Education

by Margaret Burden

Education is the cumulative engagement with social processes that shape how humans see the world and themselves in real time. It is not to be confused with schooling, conversely, which is the formalization of these processes in a physically and logistically separate sphere for teaching and learning (Shange). In the United States, education is a term that is characterized by its decentralized nature, stemming from influences of historic localized, state and federalized actions. The importance of education can be seen in the context of enhancing personal development, fostering self-confidence, and equipping people to make informed decisions in various aspects of their lives. When implemented equitably and justly, it has the opportunity to pave a pathway to economic opportunities, better health outcomes, and a catalyst for innovation and progress that can bring people out of poverty (Leverage).

For decades, American schools were limited to white, wealthy, Christian males that were deemed “worthy” of being taught and sent into the workforce. The origins of the American educational system can be traced back to early colonialism in the 17th century, where the first schools were created by white Puritan settlers with the intent of teaching their children how to understand the Bible. These schools placed strong emphasis on religious and moral instruction and were the birthplace of educational rules and policies. Women did not have equal access to education for decades, as it took until the 19th century for the United States’ women’s rights movement to gain momentum, with the first institution dedicated to providing higher education for women, the Troy Female Seminary in New York, opening in 1843. In terms of racial exclusion, it took until the famous Supreme Court case of Brown v. Board of Education in 1954 to declare educational racial segregation as unconstitutional (National Archives). While on paper coeducational endeavors were encouraged, providing women and black Americans educational freedom and equality faced extreme backlash, catapulting the age-old racism and sexism in American education into future generations. Barriers for marginalized groups are still apparent in American schooling today, and the consequences of past oppression directly impact resources and opportunities for minority students in the United States today. The resulting current educational system provides a range of institutions, from inner-city public schools, to boarding schools, to private universities, furthering widespread academic, economic, and social differences throughout different states, towns, and individual institutions.

Although the American K-12 system follows a curriculum that incorporates fragments of the national standard, this system varies too heavily across states and local regions, contributing to a decentralized system that fails to address systemic educational gaps. There are consistent achievement gaps amongst diverse student populations due to such disparities, and an even more consistent failure to implement new policies and change old ones to address these imbalances. In theory, school policies should serve as the guiding frameworks that provide regulation in shaping the modern day American education. One recurring conflict is that officials often verbalize a policy, similar to the past educational legislation of Brown v. Board of Education (1954), but they will not physically execute it by attempting to change social standards. “Policy is an opening for struggle, not an end to it (Shange),” and assuming that written documents are enough to narrow the educational gap is rather naive. Additionally, failing to tailor policies to specific situations does not work, as educational policies can be enforced at local, or federal levels. Their primary intention should be to ensure the safety of students and provide an equitable learning atmosphere at each institution, however, in recent years it seems as though school policies are aiming to diminish individuality, safety, and equality. The United State’s failure to properly implement policies to aid marginalized student groups directly hinders educational growth and equality for students.

Educational policy can be split into two sectors: behavioral and academic. Behavioral policies are meant to outline expectations for disciplinary measures, conduct, and anti-bullying initiatives, in an attempt to improve school social life and culture. However, behavioral policies such as dress codes, can enhance bullying, leave students feeling unwelcome, and discourage academic motivation. Behavioral policies often target specific demographic groups, whether it be female or students of color, and punish them for not directly aligning with the traditional appearance of a white, male American student. As well as behavioral policies, academic policies are supposed to set the standards for curriculum, grading, and forms of assessment, in turn creating a consistent and equitable educational experience for all (Brookings). Yet, academic policies are weak in recognizing that students enter the educational system from different backgrounds, with the most important difference being their family income. Academic policies may provide equal opportunities, but fail to provide equitable opportunities to those who may be behind or need extra help. To create policies that embrace the unique needs of all students, educational policy makers must reflect on the failures of past behavior and academic policy and move towards implementing educational equity. The educational system must ensure that schools recognize that each person is under different circumstances and that they need to allocate the exact resources and opportunities necessary for students to reach an equal outcome.

The largest factor in implementing effective academic policy in schools is addressing the inherent generational poverty in the United States. In the United States, 1 in 3 children born around 1980 who grew up in households with incomes near or below the poverty line currently remain in low-income households well into their 40s. This is called intergenerational poverty, and it carries profound impacts on the ability of individuals, families and communities to prosper socially and academically (Rice). Historical disparities, underinvestment and structural racism have created barriers to success for many groups, with 37% of black children and 46% of Native American children growing up in intergenerational poverty. Large gaps in educational and completed schooling also persist across historically oppressed racial and ethnic subgroups, as these children are at a disadvantage from their wealthier peers from the get go (Yale). Intergenerational poverty is an extremely difficult cycle to break, as children in the cycle often do not receive the same level of funding towards their education, extracurricular activities, and even factors such as access to healthy meals as their wealthier counterparts, creating a huge barrier to exiting the cycle of intergenerational poverty. In addition to being in underfunded school districts and homes, students facing poverty also have limited access to outside resources such as tutoring, and might have less familial academic support if their parents did not attend high school or college.

One strategy that has been experimented with is making admission requirements for high school and college easier for students living in poverty. Specifically within the Chicago Public School system, prospective students are split into five tiers regarding their family income. Students within the most impoverished tier have a higher acceptance rate into selective Chicago high schools than their wealthier peers, however they also have a higher percentage drop out rate. The schools failed to realize that the admitted students from lower-income backgrounds would need extra support and funding, including tutoring, meals, and safe transportation. Consequently, students from low-income backgrounds did not achieve the same scores as other students simply due to attending the same academic institution. There are a variety of factors that go into increasing a student’s intellect and test scores, not just the physical school building they receive their education in. In order to make sure low-income students are successful once admitted not only in Chicago but across the United States, educational legislators need to ensure that these students receive the academic support they need in order to receive equitable opportunities.

Besides the suggestion of increasing funding towards low-income students, there are multiple ways to effectively implement academic-oriented policies. One approach is changing the diversity of the teaching workforce. Hiring teachers from diverse racial, socioeconomic, and gender backgrounds will allow for a broader group of students to feel comfortable and motivated towards their studies. A teacher from a low-income upbringing may also have greater empathy and understanding for students enduring generational poverty and could bring creative solutions and perspectives that someone from a wealthy background would not be able to. This is a simple route that would not require additional resources and funding, as it just involves a more diversified hiring process. Additionally, increasing teacher workforce diversity can reduce disciplinary actions, such as detention and expulsion, that removes students from school and their usual educational setting. If teachers are able to sympathize and connect with students, they will not punish them as harshly, and if students feel more comfortable with their teaching staff they are less likely to rebel (Rice).

Another path that schools could take to support impoverished students is to implement high-quality occupational training, especially for students without plans to attend four-year college programs. Occupational training can come in two forms: high-quality career and technical education that begins in high school and sectoral training, which equips low-income youth or adults with the skills they need for high-paying jobs in high-demand industries. Examples of these may include career academies, technical highschools, or pathway programs. Training programs are productive as they provide support for students who may not have the funds or scores to attend a four-year university, seeking to set these students up for success by educating them on real-world endeavors. Investing into these programs and enforcing engagement in these programs through legislation will allow students facing limited opportunities to gain insight on how to maximize their educational strengths to move out of poverty (Duncan and Holzer).

In addition to academic policies, a recurring and problematic behavioral enforcement that usually comes at a local level is school dress codes. Dress codes entail punishing students for showing ‘too much’ skin, wearing clothing with offensive language on it, or going against uniforms. Traditionally, while dress codes are merely associated with harming female students, as up to 90% of enforcement falls upon girls (Maureeen), they inadvertently perpetuate LGBTQ+ and racial divisions. Dress codes serve as a mechanism to impose gender norms that harm students, especially those that are non binary or transgender. Dress codes also are used to reinforce race discrimination as well, by implicitly stating that those from diverse backgrounds and cultures do not belong in school, and that they must assimilate to fit into a dominant “white” culture in order to be successful. (Hartnett). Clearly, dress codes give room to alienate and subject people for not fitting into a historically implemented box. One report focused on public schools in Washington, D.C., found that schools suspend Black girls at nearly 21 times the rate of White girls (Hartnett). Dress codes severely hinder the educational paths of queer, female, and Black students as they unfairly and disproportionately punish these groups. The solution is to simply only enforce dress codes when teachers are concerned about the safety of students walking home or if clothing is violating the tenets of public decency. Educational institutions need to understand that there is a cost to girls who may have to buy new clothes and who lose instructional time when they are sent home and that daily judgments of their bodies by adults in schools add to the insecurities that are already part of growing up (Maureen).

Education is impacted by the social processes and historic institutionalization that has shaped the current United States educational system. A large part of this system stems from the academic and behavioral policies that American schools have attempted to implement at the local, state, and federal level. Whether through racial or gender discrimination, academic and behavioral policies often fail because they do not consider the generations of academic disparity that certain groups in the United States have encountered, thus not creating an equitable experience for all students. In order to turn education into a positive term instead of one associated with a decentralized system, policy must be put in place to provide economic opportunity and innovation for all.

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