Racism in America Education

Introduction

`                    America is yet to overcome the challenge of racial inequality within its education system. The country is failing to effectively use the breakthroughs of the 19^th and 20^th century to fight racial bias in the education system.  Decision makers within the education department are yet to implement the recommendations of historical events like the court’s ruling against racial segregation in the learning institutions. A significant number of the management and the society have differing perceptions of how the historical events should influence measures adopted to eliminate financial bias, a condition that has promoted steps that increase racial prejudice. Therefore the current schools enhance racial discrimination which contradicts the Americanization goal of improving educational equality. It is therefore undeniable that there is a need to understand why racial inequality is a rampant problem despite the historic breakthrough on the issue. Further, it is necessary to know whether the learning institutions promote or discourage racial bias.

Racism in the united state education history

Racial discrimination is central in the United States education system. Statistics by America’s  Department of Education’s Office indicates that the black, and Native American students are unable to acquire arithmetic and scientific reading materials. The students are mostly taught by the first-year instructors, unlike the white students who have an opportunity to learn advanced arithmetic causes like calculus from competent instructors. The rate of suspending the Africa-America children is three times more than that of expelling an American child (Hsieh, 2015). The department has also introduced a new measure called pre-K level of evaluating the severity of racial bias in schools. The test has revealed that African Americans children who are four years old have experienced unfair treatment from the school management.

The American educational institutions are also promoting racial discrimination in schools using strategies that were popular in history. For instance, the universities in America attracts candidates from around the world thus creating stiff competition amongst the students. Research suggests that only 10% of the applicants secure an opportunity to study in the prestigious universities.  Therefore, the wealthy parents who are mostly white pay for their children’s tutoring, extracurricular activities, and admissions coaching activities to guarantee their acceptance.  Students from the minority races tend to lack resources to pay for educational expenses thus end up getting disadvantage during the admission process. Portraying education as a good that parents can offer their children based on their financial capabilities promotes racial discrimination within the education system (Shields, Newman & Satz, 2017 )

Further de facto residential segregation continues to manifest today, and it undermines racial equality within the education system. Often, the students in the United States can only access quality primary and secondary education if their parents can afford to live in the middle-class neighborhoods. It, therefore, means that the children of the minority who reside in public housing can only access poor quality education. Education in the poverty-stricken neighborhoods comes along with lack of essential commodities like modern learning devices, most of the minority also suffer from a limited number of teachers. The positive relations between school segregation and lower quality of learning facilities s makes the children from minority races not perform when compared to their white peers.

Also, Institutions like the court are making it difficult to eliminate racial bias within the education system. The court rulings of 1974 which was between in Milliken v. Bradley (1974) stopped a cross-border busing plan which, transported the students through the district lines to integrate the urban schools with the local institutions. The limitations in the number of legal alternatives on the issue of isolation have threatened the mixing of schools in America. Majority of the school districts in America are yet to embrace racial diversity. More recently, the Court ruling on the Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District decision (2006) case, further delayed the inter-school mixing efforts within the few districts that are encouraging racial diversity racially diverse. The court banned its learning facilities from openly using students’ race as a basis for influencing the school assignment plans; therefore only race-neutral combination plans were legal.

A Case example of racism in schools.

Cases of racisms are easy to experience around the school institutions. An example is that of an Africa- American child who accidentally hurt his friend in school. The teacher witnesses the accident and confronts the perpetrator. The child is scared and starts walking away,   the teacher chases the kid and reports him to the principle. The principal of the school then considers the young boy dangerous to the other students and even to the teaching staff. These are racial discrimination because in that institution students have engaged in risky activities yet none of the white children has been treated that harshly.

The American education promotes racial bias through teaching history that portrays the nations in good light. The school curriculum skips the dark past of the America and at times offer a false alternative explanation about the dark history. For instance, a textbook by McGraw-Hill textbook refers to slaves as workers or immigrants to the United States. The use of wrong words misleads the Africa- America and devalues their history. Further, for the tutors who feel comfortable discussing history with the students lack an opportunity to test the students understanding of history because the state exam curriculum emphasizes on the histories of the white founding fathers. An emphasis on the history of the white while manipulating the history of the minority exposes the students to the existing racial differences. Consequently, the students will also judge others based on the color of their skin instead of the content of their character.

Americanization efforts

The Americanization efforts of 1915 did not promote racism instead they aimed at making the immigrant identify with the natives. The natives gave the immigrants an opportunity to acquire skills that were similar to their own. They also educated over 100,000 visitors who could not speak English on how to communicate effectively using the language and gave them an opportunity to choose occupations that were consistent with their talent. Both the government and the private organizations collectively strived to educate over 10% of the immigrants that were present in 26 states.

The private organizations that assisted assimilate the immigrants into the American culture were the National Americanization Committee.  There was the tendency of Americanization to focus on equality between the natives and the immigrants so that the nation would win the loyalty of the aliens thus expedite war against international enemies. The country also aimed at assimilating the migrants to improve economic productivity through reducing accidents that came along with the inability of the workers to communicate. Therefore, the Americanization efforts were aimed at discouraging racial bias because the locals knew the economic and political losses that racial discrimination would cause.

Do you agree with the statement that was the way they thought it was?

Finally, I agree that historians view different historical events differently. The difference in the perception of an event is because of the beliefs individuals hold regarding a particular race. More often, it is difficult for individuals to understand a historical circumstance correctly if they already have misguided beliefs. The wrong ideas about a race emerge from our families, the media, the book and also poetry. Therefore historians achieve a correct understanding of historical event through reexamining the events using information from different credible sources while paying minimal attention to their values and beliefs. Historians use new information about past happenings to re-evaluate the correctness of their early understanding of circumstances.

For instance, the era of the wagon trains was initially interpreted to portray the Indians as a threat to the Native Americans. Further, the local men are described as protecting their heritage from the hostiles. However, as women historians evaluate the event using new information from the women diary, they develop a new perspective on India’s settlement in America. Using the new evidence, they can conclusively suggest that the significant threat to the native Americans were disease and not the Indians. The Indians were helpful as they offered alternative sources of foods to the locals. The event was only one, but two perspectives were explaining the incident. Therefore, people do not see things the way they are, but they see things the way we are.

Conclusion

Ultimately, racial bias is a significant challenge within the United States education system. Historical events like the Americanization efforts are yet to achieve the desired goal of oneness amongst the United States citizen. Further several African American students continue to be victimized in the education systems because of the misguided information about races. Lastly, the education system continues to expose the children to the harsh reality of racial bias in America. Therefore, the government must create awareness on the history of racial bias, and its effects so that people can learn from the past. It is through learning from the historical event when people can avoid further racial prejudices in the education system.

Hsieh, S. (2015, June 29). 14 Disturbing Stats About Racial Inequality in American Public Schools. Retrieved from https://www.thenation.com/article/14-disturbing-stats-about-racial-inequality-american-public-schools/

Winfield, A. G. (2007). Eugenics and Education in America: Institutionalized Racism and the Implications of History, Ideology, and Memory. Pieterlen: Peter Lang.

Shields, L., Newman, A., & Satz, D. (2017, May 31). Equality of Educational Opportunity. Retrieved from https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/equal-ed-opportunity/