Racial Disparity in Education

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Racial Disparity in Education

Americans have a strong belief in the need for access to education. It is the tool that individuals use to transform their lives and access great opportunities. Society has made tremendous advances in realizing inequality in various aspects. There have been legislations such as Affirmative Action that have been instrumental in ensuring that everybody can access education. Racism has been a social menace that has affected many areas of society and education is one of them. Minority communities have had difficulty accessing education due to the surrounding factors such as racial discrimination. Racial disparity in education dates back many decades ago. Though there have been steps to deal with racial disparity in education, a lot more effort needs to be exerted to deal with the issues.

Racial disparity in education refers to the unequal platforms for accessing education. In that case, some races have the advantage of getting an education over others. The current education system tends to disadvantage certain ethnic and racial minorities. That can be proved by the existing experiences of racism among staff and students (Gillborn 7). Despite the reforms that the government has put in place, the US still experiences racial disparity in education at all levels of education. That can be noted from the number of students who graduate from each level. Several factors attribute to the phenomenon; they include school readiness, special education, socioeconomic status, culture, teacher bias, and school discipline.

History and Development of Racial Disparity in Education

The history of ethnicity and race is related to the concerns about equality and justice. In the early days of America, European settlers subjected American Indians to harsh treatment. In 1800, the government introduced boarding schools for American Indians to facilitate their forceful assimilation into the white culture (Darling‐Hammond 254). In the 1800s, in California, Chinese American children were forced to learn in segregated Chinese schools.

In 1931, segregation of schools was intervened by Roberto Alvarez v. The Lemon Grove School Board, the first landmark case to protect children from discrimination in admission to schools. Blacks have faced serious exclusion in history. Blacks were slaves and that placed them at a lower profile in the social ranking. They had difficult times accessing opportunities such as quality education. The 1800s were characterized by numerous laws that prohibited African Americans from accessing education. The rights of Blacks improved after the Civil War. After the 13th Amendment to the US constitution, which occurred in 1865, African Americans were lucky to receive the recognition of being citizens of America. During the period of Reconstruction, schools were established to educate slaves that had been freed.

Despite the development is educating the freed slaves in the 19th and 20th centuries, massive racial disparity in education has been still evident between Blacks and Whites. There was racial segregation such that Black students could only attend segregated schools (Smith 10). In the wake of civil rights movements in the 1960s characterized by legislations, policies, and court cases, American society started accommodating Blacks in education. Laws such as Affirmative action have worked been useful in promoting education for all. However, the racial disparity in education is still evident and much needs to be done to realize a fair platform for the education of all races.

Analysis of the Disparity

Whites enjoy higher graduation rates compared to Blacks and other minority communities. Whites have the economic capability to attend better schools that cannot be attended by most Blacks owing to the prevailing socio-economic situations (Darling‐Hammond 257). The disparities exist in indicators such as disparities in exposure to racial-ethnic and economic segregation, disparities in participation and access to high-quality programs, disparities in the access to effective teaching, disparities in access to and enrollment in rigorous coursework (Smith 13). The disparity is termed as discrimination when students from the dominant community have a higher advantage than their counterparts to access quality education. The minority races as Blacks experience challenges in striving to strive for education.

Solution

There are remedies that can be initiated to deal with racial disparity in education. First, the government needs to fix how it funds public schools. Funding should be directed towards helping minority communities such as blacks to escape barriers of poverty. Affirmative Action should be geared toward providing appropriate resources to schools that lag behind. Secondly, it is important to stop ranking and sorting students (Gillborn 3). Classifying students based on their perceived potential promotes racial biases. Next, there is the need to ensure that schools have a standard-based curriculum; all students should have the same pathways for learning. Next, society should promote diversity in terms of the culture and competence of teachers. That would ensure that learning institutions promote and appreciate all races.

Conclusion

American society has made tremendous steps in fighting the racial disparity in education. Back in the 1800s, minority races never had the opportunity to seek education. The abolition of slavery saw the building of schools for blacks. In the 1960s, human rights activists led the world in realizing basic human rights such as education. Today, every American has the right to quality education regardless of race. However, there is a need to take measures to improve racial equity and equality in access to education.

Works Cited

Darling‐Hammond, Linda. “Race, inequality and educational accountability: The irony of ‘No Child Left Behind’.” Race ethnicity and education 10.3 (2007): 245-260.

Gillborn, David, et al. “Evidence for the commission on race and ethnic disparities.” (2021).

Smith, Heather J. “The doublespeak discourse of the race disparity audit: An example of the White racial frame in institutional operation.” Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education (2021): 1-15.