Social prejudice in schools Essay -- essays papers

Social prejudice in naturalises Children from materialistic families generally are more happy in public schools than children from low-income families. Is the school system responsible for this problem, or is lower performance among low-income children a result of their home milieu? The home environment has a big role in a childs education and if it is not supportive of the school environment, the student will not be as successful in school as the child whose home environment is supportive of the schools learning environment will.The typical public school teacher is a middle- correct white female. The typical curricula, tests, and learning tools used in public schools were created by middle-class educators and are geared toward the needs of middle-class children. The middle-class teacher may not be able to communicate as well with the lower-class student as she could with a middle class student. A poor minority student may have trouble understanding side if English is not his/her first language or if English is not spoken in his/her home, and the teacher may have trouble understanding his/her broken English. Different social classes also use different razz and voice inflections, and have ways of speaking that contain hidden meanings. So the language a lower-class student uses at home may driving force him to have trouble communicating with his middle-class teacher and classmates. In his book, Aint No Makin It, Jay MacLeod tells how a group of poor students in a picky school were able to relate to a teacher (Jimmy Sullivan) who spoke their language. It was cool, cuz like you walk in thereyou talk to Jimmy, and you know Jimmys genuinely cool, said one of his students.Related to this language barrier that exists between low and middle social classes are behavior differences which affect teachers perceptions and expectations of students. Poor and minority students are more likely to be placed in low tracks (Oakes, 64) than middle-class childre n, probably because teachers misinterpret certain students abilities. J. Oakes suggests that one of the reasons this happens is because of the existence of a hidden program, one in which teachers expectations and judgments are based on subtle behavior traits that are a part of each students home career and are brought to the classroom. Many students in lower tracks are plac... ...ols cannot change is the fact the every family has a unique set of values, beliefs, traditions, and ways of rearing children. Ultimately, the home environment has a greater impact on children than any other social institution, and if the culture being taught in schools is different than the culture that is being taught in the home, childrens education will suffer. BibliographyResourcesElvin. H.L. Education In Contemporary Society. London C.A. Watts and Co. 1968.Fischer, Louis and Donald R. Thomas. Social Foundations of Educational Decisions. Belmont, CA Wadsworth Publishing Co., 1965.Goldman, She lley V. and Ray McDermott. The Culture of Competition in American Schools. Education and Cultural Progress. Prospect Heights, Ill. Waveland Press, 1987.Kottak, Conrad. Mirror for Humanity. New York McGraw-Hill Inc., 1996.MacLeod, Jay. Aint No Makin It. Boulder, CO Westview Press, 1995.Oakes, J. The Distribution of Knowledge. Keeping Track How Schools Structure Inequality. Yale University Press, 1985.Orenstein, Peggy. Schoolgirls. NY Doubleday, 1994.Spring, Joel. American Education. NY McGraw-Hill Co., 1994.