The biggest initial problem with a discussion on equality of educational opportunity is one of definition. What does educational equality mean? Pivotal to an understanding of equality is the dilemma of poverty and disadvantage and how it influences the child’s experience of the education system. Even though it’s generally understood that education is at the heart of resolving equality many radical thinkers think it’s an impossible task without a more profound and radical change at all levels in the society. Teaching is essentially an ethical activity with a relationship between teacher and child at its core. It’s at this level that there is the best opportunity of creating an equality of opportunity.
The benefits of educational equality are
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Understanding poverty from child’s viewpoint helps to create empathic teachers who fully understand the daily hurdles a child from an impoverished, disadvantaged home faces in overcoming inequalities inherent in a system created to cater for the norm. Definitions of inequality had to be widened to refer to “disparities between individuals, groups and nations in access to resources, opportunities, assets and income” (Ridge, T. & Wright, S., 2008, p4). In the 1990’s new important initiatives, “The Home School Liaison Scheme”, “Early Start” and “Breaking the Cycle” were introduced to “ameliorate the worst excesses of inequality” (Lynch, 1999, p173). However it wasn’t until 2005 with the introduction of the DEIS (Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools) that a radical approach was adopted to target areas of disadvantage. Even though this from a government viewpoint was an efficient method to allow resources to flow directly to areas of most need there was a danger of negative labelling of working class areas or what Lynch (1999, p178) calls the “pathologising of working class culture and lifestyle”. So from a teacher’s viewpoint the child coming from a disadvantaged area must never be considered disadvantaged and in this way expectations …show more content…
The most basic inequality of all is one of love, care and affection (Lynch & Baker, 2005, p28). Affective inequality is when “people are deprived of the love, care and solidarity they need to survive and develop as human beings (Lynch, 2010, p2). This affective inequality has the most profound influence as it affects all aspects of a child’s wellbeing. A school ethos of caring, empathetic relationships between teachers and pupils is the best way of overcoming such emotional inequality. Foucault’s power dynamic penetrates right down to relationship between teacher and pupil and in the modern classroom it is essential that the classroom dynamic is one of respect, compassion and
Even the mere inequality of wealth in a child’s social, cultural, or educational setting can have effects on a child’s peer to peer interactions, hierarchical structure and their ability to achieve. Gorard 2010 as discussed in Victoria Cooper, 2014 (p160), links poverty and or social deprivation with lower academic results. In the Xiao Bo case study by Child poverty research and policy centre, 2013 (Heather Montgomery, 2014) it demonstrates the multifaceted effects of poverty on a child, such as the stresses it places on the family to educate children, pressure on the children themselves to succeed in education to enable them to assist with family finances and lifestyle, the compromises and sacrifices made as a family unit in lifestyle and financial planning in order to pursue education of the child, as well as demonstrating the wide range of instigators that create inequalities of wealth, such as political/policy decisions, loopholes in aid assistance, cost of education and unequal access to resources. In 2001 the Millennium development goals were set out in response to the millennium summit of the united nations to reduce poverty and its associated issues, of the eight goals, the first goal was to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger, demonstrating the comprehension of the wide ranging affect of poverty on children and society as a whole, and an understanding that poverty ‘Damages children in every way’ as stated by Unicef
Society holds a beneficial belief that education is a very prominent source that is necessary to engage in life’s successes. Education gives one the endurance to gain knowledge and the will power to accomplish goals and reach high standards. It allows individuals to know and understand the skills of life and the values it hold. Education has a history that has been around for hundreds of years that continuously develops as education improves, but the history of equal opportunity in education must continuously improve as well. Although education is known for its good deeds, inequality still plays a significant role in education today. There are opportunities that students must receive to relinquish some inequalities that are still present in education today. There are ways to address these obstacles and also ways to contribute to advanced opportunities to make education of equality.
Laden, Greg. "Children from Low-income Families at Educational Disadvantage." Science Blog. N.p., 26 Dec. 2008. Web. 8 Jan. 2014.
equal education; however, through family income, race, and gender we can see that not much has
The issue of equality in education is not a new problem. In 1787, our federal government required all territories petitioning for statehood to provide free education for all citizens. As part of this requirement, every state constitution included, “an education clause, which typically called for a “thorough and efficient” or “uniform” system of public schools” (School Funding 6). Despite this requirement, a “uniform” system of schools has yet to be achieved in this country for a variety of reasons, many of which I will discuss later on. During the early part of th...
Jackson, B and Marsden, D (1966) Education and the working classes. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul plc.
The subject of equality and inequality are a sensitive and controversial topic. Both equality and inequality were portrayed in the short story, “The Lesson.” In this short story by Toni Cade Bambara, Miss Moore, a well known woman in the neighborhood, gives the children in her local area a lesson about the brutal inequalities that are in existence within the socioeconomic status system. This leads the children to ponder about the equality and inequality that exists within society. Toni Cade Bambara uses her short story, “The Lesson” in order to shed light on the injustices and racial inequalities in society. The goal of the story is to not only fight for racial equalities, but socioeconomic equalities as well.
“Social Justice in Education” by R. W. Connell discusses the role of education in society and the implications that social justice issues have on education. Connell begins by establishing that education and social justice can be examined separately yet they are inescapably linked through the social medium of their implementation. “Education concerns schools, colleges and universities, whose business is to pass knowledge on to the next generation. Social justice is about income, employment, pensions or physical assets like housing.”(Connell, 1993) Three points validating the equal importance of social justice and the education system to people of all delineations are: 1.) in Western society public schools are key forums of social interaction and comprise some of the largest social institutions 2.) educational institutions are highly economic bodies and have become “major public assets” (Connell, 1993) 3.) teaching becomes a vehicle by which society is ultimately determined and has a great influence over society’s morality. Connell describes the meaning of justice in education as being “a question of fairness in distribution… equality.”(Connell, 1993) “Justice cannot be achieved by distributing the same… standard good to… all social classes.”(Connell, 1993) By stating this, Connell summarizes that in the attempt to achieve equality, unequal means must be employed.
Throughout the nation, education inequality affects many minority students that have low-income which reinforces the disparity between the rich and the poor. The amount of children that have a socioeconomic background of poverty in the United States is estimated to be 32.4 million (National Center for Children in Poverty, 2011). Since many of these children are from
Develop an argument on or some ideas of understanding about curriculum as multicultural text by relating the works of Darling-Hammond, French, & Garcia-Lopez, Delpit, Duarte & Smith, Greene, Nieto and Sletter to your experience of curriculum, teaching, and learning as affirming diversity. You could think specifically about the following questions: Is there a need for diversity in curriculum studies and designs? Why? What measures do you think will be effective in incorporating such a need into curriculum studies and designs? What is the relevance of diversity to your career goal, to education in your family, community, and school, to education in Georgia, and to education in general? In which way can you develop a curriculum which helps cultivate empathy, compassion, passion, and hope for citizens of the world, and which fosters social justice?
This could be put in practice in communities all over the UK as a way of tackling poverty. They came up with the ‘School Effectiveness Framework’ (SEF) in 2008 which puts schools in the front seat for reducing inequality and recognising social disadvantages in children throughout their academic lives. They introduced a programme towards Eradication in 2012. This involved ensuring that action was taken to break the unacceptable link between poverty and low attainment and underachievement. In order to do this, they should ensure that children are given the right support at the right time during their school experiences.
Many people don’t want to believe that we are living in a social injustice environment in this country. They choose to ignore the fact that rich are getting richer while the poor are just getting poorer. The rich public schools are giving their students the necessary opportunities to live a decent life while the poor students are left out and have to struggle for those opportunities. The social injustice is visible to every citizen in this country and it continuing to grown; however, there is a few solutions to minimize and possibly to solve the social injustice problem we have in American. One of them is give equal education in all public schools so everyone can have an equal opportunities in getting the jobs and careers they choose. Second
In this paper I am going to present an theoretical school district, school, and a classroom as examples of the ideal that our educational system should strive to achieve. The philosophy my schools will be based on is one of equality. Every single child will have an opportunity to receive the best possible education. However, we will never lower our standards for the sake of equality. Each child will be pushed to his or her personal best, not an average standard.
In terms of talking about the accessibility of school funding, equality of opportunity would be where all public schools are distributed the same amount money for their school. Once the money is distributed, it should then be spread evenly amongst areas in dire need of help. Money could be dispersed to help aid in special needs for kids, in support the arts, music, and sports programs, or for technology that may be a useful teaching tactic. Most importantly, this funding would be given to the areas and programs that were struggling, and where students would benefit the most. If a school had an outstanding arts and music program, but their special education department was lacking, money should be given to the education department to help make improvements and provide the teachers and students with the proper resources.
First and most important reason why a totally free education scheme means a better educated society is equal opportunities. Foster (1993) explains that