Current Issues Facing The American Education System

1152 Words3 Pages

There was once a time when white males were only allowed to attend colleges and universities. After the civil war, women and those of different ethnicities were thrown into the college scene. However, even today there continues to be the ongoing debate on how it is best to enroll, educate, and graduate these students that were once denied higher education. Because of this debate, American universities still need to provide accommodations to these groups of students. Those previously denied the right to attend universities now face issues because of the confidence gap, the economic gap, and the stress gap. These issues can be fixed if changes are made in the universities teaching system.

According to Adrienne Rich in the article “What Does a Women need to Know”, there is no college that is being provided today that gives women the education they need for survival. Women, not only living in a world ruled by white males, are in a society that fails to meets the educational needs that they deserve (Rich 79). Not only are they being denied these needs, but also they are even encountering subtle forms on bias on campus. They are viewed as unwelcome and unimportant outsiders.

However, women aren’t the only people on campus who are feeling discouraged and unwelcome. People of different ethnicities are encountering this problem also. Reported in the institute for the Study of Social Change, students have shared about their experiences with subtle discrimination in certain facial expressions, being ignored or unacknowledged, and how they are being spoken past by white students. Mike Rose, in the article “Lives on the Boundary”, also shares about this unfairness. He says, “To many are kept from the great books, because ...

... middle of paper ...

...to having a better education for everyone.

Works Cited

Institute for the Study of Social Change. “The Diversity Project: Final Report. Berkeley: University of California, 1991.

Rich, Adrienne. “What Does a Women Need to Know?” 1986. The Presence of Others. Comp. Andrea A. Lunsford and John J. Ruszkiewicz. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2008. 74-80. Print.

Rose, Mike. “Lives on the Boundary.” 1989. The Presence of Others. Comp. Andrea A. Lunsford and John J. Ruszkiewicz. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2008. 90-102. Print.

Sax, Linda J. “College Women Still Face Many Obstacles in Reaching Their Full Potential.” The Chronicle of Higher Education 28 Sept. 2007, Diversity in Academe: B46.

Strasburg, Jenny. “Losing Ground-More than 40 years after the Civil Rights Act, why do women’s wages still trail men’s?” The San Francisco Chronicle 9 Jan. 2005, Equity: CM-14.

Show More
Related

  • American Dream Women

    915 Words  | 2 Pages

    “In the United States and several other countries, women now actually surpass men in educational achievements” (Josh, “Harvard Summer School”). Some women are more educated and qualified for most

    Read More

  • Critiques of Sara Rimer’s A Lost Moment Recaptured and Stephen Mosher’s Where Have All the Heroes Gone?

    757 Words  | 2 Pages

    While Rimer directly interviews the students and faculty of Smith College’s Ada Comstock Scholars Program for her primary research source, this particular college is not the main focus of the essay. Women’s colleges Mount Holyoke and Bryn Mawr are also mentioned in the essay (para.27). Rimer’s interview with a historian who has studied women in higher education, speaks to women’s colleges in general. The historian goes on to explain that going back to college is transforming for older women who have been shaped by gender specific expectations (para.9). Women’s colleges o...

    Read More

  • Black Women At Princeton University

    1694 Words  | 4 Pages

    Obtaining higher education is regarded as the ultimate symbol of status in the United States (US). Access to a college education in this country is seen as an expression of academic excellence and can provide access to unlimited possibilities. In the US, Ivy Leagues are considered the elite and represent the most powerful ideogram of educational opportunity. According to the National Center for Education Statistics [NCES] (2012), from 1999–2000 to 2009–10, the percentages of both master's and doctor's degrees earned by females increased from 1999–2000 to 2009–10 from 58 to 60 percent and from 45 to 52 percent. The NCES report (2012), found that in 2009-10, of the 10.3 percent Black students who earned Bachelor degrees; 65.9 percent were women. Of the 12.5% of Black students who earned Master’s degree in 2009-10, 71.1 percent were women; and of the 7.4 percent of Black students who earned doctoral level degrees (this includes most degrees previously regarded as first-professional, i.e. M.D., D.D.S., and law degrees), 65.2 percent were women (NCES, 2012)...

    Read More

  • Themes Of White Privilege Knapsack Essay

    1310 Words  | 3 Pages

    "White Privilege and Male Privilege: A Personal Account of Coming To See Correspondences through Work in Women’s Studies" (1988), by Peggy McIntosh. Macintosh.pdf

    Read More

  • The American School System: In Need of Change

    1025 Words  | 3 Pages

    A child’s first day of school is often viewed as a rite of passage; the first step on the road to a happy and successful life. This is true for most children from affluent families who live in the best school districts or can afford expensive private schools. But what if a child’s first day of school is nothing more than the first step on the road to poverty and possibly even illiteracy? The documentary Waiting for “Superman” addresses many issues in a failing school system and the innocent children that system leaves behind. Although the documentary spends little time suggesting parents’ roles in their children’s education, it clearly shows that we must make changes to help children from low-income families and improve the teacher’s unions.

    Read More

  • Black Male Success in Higher Education

    2278 Words  | 5 Pages

    Over the years there has been a significant decrease in the percentage of African American male success in higher education. Not only does this effect society as a whole, but more importantly this effects the African- American community as well. The high percentage of uneducated African- American males will result in increased crime rate, shortened life span and overall hard life. However this epidemic can be stopped by looking at the contributing factors of why there is a decrease in African-American male success in higher education and how to change it. Throughout the paper I will be addressing the issues as to why there are not more black men in higher education, by looking at the contributing factors such as environmental stressors, student’s perceptions, racial identity issues, academic and social integration, family upbringing and the media. The attrition rate of African- American male students could be changed and decreased drastically. Increasing our understanding of these differences would enable us to better meet the needs of young black men.

    Read More

  • Research on Women of Color

    1978 Words  | 4 Pages

    Similarly, research literature on the experience of women of color college students has placed emphasis on exploring women’s experiences with racism much more than their experiences with sexism. Recent studies have explored racism on college campuses in a variety of ways including, racial discrimination (Chao, Mallinckrodt, & Wei, 2012; Henson, Derlega, Pearson, Ferrer, & Holmes 2013; King, 2005), colorblind ideologies (Coleman, Chapman, & Wang, 2013), racial stereotyping awareness (Johnson-Ahorlu, 2013; Muñoz, & Maldonado, 2012) , typology of racial incidents (Harwood, Huntt, Mendenhall, & Lewis, 2012; Yosso, Smith, Ceja, & Solorzano, 2009) , racialized school spaces (Barajas & Ronnkvist, 2007), and internalized racism (Hipolito-Delgado, 2010). Findings from these studies suggest that a major implication of racism on college campuses is the impact these in...

    Read More

  • Wage Inequality And The Texas State Government

    1311 Words  | 3 Pages

    The reality of wage differences between men and women is that above all changes women continue to earn less than men. Countless arguments have promoted that wage inequality has changed and that everyone finally receives an equal amount of pay. “For women of color, the gap is largest of all: In 2006, black and Hispanic women earned 86 and 87 cents on the white man’s dollar, respectively,” (Mcswane 2). If a woman is lucky enough she will get an equal pay compared to a man doing the same job. But it is challenging for a woman of a minority background to achieve this. Not only are women paid less because of their sex, but also because of their race. There seems to be a mentality that because someone is a woman and a minority that they cannot do the same job as men or that women do not have the same education as the men, so employers do not have to pay them the same. “When the numbers are broken down by district, they 're pretty hard to ignore. Women in Texas are being utterly screwed financially, according to the data compiled by AAWU, with women earning anywhere from 66 percent of what men do in some districts, to the top end of things, which is about 89 percent,” (Leicht 4). The proof cannot be ignored. It i...

    Read More

  • Education and Women’s Social Roles

    1916 Words  | 4 Pages

    McCandless, Amy Thompson. "Preserving the Pedestal: Restrictions on Social Life at Southern Colleges for Women."

    Read More

  • Women In 1930's Education For Women

    1405 Words  | 3 Pages

    “Nationally, more than one-quarter of the students in the 1930s were black. Yet they received only about one-tenth of the total education revenues. Many Americans believed that African Americans were simply not capable of excelling in school” (“The 1930’s education…”). For colored women, it was more difficult to prove their abilities than any other race. For example, Asian women were not affected as much simply because their skin color was closer to that of a white’s than a black person. As black women were treated unequally in the education department, white women have also struggled in getting a higher education. “They gave young women a chance to gain the same kinds of education as their brothers without having to spend much of their time and energy fighting the prejudice they would have faced at male-dominated institutions. At the same time, they provided a proving-ground in which college administrators, professors, and students could demonstrate that women could flourish intellectually while remaining healthy and ladylike.” (“The Value

    Read More

  • Identifying Strategies to Improve African American College Student Retention and Graduation Rates

    1677 Words  | 4 Pages

    As previously stated, it appears there are persistant barriers present that hinder enrollment, retention, and rate of graduation for African Americans in higher education. It is imperative that educational concerns for African Americans are addressed at all levels, but it is particularly important at the post secondary stage. Higher levels of education are associated with both lower unemployment rates and a higher income. If...

    Read More

  • The Role Of Women In The Naked Citadel, By Susan Faludi

    1434 Words  | 3 Pages

    Susan Faludi unfolds a world of male domination and its interrelationships within its confines and places women in the center of her story. Indeed it truly took an extremely self-confident woman to even entertain the idea of entering an all-male academic college like the Citadel, whose front gate practically reads like that of a young boys fort that makes the bold statement, “No girls allowed they have coodies.” Shannon Falkner was a strong willed woman with an immense amount of confidence to completely omit her gender on the Citadel application to enter this college. As if gender was not an issue, or should have never been an issue in

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Taking Women Students Seriously

    903 Words  | 2 Pages

    Imagine living in a time when your only role is to get married, bear children, and take care of your house and husband. Adrienne Rich proposes an ulterior idea in her essay “Taking Women Students Seriously” Women should not only question the gender standards but discuss the gender norms that society has created; by discussion and attention to the matter we can eliminate it all together. Women are not represented in school curriculums enough and have a large misrepresentation in society. Rich draws attention to: What women have working against them in education, how women are perceived in the world by the media and advertising, and the gender roles that society pressures young children to contort to. By striking up a discussion

    Read More

  • The History of Women in Education

    1189 Words  | 3 Pages

    Education has been the hurdle keeping women from gaining equality in society, by separating them from their male counterparts. Women who sought higher education were considered, heathens and the most disgusting beings that would perish. Without education to empower them, women were stripped of their dignity and rights by their husbands and other men of the community. The struggle for women higher education is a battle that still has not reached its citadel.

    Read More

  • How Our World is Changing

    1511 Words  | 4 Pages

    Women have had quite a few hurdles to get over since the 1950's. In 1958 the proportion of women attending college in comparison with men was 35 percent. (Friedan,

    Read More

More about Current Issues Facing The American Education System

Open Document