencies will be able to formulate policies and programs that will help to ensure that there is no discrimination in schools in all the USA states. They will also get an opportunity to use the data to carry out their own research to substantiate the claims and the conclusions reached through this research. The government will also benefit from these study findings. It is the responsibility of the government to ensure that all citizens regardless of their ethnicity or gender or their location have access to quality education. Therefore, the government will also be one of the beneficiaries of this study as it will improvise or come up with mechanism to help solve the problem.

References

Brown, R. (2010). Group Processes. (2nd Ed.). Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing.

Chance, B. & Rossman, A. (2005). “Preface”. Investigating Statistical Concepts, Applications and Methods. Duxbury Press.

Darity, J. W. (2005). African Americans in the U.S. Economy (Africa, Europe, and the Origins of Uneven Development: The Role of Slavery). Lanham, Md.: Rowman and Littlefield. p. 15-16.

Farkas, G., Lleras, C. & Maczuga, S. (2002). Does oppositional culture exist in minority and poverty peer groups? American Sociological Review, 67, 148-155.

Henry, P. & David O. (2002). Race and Politics: The Theory of Symbolic Racism. Los Angeles: University of California.

Howell, W. & Peterson, P. (2002). The education gap: Vouchers and urban schools. Washington, DC: The Brookings Institution

Jeff, S. (2010). Racial Profiling and Borders: International, Interdisciplinary Perspectives. Lake Mary: Candelas.

Orefield, G. (2001). Schools more separate: Consequences of a decade of re-segregation. Retrieved May 5, 2002 from http://www.law.harvard.edu/civilriglits/publications/

Ronald, W. & Steven, T. (2006). Race and Policing in America: Conflict and Reform. New York: Cambridge University Press.

West, J., Denton, K. & Reaney, L. (2001). The kindergarten year: Findings from the early childhood longitudinal study. Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics.

Wright, D. & Taylor, D.M. (2009). The social psychology of cultural diversity: Social prejudice, stereotyping and discrimination. The SAGE Handbook of Social Psychology, Concise Student Edition. M. Hogg & J. Cooper (Eds.), Los Angeles, CA: SAGE Publications, pp. 361-387.

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