Disadvantages Of Race In Education

Within todays society it is clear that minority groups are grossly disadvantaged in a multitude of ways. It is almost unfathomable that this begins within the education system as they cement rather then distribute these obvious disadvantages. Schools do not aim to keep disadvantaged people in an underprivileged situation, however, it is clear they are not doing enough to change the cycle, thus showing that the education system is currently perpetuating and legitimising social inequality – and it should not be stood for. The aim of this essay is to highlight the potency of race playing an imperative role in influencing a students chance to succeed at school. This will be done by addressing the following major topics: social justice, the disadvantages

Unfortunately these ‘assumed’ behaviours one must possess in order to succeed in schooling are not obtained by every individual especially by those of different races – with a different ‘hidden curriculum’. The hidden curriculum is an unwritten, unofficial and often can consist of unintended lessons that students learn in schools. These are often unexamined, and because of this these skills remain the status quo. The issue with this in regards to race is that many people may not possess the assumed knowledge therefore educators with have a lower expectation of minorities or immigrants and this will lead to a negative effect on their academic achievement. Many children from different races and cultures are not fully aware of how to read, and answer test correctly and do not understand many other concepts that are assumed in most educational system. This leads to children of a different race being at an immediate disadvantage – regardless of the amount of effort put

Cultural capital has a distinguished relation to race as different races adopt different characteristics from there families. Cultural capital can rely on the exposure to different music, art, museums, languages, cuisines, books and many other aspects of cultural awareness. It is clear that the more cultural capital a student possesses the better they will do in school. Teachers are prone to privilege students who possess a cultural capital that most resembles there own. Although a great deal of ones cultural capital will come from immediate family, it is not limited to this. Within the schooling system students have the ability to have there cultural capital influenced by there peers, and the interests, and cultural capital they hold. In many communities race plays a part in a cultural capital consensus, whereby people do not often posses much cultural capital outside that of what their peers do. It is important to view cultural capital as a mechanism of cultural reproduction; schools often use this to reinforce the stratification of society unknowingly. As many people from minority groups are disadvantaged in the education system, it important to educate them in a way, which will take into regard their lacking cultural capital. People from disadvantaged backgrounds may not have a great deal of cultural