Problems Facing Educators
The current status of the United States’ educational system provides researchers with a variety of situations which aid in further analysis of the biggest problems facing educators today. Many may argue that inconsistencies in curriculum, the decline in parental involvement, and even the rapidly rising American obsession with television are some of the biggest conundrums that teachers must work around today. I, however, feel that the effects of social inequalities have the most crippling effect on our school system, and all of those involved within the system, today. In this paper I will identify reasons why class status and inequalities are at the root of some of education’s biggest problems; explaining how class status of children affects student learning, the job performances of teachers and administrators, and finally, ways in which this problem could be addressed by the educational system and other social institutions.
Interference with Student Learning
Class status is a label that all individuals find hard to escape, including students. Individuals share the same class when they have similar opportunities within the labor market. In the United States, most individuals believe in the “American Dream;" feeling that hard work and educational advancement are rewarded with upward mobility. Most individuals either label themselves as middle class, or expect to one day achieve middle class standings. While in the United States, most individuals feel that education is the key to achieve life goals of upward mobility; this is not always an accurate expectation (Bullock and Limbert 2003).
Because individuals are likely to remain in the same social status that they were born into, in a way, class is inherited, and therefore virtually inescapable. Additionally, environmental factors surrounding class status also make it difficult for students to become upwardly mobile. The class status of an individual not only sets up expectations that society feels the student will live up to, but also individual expectations that the students feel are their only options. For these reasons, class status is something that affects the educational experiences of all students (DeMarrais and LeCompte 199-200).
One major side effect that results from class status is alienation. The process of alienation occurs when the social structures around an individual change in a manner of which they can not control, or even adjust to. In order to adjust to the evolution of social institutions, including education, an individual must possess a certain kind of social or cultural capitol in which to utilize for adaptation. When a student is incapable of adapting to the changes being presented in their school, they become static, and unable to progress. This causes the student to be alienated from those around them who had the means to adapt to said changes. Also, if a student is aware that they have no control over the changes happening around them, they may be discouraged to even try to adapt successfully, loosing interest in their work. Because the changes in expectations for students most typically reflect the ideals of middle to upper class whites, those students who do not fall within these categories do not possess the resources needed to adapt (DeMarrais and LeCompte 205).
Because individual schools set up standards, whether formal or informal; students must be able to meet these standards in order to progress successfully within their educational experience. These could be expectations in dialect, communication styles, manners and etiquette etc., and are referred to as social capital. The students who lack these characteristics may be perceived as being less capable than those who do. When the expected characteristics are those which are associated with higher or middle classes, students who are of the lower or working classes will be left behind. While upper and middle class students were socialized at birth to value these characteristics, those of lower classes may learn to value different areas of social or cultural capital which are not helpful within their schools. This could be an even bigger problem when students attending a school which does not meet adequate yearly progress standards choose to transfer to a new school, with justification from the No Child Left Behind Act, in order to obtain a better education. If these students transfer to a school where they lack the social capital needed to progress, they will quickly fall behind despite their efforts to achieve the best education (DeMarrais and LeCompte 208).
According to the Marxist Model, the effects of students status on their education are a huge issue, even handicapping their chances at life. Even when members of the working class have high levels of education, they are still incapable of achieving the prestige as students of the upper classes. Their amount of education simply can not be translated into comparable occupational and economic prestige of those who are in classes above them, who may even have less education than them. Again, this process can lead to burnout, alienation, and simple lack of motivation in students of lower and working classes (DeMarrais and LeCompte 214-215).
