Race, Ethnicity, Gender Identity Research Paper

Introduction

Today globalization is seen to be affecting the nature of debate on educational inequalities that for a long time has been viewed in the perspectives of race, ethnicity and gender especially with regard to global economy. Despite consistent and more recent efforts and strategies to address the issue of eliminating discrimination that is perceived on the grounds of race, ethnicity and gender, profound evidence in our society shows that discrimination on grounds of race, ethnicity and gender continues to persist in our modern society.

Education presents an opportunity for human to succeed in life and according to Moses (2002, p.1), education holds the promise evoked by these three words; hope, possibility and just. But the author at the same time regrets to the problem where students of color, poor and working class students, and female students of all kinds have suffered from what he refers to as dysfunctional educational system of USA which is failing these students and hence does not fulfill its purpose (Moses, 2002, p.1).

Kennedy Howe (1997) observes that efforts towards equality of educational opportunity have largely failed especially when issues of race, ethnicity and gender are scrutinized; “rather than nurturing hope, education causes despair to the mostly to the colored people, ethnic minority and largely female” (Moses, 2002, p.1).

Furthermore, the author appears to disagree with the words of a Law professor at the University of Texas at Austin who asserted that students of color are unable to compete with white students at selective universities because within the cultures, education success is not held in high regard and academic failure is not looked upon by disgrace (Moses, 2002, p.1).

The author evaluates the comments of the law professor and note that such opinions held in institutions of higher learning shows how the education system and institutions have become dysfunctional. Therefore this research paper will explore the issue of education inequality in American institutions in the perspectives of race, ethnicity and gender.

Global perspective on Race, Ethnicity and Gender

Race, ethnicity and gender have been seen to continue to act as limiting factors that put barrier to access to quality education for all, equity and access in the world. At the same time, the above factors continue to represent major barometers in social stratification and differential access to schooling in both the developed and third world countries (Zajda, 2009).

For some time now, there has been a concerted effort to address ways of eliminating discrimination of race, ethnicity and gender; and analyzing statistics from many countries around the world it is evident that the three issues still persist. Today, in many societies of the world, individual’s skin color still dictates how equality is conducted and perceived and as a result social stratification continue to affect the educational impacts of many individuals divided a long reams of race (Zajda, 2009).

In the American society, race continues to be a significant aspect in academic achievement. Racializations in education and their impacts on minority groups have greatly been studied. At this juncture, minority groups have been disfavored by the American educational system and this has resulted into these minority groups experiencing unequal opportunities as far as education opportunities are concerned.

Travis Gosa and Karl Alexander (2007) note that race still matters in USA schooling and afterwards success (cited in Zajda, 2009). Their observation is that race has profoundly and greatly affected both working class and middle class of African Americans.

America’s Educational Inequality

Most books and other literature works have written greatly about the history of America’s education history whereby the immense literatures show that as late as 1960s, many African-American, Latinos, and Native Americans students received their education in totally segregated schools that operated on funds less than those of serving whites; while at the same time, they were largely prevented from accessing higher education opportunities (Darling-Hammond, 2010).

By 1970, there were some legal advances that saw narrowing down of these inequalities as segregation became outlawed in most institutions and as a result there were visible evidence that the gap between minority and white students narrowed greatly. For instance, “the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT), the scores of African-American students climbed 54 points between 1976 and 1994, while those of white students remained stable” (Darling-Hammond, 2010).

Despite these remarkable developments, educational experiences for minority students continue to be largely separate and unequal, whereby statistics shows that 75 per cent of minority students still attend schools that are greatly dominated by minority students. At the same time most of these minority schools are located in central cities and continue to receive fewer funds as compared to those of white students located in suburban districts (Darling-Hammond, 2010).

Recent studies and findings on school funds from major cities of Alabama, New Jersey, New York, Texas and Louisiana found that schools serving colored students were understaffed, had unqualified teachers and curriculum offered was ‘irrelevant’ to the needs of the students in these schools (Darling-Hammond, 2010). In other words schools serving minority students have fewer resources when compared to those serving white students and this contributed to poor results by the students from minority groups.

Jonathan Kozol (1991) making comparison on inequalities between public schools that serves minority in urban setting and also public schools that serves the white in suburban whereby he noted that much funds and resources were being spend on white students even with little needs while at the same time in minority schools like MacKenzie High School in Detroit, courses in word processing were being taught without word processors because the school had no enough resources to acquire the equipment (cited in Darling-Hammond, 2010).

On the other hand in the white’s suburban schools, students were much privileging “from computer hookup to Dow Jones to stock transactions and science laboratories” (Darling-Hammond, 2010). More interesting is the fact that at Paterson Schools in New Jersey did not have the capacity to employ competent teachers with sufficient skills to teach foreign languages (Darling-Hammond, 2010).

Ethnicity and education inequality

For the last four decades many scholars have dedicated their resources and energies in examining the relationship between ethnicity and academic performance.

For example, Rabiner et al. (2004) studied that while a large portion of children from different ethnic backgrounds constitute a significant and increasing percentage of the American public school population that accounted for almost 40 per cent of national enrolment in 2000, what was evident was the fact that for the past thirty years fewer minority students have been considered proficient in reading while at the same time statistics shows further that minority students scored less on standardized tests as compared to whites (Zajda, 2009).

Hedwig (2007) observes that, inequality in “educational opportunities and outcomes between African American and White children in the United States have been a national concern since the Brown v. the Board of Education (1954) decision.”

Studies to investigate school ethnic composition in relation to academic performance done in the past have largely utilized standardized tests scores and grade point average (GPA) at the elementary and secondary levels and the studies have indicated that for instance, being an African American at the individual level has a negative effect on academic performance (Hedwig, 2007). On the other hand, when education conditions of Latinos as an ethnic group are studied and analyzed the statistics are alarming.

For example, in 2003, statistics showed that 48 per cent of Latinos had in a way attained at least high school education and when compared with White student ratio that had completed high school education, Latinos were seen to be lagging behind (Rodriguez and Massey, 2008). The historical development of Latino education system in USA has on various occasions been described as “subjugation, colonization and segregation mechanisms used to track down Latino students” (Rodriguez and Massey, 2008).

What is evident from numerous literature is that Latinos for a long time have struggled to preserve their cultural roots and heritage in a largely ‘Americanized’ education system. Further the schooling of Latinos is always described under bilingual education perspective and when the statistics of white educated youth employed are revealed there is a tendency for skewness where more white educated as compared to Latinos educated and with the same education credentials are employed.

Gender and academic inequality

Gender inequality has remained another persistent issue in social stratification and division of power. Many writers have noted that gender inequality reflects society’s existing patriarchy (Zajda, 2009).

Further the issue of gender in many literatures has been tied to the issues of race, ethnicity, power, status and class and what is seen in the American society and other global societies is the tendency to encourage and motivate women to develop skills that are basically useful and essential in low paying jobs, for instance clerical works that in turn leads to lower income and status (Zajda, 2009).

Furthermore the issue of women experiencing inequality especially in jobs emanates from the fact that most women cannot work fulltime and overtime and therefore have limited opportunities as far as career development and education are concerned.

Global statistics shows that one in three women are illiterate as compared to men whose statistics indicate one in every five men is illiterate (Zajda, 2009). Historical women education inequality shows that from 1950s to1960s, the percentage of women receiving some kind of college education stood at 43 per cent which dropped to23 per cent during the period of depression and later rising to 30per cent where it remained for relatively long time without being interrupted (Jacobs, 1996).

In 1970 President Nixon’s Task Force on Women’s Rights and Responsibilities identified that sex discrimination in education was linked to denial of employment opportunities.

The commission in its findings for the period it conducted interviews established that there was widespread of sex discrimination at all levels of education systems in 1972, the country through Nixon’s government banned all forms of sex discrimination in educational system. Attempts to eliminate gender identity as a factor in teaching and learning and to share all aspects of education still receive opposition especially from those who believe that the federal government should not attempt to interfere with the schools.

Recommendations

Unequal access to education opportunities is a form of racial discrimination since it ruins the future prospects of many young people especially the minority groups, With regards to race and education opportunities in USA what is evident from the past policies that have been designed to address the issue of race as hindering many minority groups is the fact that numerous education policies tend to dwell on minority where public policy on minority primary and secondary education discourage integration and largely promotes isolation and inequity. What is needed is a sustainable educational plan in form of policy that will address race issue in the current education system.

Therefore the following recommendations should be studied: Designing and establishing Racial Equity Plans at the school, district, state and national levels that include quantifiable goals; schools need to move a way from the procedural ways of applying suspensions and expulsions that sometimes ignites racial discrimination; develop plans that guarantee the equitable distribution of resources that take into account the critical role of quality public education as one remedy for past discrimination; At the post secondary level affirmative actions need to be instituted that guarantee or facilitate increased number of minority completing graduate and college school.

With regard to gender identity and access to educational opportunities key policy recommendations are made that will ensure female access to education is increased as economic prospects have been attached advancement in education. First the number of women teachers should be increased as this will act as motivation to female students in many institutions to pursue further educational opportunities.

Current statistics indicate that women administrators in key educational institutions are still low as compare to male administrators. Second, there should be establishment of Female Development Act that will largely outline and elaborates affirmative actions that should be realized in educational systems. Third, the Gender Discrimination Prevention Act should be empowered with some legal powers to investigate and even institute law suits to those who violates or discriminate on gender basis.

Conclusion

Race, ethnicity and gender identity are three issues that continue to bewilder the American and global community. Notably is the fact that these issues have affected and defined how access to educational opportunities is perceived.

The major casualties in all this circumstance of events have been the minority groups of the society whereby their access to educational opportunities has been limited by their color, ethnic or sex. The resultant effects have been deterioration in their general welfare state as they thrive and get submerged in poverty incidences.

What is needed is adequate policy framework that addresses these issues. The policy framework currently needed should appear to give different alternatives as compared to the existing alternatives that in essence have continued to perpetuate these issues further.

The policy framework need to address highlight how race, ethnicity and gender identity can be well addressed within the key existing institutions of law, economic, politics and even culture. It should not be forgotten that any form or kind of the above mentioned discrimination will greatly affect the lives of the victims involved and hence concerted efforts will be necessary to avert such harmful consequences especially on the part of minority groups.

This research has therefore tried to identify and suggest key policy strategies that can be spearheaded in order to minimize the cases of racial, ethnic or gender discrimination specifically in the country’s education systems. The recommendations are not adequate or exhaustive and future efforts to identify and formulate other policy strategies are welcome.

References

Darling-Hammond, L. (2010). Unequal Opportunity: Race and Education. Web.

Hedwig, L. (2007). Effects of School Racial and Ethnic Composition on Academic Achievement during Adolescence. The Journal of Negro Education. Web.

Jacobs, J. A. (1996). Gender Inequality and Higher Education. University of Pennsylvania. Web.

Moses, M. S. (2002). Embracing race: why we need race-conscious education policy. NY, Teachers College Press. Web.

Rodriguez, H. and Massey, D. S. (2008). Latinas/os in the United States: Changing the Face of America. NY, Springer. Web.

Zajda, J. (2009). Race, Ethnicity and Gender in Education: Cross-Cultural Understandings. NY, Springer. Web.