Eurocentrism and Racism in Education
Education is said to be the great equalizer, a golden ticket out of any situation, no matter how dire. From the time Americans are born, there is a common narrative, reminding students that if they work hard enough then they will get the chance to go to college. This narrative continually says that if one goes to college, earns a degree, then they will get to follow their passion and live happily after. Unfortunately, the reality of the situation is that not everyone will acquire the foretold golden ticket tucked inside their candy bar wrapper. This is because the game is rigged by a system of inequality that is using access to a quality and fair education as a bargaining chip in a game for power. In America,
In a study of the effects of teacher racial identity on a class made up of mostly black students, the researchers found that the white teachers often soften their lesson plans for their African American students because of their belief in the stereotypical narrative that African Americans are not able to keep up academically (Douglas, Douglas, Lewis, Garrison-Wade and Scott 47). The authors of, “The Effect of White Teachers on the Academic Achievement of Black Students”, state that “this approach does not assume Black students’ potential, but aims to compensate for what is presumed missing from the student’s backgrounds” (Douglas, Douglas, Lewis, Garrison-Wade and Scott 48). This means that teachers are purposely watering their courses down to fit their assumption that African American students are not as equipped as other students to succeed in the classroom, as their white student counterparts. These teachers are not recognizing the potential or the gifts of their minority students, so the teachers are unable to help nurture these natural abilities. In the article, “The Alarming Effect of Racial Mismatch on Teacher Expectations”, the author, Seth Gershenson, summarizes his research findings by saying, “…non-black teachers have significantly lower educational expectations for black students than
According to Sarah Sparks, a journalist, she found that “If you 're a boy of color in elementary school, your likelihood of being suspended or missing class rises significantly if you are assigned to a teacher of another race”(Sparks 1). Which means that Sarah Sparks found that when minority students are placed in a classroom with an instructor of a different race, they are more likely to be absent, suspended or expelled than students in other situations. That is very telling of how much tension exists in the learning environment, where white teachers are literally removing more minority students through suspension and the minority children are removing themselves from the environment through being absent. Which is extremely detrimental to the students’ academic success because the students are not able to be in the classroom actively learning and they often become so far behind in their school work, that it seems impossible to catch up. In the article "The Impact of Teacher Demographic Representation on Student Attendance and Suspensions", the authors, Stephan Holt and Seth Gershenson, say that “Students who are suspended from school early in their academic lives, particularly via out-of-school suspensions, show similar patterns of increased truancy and lower academic achievement (Holt, Gershenson 3).
Authors Glenn E. Singleton and Curtis Linton in Chapter Five of Courageous Conversations About Race broach the topic of race, by asking the reader to evaluate his or her own consciousness of race. According to the authors, in order to address the achievement gaps between African American students and White students, educators should shift their energy towards focusing on the factors that they have direct control of inside the classroom rather than on the factors that influence this achievement disparity between races outside the classroom.
Race as a factor in inequity. Ladson-Billings and Tate (1995) posit that race continues to be a significant factor in determining inequity in the United States. Race matters in society. If we look at high school drop out, suspension, and incarceration rates of men of color in America we see a disproportionate amount of men of color marginalized and profiled by society. This is further compounded by the perception that male faculty of color cannot be educators or at least are not often conceptually visualized in that capacity (Bryan and Browder, 2013).
Data proves that America does not have enough African American males teaching in today’s schools. As a matter of fact, only 2% of America’s nearly five million teachers are black men (Bryan 1). In our American society, more and more African American females are fiercely taking over both public and private classrooms. Although this might be a great accomplishment, school officials believes that if more black males teach, it would reduce the numbers of minority achievement gaps and dropout rates. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, about 44% of students nationwide are minorities, but nearly 90% of teachers are white. Polls and surveys further read that if there were more African American male teachers, the dropout rate would decrease while the graduation rate increases. In urban societies most African American teens would be more likely to succeed if there were more black males instructing secondary classrooms.
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.
In the article “Implicit racial bias often begins as early as preschool, a study finds” that black students are discriminated against by their teachers. Teachers don't expect as much from
The achievement gap is defined as the disparity between the performance groups of students, especially groups defined by gender, race/ethnicity, ability and socio-economic status. The achievement gap can be observed through a variety of measures including standardized test scores, grade point averages, drop out rates, college enrollment and completion rates. The Black-White achievement gap is a critical issue in modern society’s education system. Although data surrounding the issue clearly indicates that the racial performance gap exists in areas of standardized tests, graduation rates, dropout rates, and enrollment in continuing education, the causative reasons for the gap are ambiguous—therefore presenting a significant challenge in regard to the most effective way to close the gap. The gap appears before children enter kindergarten and it persists into adulthood (Jencks 1998). Since 1970, the gap has decreased about 40 percent, but has steadily grown since. Theories suggest the Black-White achievement gap is created by a multitude of social, cultural, and economic factors as well as educational opportunities and/or learning experiences. Factors such as biased testing, discrimination by teachers, test anxiety among black students, disparities between blacks and whites in income or family structure, and genetic and cultural differences between blacks and whites have all been evaluated as explanations for the Black-White achievement gap (Farkas 2004). The research that follows will elaborate on these factors as they affect the decline in academic performance of black males—particularly the literacy achievement of black males.
Today's education is often viewed as failing in its goal of educating students, especially those students characterized as minorities, including African American, Hispanic, and Appalachian students (Quiroz, 1999). Among the minority groups mentioned, African American males are affected most adversely. Research has shown that when Black male students are compared to other students by gender and race they consistently rank lowest in academic achievement (Ogbu, 2003), have the worst attendance record (Voelkle, 1999), are suspended and expelled the most often (Raffaele Mendez, 2003; Staples, 1982), are most likely to drop out of school, and most often fail to graduate from high school or to earn a GED (Pinkney, 2000; Roderick, 2003).
America demands that all youth receive an education and that its educational system is free and open to all—regardless of class, race, ethnicity, age, and gender. However, the system is failing. There is still inequality in the educational system, and minorities’ experience with education is shaped by discrimination and limited access, while white people’s experience with education is shaped by privilege and access. The educational experience for minorities is still segregated and unequal. This is because the number of white children that are withdrawn from school by their parents is higher than the number of people of color enrolling. White parents are unconsciously practicing the idea of “blockbusting,” where minorities begin to fill up a school; whites transfer their children to a school that has a small or no minority population. They unconsciously feel like once their child is in a school full of minorities that school would not get the proper funding from the federal government. Bonilla-Silvia (2001) states that “[i]nner-city minority schools, in sharp contrast to white suburban schools, lack decent buildings, are over-crowded, [and] have outdated equipment…” (97). The “No Child Left Behind” Act, which holds schools accountable for the progress of their students, measures students’ performance on standardized tests. Most white children that are in suburban schools are given the opportunity to experience education in a beneficial way; they have more access to technology, better teachers, and a safe environment for learning. Hence, white students’ experience with the education system is a positive one that provides knowledge and a path to success. Also, if their standardized testing is low, the government would give the school...
Many literacy experts point out the fact that at the college level, black students who attend all-black schools tend to be more successful than those attending predominantly white schools. Even though these schools often lack resources and financial stability, they nonetheless produce more high achieving black students than predominantly white schools. For instance, according to Fleming, black students attending Historically Black Universities and Colleges (HBUC) have higher graduation rates than those attending predominately white institutions. Also, students who graduate from a HBUC and go on to attend predominantly white graduate schools do just as well as students who have graduated from predominantly white colleges (Fleming 1). What is it that black schools and black teachers have that produces academically successful black students? What approaches to learning can white teachers adopt from black teachers in order to maximize the learning of these students?
White savior mentality” is the perception of some white pre-service teachers, that they are going to be able to come into a classroom and save the “helpless” students of color from dropping out of school. Several pre-service teachers believe that they can help a child of color succeed in school because they, as a white teacher, are helping that student learn. As we all know, all children learn in different ways and sometimes it takes some extra help from a tutor or a teacher for the student to reach their full potential or understanding of the concept or lesson, but the pre- service teachers that Sherry Marx interviewed seemed to think otherwise. They believed that because they were tutoring Latino students, the students needed to be saved.
Prejudice, racism, discrimination have always been present in society. Combined together, they form one of the most terrible and dreadful ways of treating and thinking about another human being. The effects of these actions and views on individuals have impacted society in an irreparable and tragic way. Judging someone by the color of their skin creates permanent impacts in people’s lives. A consequence caused by that old-fashioned way of thinking and seeing society in general is the effects these views have on black children education: a considerable number of American black children suffer to get a good education since they are in preschool.
A substantial amount of educational and psychological research has consistently demonstrated that African American students underperform academically relative to White students. For example, they tend to receive lower grades in school (e.g., Demo & Parker, 1987; Simmons, Brown, Bush, & Blyth, 1978), score lower on standardized tests of intellectual ability (e.g., Bachman, 1970; Herring, 1989; Reyes & Stanic, 1988; Simmons et al., 1978), drop out at higher rates (e.g., American Council on Education, 1990; Steele, 1992), and graduate from college with substantially lower grades than White students (e.g., Nettles, 1988). Such performance gaps can be attributed to any number of factors, such as socioeconomic status, academic preparation, and educational opportunities; however, Steele (1997) pointed out that even when background factors are held constant, subsequent achievement remains lower for minority students. Moreover, much research in this area has focused on how African American students’ lack of motivation and negative attitudes contribute to their inferior academic performance (Ogbu, 1990); yet many Black students often report high educational aspirations (Fordham, 1996; Fine, 1991; Ogbu, 1987, 1990; Hauser & Anderson, 1991), even higher than White students of comparable class background (MacLeod, 1995). What remains certain is the urgent need to explain what accounts for the persistent academic underachievement of Black students.
George Washington Carver once stated that: “Education is the key to unlock the golden door of freedom.” An education is the first step to a job, a salary, recognition, and a successful life. The greatest pride of a nation is not their military, nor their economy. It is the ability to say that their people are educated. Now, a higher education is so closely connected to the American Dream that it is nearly impossible to reach one without reaching the other. However, now access to that dream is fading to many. Over the last 35 years, a trend in rising tuition prices has brought college education out of the reach of many low and middle class families. Between the higher tuition costs and lower average salaries, families are often forced to choose between losing access to a higher education or being burdened with debt for the rest of their lives. In order to restore access to the basics right of American citizens, it is necessary to make education more accessible by making it
On average, minorities attend schools that have less-experienced, lower-paid teachers who are less likely to be certified, poor graduation records, and high poverty rates. Many studies suggest that racial diversity is the key to...
The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES, 2004) reported that Black students continue to trail White students with respect to educational access, achievement and attainment. Research on the effectiveness of teachers of Black students emphasizes that the teachers’ belief about the Black students’ potential greatly impacts their learning. Teachers tend to teach black students from a deficit perspective (King, 1994; Ladson-Billings, 1994; Mitchell, 1998). White teachers often aim at compensating for what they assume is missing from a Black student’s background (Foorman, Francis & Fletcher, 1998). The deficit model of instruction attempts to force students into the existing system of teaching and learning and doesn’t build on strengths of cultural characteristics or preferences in learning (Lewis, Hancock...