Darling-Hammond's Unequal Opportunity: Race And Education

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“Unequal Opportunity: Race and Education” Why does Darling-Hammond think that affirmative action is still needed in education? Explain why you agree or disagree with her. Darling-Hammond points out that affirmative action is needed because “the educational outcomes for minority children are much more a function of their unequal access to key educational resources, including skilled teachers and quality curriculum, than they are a function of race” (52). Throughout her essay, she makes it clear that it is not due to a child’s biology or race that they are lagging behind in school, much like many people like to believe it is, but that statistics show that minorities lack the highly skilled teachers and challenging curriculum that students of …show more content…

What types of programs and funding does Darling-Hammond discuss that are being implemented to improve the quality of teaching in our country? Do these programs seem adequate to bridge the gap in minority achievement? On page 58, Darling-Hammond tells her readers of the plan being put into place by the National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future to ensure that “‘caring, competent, and qualified teacher[s]’” are assigned to all students. It will be difficult to get teachers who are highly educated to come to schools that don’t have much to offer. In order to make this possible, it will be necessary for federal policymakers to develop incentives to make sure that teachers who embody these qualities are being brought fields that are experiencing a shortage and/or are in high-need. Schools may also find that they must reallocate their resources in order to support better-educated teachers who offer challenging curriculum and smaller classes. These programs seem to be adequate enough that they will bridge the gap in minority achievement, once implemented. Darling-Hammond explains throughout her whole essay that the reason minority students are falling behind are in large part due to the fact that they don’t have access to highly skilled teachers. She presents many convincing statistics that show students who do have access to highly skilled teachers do much better than those who don’t, regardless of race. She also provides many examples of states who have already implemented …show more content…

What kind of help do they find the most rewarding for those they help and for themselves? Coles’s students are concerned that they may not even be making an impact on their students. Due to the extremely different lifestyles the kids and Coles’s students live, they find it difficult to make a connection with the kids and aren’t sure how to leave a lasting impact on them. Coles’s students find it rewarding when the kids told them thank you, that they were doing better in school, and showed interest in their learning, getting out of the ghetto and going to a university one day. It helps them to see that they are making a difference in the children’s lives and that the kids are able to get past all of the cynicism that surrounds them and strive to achieve a better life. 4. What definition of community service emerges from the conversation between Coles and the thirty-year-old assembly line

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