This is how schools structure inequality.
Why do we still have inequality in school? I like to think if we had enough people care about it then it'd be solved by now. I see it mentioned a lot so that doesn't seem to be the problem. So what might be hindering our progression in this area?
"Take a shot. Go for it. Take a risk. Get the education. Borrow money if you have to from your parents. Start a business." Just like that.
It's always interesting to me how people can be so blinded to the reality of another's situation. I guess in some ways it's to be expected. I just hope situations like these are indicative of how the majority of politicians operate because their constituents would suffer greatly if that were the case
Even after poor students enter college, there is often an imposed sense of not feeling entitled to their own admission. Minorities of any kind are positioned as "affirmative action babies" or "token [fill in the blank]." Legacy admits, how-ever, are rarely if ever questioned. Gurin et al. (2004)
This is systematic. Privileged people feel they belong. People who enter exclusive spaces through hard work sometimes suffer from imposter syndrome. This is a symptom of upbringing. If you have always been catered to, you don't feel out of place anywhere. it's to be expected. For first-gen or low income students the experience is entirely different. It's sad that their hard work is reduced to affirmative action or anything like that.
At the baccalaureate service during one of my final days at Harvard, the speaker made what he believed to be a joke. He said, "Remember, graduates: It's not who you know. It's whom."
I've heard often that half the college experience is who you meet and the connection that you make. In life knowing the right people can make all the difference. Nepotism seeps into almost all sectors of society. A usually understated but extremely crucial point that most people fail to mention is how important it is to make connections. Most times it's not enough to be proficient at something, you need the right people to know you are proficient at it as well
Many professors have con-veyed to me their feeling that the classroom should be a "safe" place; that usually translates to mean that the professor lectures to a group of quiet students who respond only when they are called on. The experience of professors who educate for critica! consciousness indicates that many students, especially students of color, may not feel atall "safe" in what appears to be a neutral setting. It is the absence of a feeling of safety that often pro-motes prolonged silence or lack of student engagement.
From the perspective of the professor this issue seems almost paradoxical because you want students to engage and be passionate about the topics they discuss but you want to ensure the space is safe as well. Sometimes, like the excerpt states, when you have discussion about something students are passionate it could turn hostile. As a professor, I wouldn't want to have a conversation that could potentially lead there. Still I want engagement. It's a hard thing to think over
I bave not forgotten the day a student came to class and told me: 'We take your class. We learn to look at the world from a critica! standpoint, one that considers race, sex, and class. And we can't enjoy life anymore."
I just wanted to highlight this section because the quote is funny. Depending on how it was said, I'm imagining the author not knowing how to respond to that. I believe we can all understand what the student was saying to some degree. The very popular quote that "ignorance is bliss" is what comes to mind here. The more you learn, the greater your peripheral vision becomes, the greater the chance of encountering all that is wrong in the world. More than often people find it easier to know less, they prefer it.
Agam and agam, 1t was nec-mc . . ¡· . 11 t remind everyone that no educatwn 1s po 1tica y neu-essary o . . 1 Emphasizing that a white male professor m an Enghsh tra. ,. ak d arttnent who teaches only work by "great white men IS m -ep . . ing a political decision, we had to work cons1stently agamst and through the overwhelming will on the part of folks to deny the politics of racism, sexism, heterosexism, and so forth that · form how and what we teach
Very important piece right here that I'm glad the author pointed out. I knew that there was certain core topics that must be taught in any particular class and that the teachers generally had autonomy over how they covered these topics, but I was unaware just how great an effect their biases had on the material. How much of what I learned growing up, or lack thereof, came about as a result of personal biases harbored by my educators? I think it's important to recognize that this is an issue and deserves a lot more recognition. It'll help provide a more holistic approach to learning as a whole
T HE AMERICAN DREAM IS A POWERFUL CONCEPT
I like the way this sentence was constructed. The American Dream is nothing more than a concept. It doesn't exist. Success can be achieved anywhere. There is nothing unique about success in America. The American Dream was not meant to cover the range of people we have today, in fact, it didn't even cover the range of people back then when it was first coined. The American dream talked about people who were relatively successful, but doesn't talk about the unique advantages they had that made it possible. It's powerful because even when you know the dream isn't for you, you still want to believe it is.
Irrational policymaking can be explained by the fact that public official have made their choices at least partly on the basis of claims that pursuing col~ lective goals of the American dream could endanger or has endangered the in-dividual achievement of privileged children. Under pressure they have been willing to sacrifice the wider objectives or put them at risk for the sake of the narrower ones, whether or not there was good evidence that the objectives re-ally were in conflict.
Personally I believe public officials have a duty to serve their constituents to the best abilities. So if you're a public official governing an area with many privileged children then why risk their achievement for a nationwide goal. Their priority should be the people they serve so I cannot fault them for not wanting to sacrifice the achievements of gifted children. My only problem with this is if they are doing so at the expense of non-privileged children who rest under the area they are supposed to serve. You shouldn't sacrifice people to appease another
Not least important, however, is the fact that local districts mirror and reinforce separation by class and race. Democratic control, therefore, not only provides support for public education but also creates a forum for the occa-sional exercise of bigotry and xenophobia; localism not only accommodates community idiosyncrasies but also serves as a barrier to changes in the distri-bution of students and resources.
This is in contrast to idea that all Americans believe everyone should have equal access to success. It's idealistic at best to believe everyone has the same opportunity to achieve the American dream. People are consciously aware of the advantages and disadvantages of socio-economic status and I can't say I'm too surprised to see that parents seek to reinforce these separations because to even the playing field is to give away your advantage. Although we emphasize the idea of being a collective. We're far from it. We're individuals first and fundamentally we want what' best for ourselves and people around us before we consider what's best for others.
Failure there almost cer-tainly guarantees failure from then on. In the dream, failure results from lack of individual merit and effort; in reality, failure in school too closely tracks structures of racial and class inequality.
Perhaps it's because of the changing times, but I believe this is no longer the case. Many very successful people, by any measure, have put an emphasis on the lack of traditional education's role in success. These days it's encouraged to take another path. Failure still has negative connotations associated with it, but I think if you fail in the right areas society will accept it. If you fail at school then go on to succeed at entrepreneurship then no one considers it a failure.