Students’ academic performance in the US are negatively affected by racial inequality, and this outcome is attributed to the unequal distribution of guidance, crime, resources, parental love, and income. Racial inequality is a social vice that emanates from some people's ideologies of perceiving some races to be superior over the other. The complexity of racism has always sparked heated discussions about how it can be eliminated in the United States (Newman, 2019). It still significantly impacts the way people live long after Congress abolished it after America gained independence. In collaboration with activists like Martin Luther King Jr., civil rights movements have decried the negative impacts of racial inequality in American schools long after the seeds of racial disparities were planted during the colonial era. Their efforts to liberate America from the pains of racial inequality in all sectors, including education, have been hampered by a "rigid" political system that directly influences how Americans use various social amenities like schools, hospitals, defense, and security, among others. No one is born racist. Racism is a behavior that individuals learn from people within their environment. Racial inequality in American public schools is one of the root cause of school indiscipline and other learning issues among students. This essay will address the causes and effects of racial imbalance in the US public primary schools. In the next section, this essay focuses on the background information that necessitated discussing racial inequality in United States public schools.
Summary and Context
Several observations contributed to the desire to write about this topic. Firstly, minority and majority toddlers often have insignificant differences. However, there starts to exist significant gaps as these children start preparing for school. Later on, as they approach 7th grade and other higher learning levels, the academic achievement gap between these individuals (now teenagers and young adults) widens rapidly. The contributing factor for this occurrence is that many minority groups tend to join intermediate and low ranking schools, while majority races often join top-tier well-performing schools (Fletcher & Tienda, 2010). The disparity is caused by the prejudiced eligibility for a child to enroll in good schools, thus weighing down on the chances of minority race children joining such schools.
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Another research conducted by Rothstein Jesse shows that even in an inclusive school where both black and White students learn together, their GPA varies significantly as they graduate from high school. Consequently, in a study conducted to compare and analyze SAT performances among Black and White students, White students performed better (Rothstein, 2004). On several occasions, this outcome has been interpreted as a disadvantage among minority races who are believed to be less equipped and suffer tremendous psychological challenges like segregation. Their scores are then bolstered to standardized levels so that they can compete evenly with their White peers.
This essay draws its inspiration from the above-mentioned performance gaps between minority and majority races in the US public schools to develop a well-cited paper in response to the thesis statement.
Critical Analysis
There are several causative factors of racial inequality in US public schools. The first one is stereotypic views about minority races. For example, most Black students in American schools suffer a lot due to stereotype perceptions from their most often White instructors (Becares & Priest, 2015). The prevalent belief that being dark-skinned in color makes slow-learners troublesome or rude, among other negative personalities by default, and deserves less. When these students learn that they are perceived and handled differently because of their skin color, they start to undergo psychological trauma. They will often act in an overly aggressive manner, in the bid to protect their emotions and opinions. Unfortunately, disciplinary action is taken against them in severe proportions, maybe because they engaged in a fight motivated by racist ideologies. Many get suspended from school and eventually drop out to engage in criminal activity in most cases (Dennison & Swisher, 2019). US Government Accountability Office Report on Discipline Disparities has posited that the suspensions of most Black students from school is are inappropriate. These victim students are often punished for small non-violent offenses, unlike their White peers, because of their instructors' stereotype views about minority races. This scenario is similar to where the Bible talks about Hagar, Sarah's slave from Egypt, and Abraham's concubine with whom they bore their first son Ishmael (Newspring Church, n.d.). According to Israeli customs, Sarah ordered Abraham to send Hagar away because she believed Hagar deserved less, as a foreigner and slave.
Secondly, the lower socioeconomic status of many minorities directly impacts children's' racial segregation. Most Black and Hispanic families have low-paying jobs, making them incapable of fully paying school fees for their children to attend school. Students of such individuals are more likely to be sent away from school to clear their school fees arrears. It often takes their parents long periods to raise these amounts or not to even raise the required amount to clear school fees. Consequently, students of minority races get fewer school time hours such that they have to struggle more to catch up with their classmates (Fletcher & Tienda, 2010). Eventually, they get low grades. Contrarily, White peers who, from a statistical perspective, come from wealthier backgrounds can comfortably afford the exorbitant school fees charged, which guarantees them full-time attendance to their academic affairs. They are more advantaged because they do not need to hurry to catch up with anyone else. Learning for them is systematic, thus they post better grades. Comparatively, the academic performance gap widens between the minority (Blacks and Hispanics) and majority student groups (Whites).
Resource allocation a school funding also contributes toward the development of racial inequality in US public schools. White elite students from wealthy backgrounds often occupy top-tier public schools in the US. In contrast, intermediate and lower-level schools are attended by students from low-income earning backgrounds and are often minority groups (Blacks). When federal funds and resources are being distributed, top-tier schools will be prioritized to receive more funding and resources, unlike intermediate schools, which will receive lesser funding and resourcing (Newman, 2019). The lack of enough funding band resources for intermediate schools negatively impacts students' academic performance in such schools. Historically, attendees of such intermediate underfunded schools have had minimal learning opportunities compared to their peers who attend top-tier well-funded schools. Intermediate school attendees rarely engage in practical activities like attending laboratory sessions for experimentation, limiting their learning experience. Poor learning experiences often lead to poor academic performance for intermediate school attendees, unlike their top-tier school attendees. Due to their vast provisions, the latter are capable of having a better learning experience and consequently post good results in their final exams or during graduation. However, this occurrence may create racial inequality in school based on the majority of either top-tier or intermediate-school attendees.
Conclusion
In conclusion, racial inequality is deeply rooted in society, and it is not going away any soon. It has existed since Biblical times, as depicted in Sarah and Hagar's story. This vice has affected many sectors, including the education sector. Minority groups in public schools have been subjected to racial inequality due to stereotypical views of their instructors and the entire education system, lower socioeconomic status, and inadequate resourcing and funding. These students have consequently suffered by being disciplined discriminately for even less-violent offenses, dropped out of school, and posted poor academic performances compared to their White counterparts. In the wake of these disadvantages imposed on minority races like Black students, there is a need for society to change its stance and perceptions about different races if it is to save such students. Society should eradicate stereotypical thoughts about other minority races for a better tomorrow.
References
Bécares, L., & Priest, N. (2015). Understanding the Influence of Race/Ethnicity, Gender, and Class on Inequalities in Academic and Non-Academic Outcomes among Eighth-Grade Students: Findings from an Intersectionality Approach. PloS one , 10 (10).
Rothstein, Jesse M. 2004. College performance predictions and the SAT. Journal of
Econometrics 121 (1-2): 297-317.
Newman, P. (2020, June 29). Causes and Effects of Racism in Schools . https://www.kickboardforschools.com/blog/post/diversity-equity/causes-and-effects-of-racism-in-schools/.
Dennison, C. R., & Swisher, R. R. (2019). Postsecondary Education, Neighborhood Disadvantage, and Crime: An Examination of Life Course Relative Deprivation. Crime and delinquency , 65 (2), 215–238.
Church, N. (2016, January 18). What does the Bible say about racism? Retrieved October 07, 2020, from https://newspring.cc/articles/is-racism-a-sin
Fletcher, J & Tienda, M (2010). Race and Ethnic Differences in College Achievement: Does High School Attended Matter? The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science , 627(1), 144-166.
