From: /Sarah, Barnes/
Email:
Course: CD 169: Motivating Children and Adolescents in Educational Settings
College: San Jose State University
Instructor: Eugene Matusov
ClassWeb: http://www.ematusov.com/cd169
ChildrenObservations: No
Date: 12 May 1997
Time: 13:24:30
Remote Name: 130.65.86.155
This paper is an extension of a group project conducted by Suzi Burg, Angie Garcia, Jessica Kleinbach, and myself. I would like to thank and acknowledge them for the time and effort they contributed in the research and writing of the project. This paper presents the discrimination among minority students in school. When talking about minority students, I am mainly referring to African American and Hispanic students. I will also be discussing how schools trach their classrooms of students inot separate ability groups designed for bright, average, and slow learners and how minority students are discriminated in this tracking system. Our current education system operates to serve the "white middle class majority, minorities are faced with a barrier and often denied the opportunity to receive an equal education" (Ogbu, 1995). To understand and work towards taking down the barriers it is essential to understandthese minority students culture. Teachers must learn to be responsive to the differentneeds and cultures of students in these minority groups. Along with teachers being helpful to all children, parents must be supportive and motivate their children to learn. As Arellano stated, "it has been demonstrated that minority students at risk in in education are invulnerable to the negative consequences of educational risk when they have supportive families and teachers.
The classrooms of today are comprised of students from different ethnic, linguistic, and socio-cultural backgrounds. A typical Amercian classroom deals with a significant population of minority students from backgrounds that are different than white students. This increase of minority students in all classrooms is going to continue to rise. "The proportion of minority students in the Teacher Education Program has been increasing in the past several years. In 1991 nad 1992 10% of graduates were minorities, the classes of 1996 and 1997 include 21% of minority students (http://curryedschool.virginia.edu/curry/TeacherEd/students.htm). As you cand see, it is not just the elementary schools and high schools that are having a rise in the population of minority students. Schools, teachers,and curriculum need to prepare for all the different cultural backgrounds.
A lot of elementary schools and secondary schools track their students into separate ability groups designed for bright, average, and slow learners and into separate programs for students who are expected to foolow different career plans after high school. This tracking does seem appropriate to define the differences in the students' intellectual abilities, motivation, nad aspiration. However, the school systems need to make sure that the students are in the right tracking class with the opportunity to move up in education, if a student chooses to. As stated by Oakes, "many times the tracking system limits minority students' opportunities and life chances because the schools are likely to judge the minority students as to having learning deficits and limited learning potential". Because of this judgement the schools place these minority students in low tracking classes when they shouldn't be there. All of this follows the discrimination in schools among teachers and professional educators. To make a classroom successful and to make students successful there should not be any kind of discrimination what so ever. This tracking method also tended to place students at the same level for a variety of subjects and lock the students into the same level from year to year.
In some school systems, this tracking creates racial imbalance classes in elementary school, middle school, and high school. As stated by Pagni, "the imbalance took two forms: (1) white students are consistently over represented, and African American and Hispanic students are consistently under represented in high ability classes in all subjects; (2) in contrast, African American and Hispanic students are consistently over represented, while white students were consistently under represented in low ability tracks in all subjects". It is quite apparent that this tracking system is not consistently applied.
This lack of inconsistency in tracking leads right to the discrimination factor among minority students. One discrimination factor in tracking is that minority students who have the same test scores as white students are less likely to be placed in accelerated classes. As stated by Arellano, "at least half the repsondents had experienced both overt and subtle racism either from individuals or institutions and because of historical and political societal barriers minorities are predisposed to school failure". Another example of discrimination in the tracking system is that placement practices skewed enrollements in favor of whites than minorities which can explain the lower achievement among minority students.
The minority students in lower track classes had fewer learning opportunities. The teachers in lower track classes expected less from these minority students and give them less exposure tot curriculum and instruction in essential knowledge and skills. These lower track classes also provide less resources and opportunities for these minority students: They don't have highly qualified teachers, they don't have qualified classrooms and environments, and they don't have the opporutnity to earn extra grade points for them to qualify for college entrance. This lack of resources causes these minority students' academic achievement to suffer. A student of any race, more than likely, would have low academic achievement if they had inadequate resources and instruction.
Discrimination in the school systems (such as that in tracking) tends to lower minority students' self-esteem which creates a barrier. These minority students must learn to overcome these barriers in order to succeed, but they will need help in doing so. As stated by Lerner, "creating a barrier that nust be overcome before minorities can learn, and expers help is needed to overcome this barrier". This is where teacher support and parents support is very sufficient. If parents work with educators of their children and show that they take pride in thier work, then minority students will hopefully learn these positive attitudes. Educators should encourage minority students to develop to their best potential according to their own individual abilities. As stated by Lochean school, "we strive to provide a school environment that motivates and supports excellence in learnign with students, teachers, support staff, parents, and community members all working together". Everyone, especially minority students, will be much more successful if we work as a team in our society. As stated by Joseph Kornder, "his program stresses excellence, high standards, and a strong commitment from parents' support and follow their children's school effort".
In sum, it is quite obvious that the way minority students are treated in school does effect their academic achievement. The lack in academic achievement in minority students is not to be blamed entirely on these students. We need to start with the parents' attitudes towards their children's academic achievements. We also need to focus on the teachers in the school systems and hte curriculum these teachers are following. School systems need to have multicultural curriculums the entire school year to help these minority students achieve in academics. It is very important for the school systems to stop discrimination in schools so these minority students do not feel inferior to others.
REFERENCES
Arellano, A.R. & Padilla, A.M. (1996). Academic Invulnerability Among a Select Group of Latino University Students. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences, vol. 18, n4, 485-505.
Kornder, J. (1996). Milikin Basics Elementary. California Distinguished School. [On-line]. Available: http://www.sccoe.k12ca.us/milikinb,htm.
Lerner, B. (1995). Aim Higher. The Self-Esteem Barries. National Review, vol. 47, n4, 56-60.
Lochearn Elementary School. (1996). Lochearn Elementary School and It's Philosophy. [On-line]. Available: http://www.rtt.ca/rtt/lochearn/PANDM.HTM.
Oakes, J. (1995). Two Cities' Tracking and Within-school Segregation. Teachers College Record, vol. 96, n4, 681-690.
Ogbu, J. (1995). Cultural problems in Minority Education: Their Interpretations and Consequences-Part One: Theoretical Background. The Urban Review, vol. 27, n3, 189-205.
Pangi, D. & Lacampagne, C.B. (1993). SAFEMAP. Promising Research, Programs, and Projects, p.109.
Teacher Education Students. (1995). [On-line]. Available: http://curryedschool.virginia.edu/curryTeacherEd/students.htm.