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Managing diversity in the classroom.
Managing diversity in the classroom.
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Introduction: The problem
Students in America are not receiving the education they need in traditional brick and mortar public schools. High-performing students’ potential is often stifled as the current system holds them back and low-performing students often become frustrated and discouraged. My experience in a Virginia Title I elementary school offers specific anecdotal evidence of this. For example, a majority of my Kindergarten students (16 out of 20) were considered ESOL (i.e. English for Speakers of other languages). Most of the teachers employed by the school were unable to effectively communicate ideas with a number of students because of the language barrier. This should raise concerns for policymakers about the sustainability of the current education model as Education Secretary Arne Duncan recently reported that the majority of students in public schools will be minorities by this fall.
On another occasion, a high performing student in class wanted to read an advanced level book but was not allowed to do so because it was “not on the lesson plan for that day.” Additionally, a neighboring Kindergarten teacher had a student in her class who excelled at drawing and other artistically demonstrated skills. Unfortunately, he would regularly have to be pulled away from his work, despite his deep interest, skill, and focus to work on something else that did not inspire the same passion in him.
A final example of the failure of the current model to meet individual student needs is student mobility across school districts. According to U.S. Census data (Schachter, 2004, pg. 3), 14% of school age children (5-19) changed residence between 2002 and 2003. Students who experience high levels of mobility are more often minority o...
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Means, B., Toyama, Y., Murphy, R., Bakia, M., and Jones, K. (2010). Evaluation of evidence-based practices in online learning: A meta-analysis and review of online learning studies. U.S. Department of Education. Retrieved from http://www2.ed.gov/rschstat/eval/tech/evidence-based-practices/finalreport.pdf.
Schachter, J. (2004). “Geographic mobility: 2002 to 2003.” U.S. Department of Commerce, 1-16. Retrieved from http://www.census.gov/prod/2004pubs/p20-549.pdf.
Stewart, M. (2014). “K12’s online learning similar to ‘brick and mortar schools’.” The Daily Times. http://www.thedailytimes.com/news/k-s-online-learning-similar-to-brick-and-mortar-schools/article_a2a1f1b3-a999-53d2-bcab-ad830b147396.html.
Zittleman, S. (2013). Philosophy of education. In RTEC Faculty, (Eds.), Foundations of Education EDUC 200 (157-184). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Companies.
Kozol describes schools that run almost like factories or prisons in grim detail. According to Kozol, US schools are quite quickly becoming functionally segregated. Kozol lists the demographics of a slew of public schools in the state, named after prominent civil rights activists, whose classrooms are upwards of 97% black and Hispanic — in some cases despite being in neighborhoods that are predominantly white. It has been over 50 years since Brown vs. the Board of Education. It is sad to read about the state of things today.
The theme of the research is to discover why there is such a vast educational gap between minority and Caucasian students. Many American are unaware that such an educational gap actually exists among today’s students. This article informs us of alarming statics, such as of African American students representing a majority of the special education population, despite only making up roughly 40% of the student population. It also breaks down key events that contributed to the poor education that minority children are currently receiving. For example, in the past, it was illegal to educate African Americans and when it became legal to blacks were treated as second class students. They were segregated from their white counter parts and given hand-me-down textbooks. This article also discusses others factors that contributed to the poor education of minority students such as moral principles, socio-political, and economic stat. Despite the amount of time that has past, today’s schools are similar to the past. Minority children are still in second-rate learning environments while white students enjoy the comforts of first class school buildings and textbooks. In summary, the theme of this article was to bring attention to the educational gap among African-American, Latino, Asian, and other non-white students.
The United States places a great deal of importance on education and continuing to be a leader in the realm of education. If the United States wants to continue on this road it must take a good look at the achievement gap that has been created and growing. In a system where in high school 34% of black students are being held back, and are more likely to drop out before receiving a high school diploma it is essential to understand what has caused this gap and ways to help close it. When African Americans first came to this country becoming educated was not something they were allowed to do, they had to wait years and years to even learn how to write without there being consequences. When the opportunity did come along for African Americans to become educated and schools were created for them and by them, there have still being hurdles for them with chances of schools losing accreditation, and financial support for students. Policies, laws, and initiatives must really become priorities to help African Americans to ensure that they are allowed to succeed and achieve the same goals and lives as everyone else. Making sure there are able, understanding, and qualified teachers teaching students is also very important. Teachers play such a big role in the lives of students and helping them to succeed not primary and secondary school, but also continuing their journey’s into places of higher learning. This is a problem that can be fixed as long as we are serious about true equality and opportunities for
As of right now in the United States, the school system is not doing its best to promote the growth of African American students who speak Ebonics at home. Obviously something has to be done, because students from predominantly AAVE speaking areas are succeeding at a level well below students who are familiar with Standard English coming into school. The way the education system is set up, schools build upon existing skills that students already have especially in primarily white communities. Adding value to these skills promotes rapid growth causing them to excel past the AAVE speaking African American students. (Rickford, 1999) Those whom are n...
“Brown vs. Board of Education” made it a federal crime to segregate children based on race in 1954. On the other hand, “Plessy vs. Ferguson” concluded that “separate but equal” was justified in America’s education system in 1896. Fifty years later after “Brown vs. Board of Education” according to author Jonathan Kozol, the school systems are run more like a separate but unequal system. Kozol states that today’s schools are just as segregated as they were before 1954 and funding is seriously inadequate for those in the urban areas where most attendee’s are African American and Hispanic. This inadequate funding has led to overcrowding, dilapidation of the schools, a decreasing number of on-site health officials, and lack of an enriching educational program. The effects of the funding situation has led to poor state standardized test scores, and an increasing number of students dropping out or taking more than four years to graduate. Today, strict military style programs hope to correct these poor outcomes. Are today’s schools being segregated to pay less for subordinate groups’ education, or is this just one person’s one-sided outtake on a matter that society has little control over? I aim to examine these accusations incorporating some firsthand experience from my dilapidating public school system.
Diversity among students including differences in culture, language and socioeconomic stance is not a new trend. The difference, however, is that today, the school system realizes that all students, including those who differ in some way from the "average" student, or those “at-risk” must be provided with an equal, opportune education (Morris, 1991).
In the article “What Does It Mean to Educate the Whole Child?” Nel Noddings attempts to provide a deeper insight on what it means to educate the whole child. According to the article, public schools in the United States are currently facing a huge pressure to provide students with thorough and efficient education. In this connection, a program known as No Child Left Behind (NCLB) has endeavored to ensure that efficient education is provided to all minority children, especially the many who are in the inner-cities. Notwithstanding this endeavor, individuals from some quarters have criticized NCLB by claiming that it is an unfunded mandate since it comes up with costly demands without providing necessary resources to meet them. In effect, among
There are many challenges that teachers encounter when teaching children with learning disabilities, learners that are English language learners, or learners who are culturally and linguistically diverse. As a nation we are faced with the challenged that our schools are becoming more diverse. The majority of our schoolteachers are still predominately white females, but our student population is slowly changing. We are seeing more minority groups in our schools that are facing different challenges. The scary part of it all is that our teachers do not have the skills to accommodate those differences. “The nation’s changing school demographics are creating a demand for new teaching skills” (Utley, Obiakor, & Bakken 2011, pg. 5). Our student population
As a nation, we have established institutions of learning that cater to the needs of some. Our schools allow a select handful of students to succeed. Certain segments of our population appear to be at greater risk than others. The future does not bode well for young black and Latino men and women who do not make it through high school. According to Duane Campbell, author of Choosing Democracy, the unemployment rate for Latino men and women is substantially higher than the national average and an African American child is as likely to go to prison as to college (15). According to the Economic Policy Institute, in 1991 43% of African American children and 35% of Latino children were living in poverty. It is not surprising that a vast number of the 501,875 annual school drop-outs come from impoverished black and Latino families.
In society, education can be seen as a foundation for success. Education prepares people for their careers and allows them to contribute to society efficiently. However, there is an achievement gap in education, especially between Hispanics and Blacks. In other words, there is education inequality between these minorities and white students. This achievement gap is a social problem in the education system since this is affecting many schools in the United States. As a response to this social problem, the No Child Left Behind Act was passed to assist in closing this achievement gap by holding schools more accountable for the students’ progress. Unsuccessful, the No Child Left Behind Act was ineffective as a social response since schools were pushed to produce high test scores in order to show a student’s academic progress which in turn, pressured teachers and students even more to do well on these tests.
Caruso, C. (2008). Bringing Online Learning to Life. Educational Leadership, 65(8) 70. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.
When analyzing contemporary issues in education, it is very important to ask why and how the issues arise. Some of these problems are obvious to the mass public, and some require a more in-depth analysis. One of the less obvious issues in education is the current philosophy in the classrooms. One may ask the questions, “Why is the philosophy of education important? And, why does it matter to me?” To put it simply, the philosophy imbedded in the goals of education and teaching methods in a classroom affects the students’ futures. This topic was chosen because the philosophy in schools is often overlooked as the absolute core of educational issues. Many students understandably struggle with sitting in a classroom, uninterested. In addition to the constant stress and pressure of having good grades, students often ask why the given curriculum must be learned.
Pearcy, Mark. “Student, Teacher, Professor: Three Perspectives on Online Education.” History Teacher 27.2 (2014): 169-185. Education Research Complete. Web. 2 April 2014.
People have a lot of options in educating themselves online in today’s time and technology. Online education has improved a lot in the past twenty years. Even though it has had its setbacks, it continues to show promising results. Online education has many benefits with little to no disadvantages. It provides flexibility in scheduling and offers various options in educational online programs. In the past decade, education has evolved into a more technological-driven world.
Pike, B., & Bradley, F. (1997). The philosophy of teaching: Developing a statement that thrives in the classroom. Clearing House, 70(3), 125. Retrieved October 6, 2011 from http://library.gcu.edu:2048/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=9703092460&site=ehost-live&scope=site