Why do children graduate high school without fully understanding concepts that relate to the core subjects of Math, English, Science, and History? Because education is unequal in America. Sociologist Doctor James W. Loewen and award winning writer Jonathan Kozol agree that classicism is to blame. Loewen also believes that history textbooks take some of the blame, for the student’s ignorance of inequality within education. Loewen and Kozol make great points on classicism, and it is important to understand how classism and textbooks affect education, and also to think of solutions to the problem.
In Loewen’s essay, he realizes that middle class students, who are uneducated about classism become poor sociologists and are ignorant of classicism and its effects. “They have no understanding of the ways that opportunity is not equal in America and no notion that social structure pushes people around, influencing the ideas they hold and the lives they fashion”(Loewen 201). He reveals through his research of history textbooks, that they do not mention social class, class structure, income distribution, or inequality in the index. Loewen discusses the implications of an unequal life style between affluent mothers and children and poor mothers and children. One of the many
…show more content…
Loewen’s idea that history textbooks are to blame is true. “Moreover, the processes have changed over time, for the class structure in America today is not the same as it was in 1890, let alone in colonial America. Yet in Land of Promise, for example, social class goes unmentioned after 1670” (Loewen 205). It is not possible to teach someone to be passionate about the issues that affect them, if they do not learn all of the facts. Kozol’s idea of “cutting class size and constructing new school buildings or providing universal preschool” (Kozol 414) are great ideas. However, Kozol’s ideas only address a part of the
Savage Inequalities written by Jonathan Kozol allows individuals to understand the conditions of several public schools in America. Kozol visited many school in approximately thirty neighborhoods between the years of 1988 and 1990. During his visits he found that there was a wide difference in the conditions between the schools in poor internal city communities and schools in the wealthier communities. It becomes clear that there is a huge contrast within the public school system of a country which claims to provide equal opportunity for all. Many children in wealthier communities begin their lives with an education that is far more advanced than children in poor communities. Therefore the lack in equal opportunity from the start is created.
Jonathan Kozol is an American writer from Boston, Massachusetts, and a graduate of Harvard University. He began his career as a teacher in the Boston school system and also became involved in the study of social psychology. This lead to his involvement as an activist for low income and poverty destined children who are not provided the means for a proper education.
Allen, Brenda J. "Difference and Other Important Matters." Difference Matters: Communicating Social Identity. Long Grove, IL: Waveland, 2004. 1-22. Print.
...ime of the author rather then accurate historical facts. (Lies?293) Textbooks are being written this way and history is being taught this way to show people how they should act and strive to be. This relays to the student what is deemed acceptable to everyone and what is not. When it comes to a student remembering historical lessons they normally do not remember what is being taught to them unless they are moved by it. (Lies?301) So what is the result to a society where our students are being taught this way? The number one result is that students do not know the true history of their country nor do they remember what they were taught in class. This is a sad conclusion but Mr. Loewen feels it is an accurate one given responses to questions he has asked his students throughout the years. What can we do to change this and reeducate the people out there? Sadly I feel nothing can be done for those of us out there who are not truly aware of this misinformed way of teaching. But, our children need not be sheltered from our true history, rather they should learn all that has happened so we can prevent the atrocities from reoccurring again.
In many low income communities, there are teachers that are careless and provide their students with poor quality education. These teachers are there just to make sure that they keep receiving their monthly paychecks and act in this way because they believe that low income students do not have the drive, the passion, or the potential to be able to make something of themselves and one day be in a better place than they are now. Anyon reveals that in working class schools student’s “Work is often evaluated not according to whether it is right or wrong but according to whether the children followed the right steps.” (3). This is important because it demonstrates that low income students are being taught in a very basic way. These children are being negatively affected by this because if they are always being taught in this way then they will never be challenged academically, which can play a huge role in their futures. This argument can also be seen in other articles. In the New York Times
Until the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., his life’s work was dedicated to the nonviolent actions of blacks to gain the freedoms they were promised in the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 by Abraham Lincoln. He believed that “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere” (King, 1963). These injustices had become so burdensome to blacks that they were “plunged into an abyss of despair” (King, 1963). The nonviolent actions of the sit-ins, boycotts, and marches were so the “individual could rise from the bondage of myths and half-truths…to help men rise from the dark depths of prejudice and racism” and ultimately lead to “inevitably opening the door to negotiation” (King, 1963). Not only was King’s approach effective with the older black generation, it was also successful with white people. They did not feel threatened when approached by King. White people gained a sense of empathy towards the plight of black freedom as King’s promise of nonviolence did not threaten their livelihood. Malcolm X viewed the world similarly to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., however; his beliefs to changing the status quo were slightly different from his political counterpart. Malcolm X realized that “anger could blind human vision” (X, 1965). In realizing this, X knew that in order to achieve racial freedom blacks had to “forget hypocritical politics and propaganda” (X, 1965). While Malcolm X was more so an advocate for violent forces against white people than King, X merely used force when it became necessary for defense. According to X, “I don’t go for non-violence if it also means a delayed solution. I am for violence if non-violence means we continue postponing a solution to American black man’s problem” (X, 1965). However, this le...
James Loewen, author of Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything your American Text Book Got Wrong, wrote about the grim nature of the American educational system. Loewen spent a couple of years gathering intimate details about twelve American history textbooks. In his search, he found convoluted truths of what it means to be a patriot, and worst of all, the misrepresentation of the truth in the educational system. We must think about why a government would want to mislead its people, like in the case of the 1954 Iranian Coup orchestrated by the CIA. Perhaps it is comfort in knowing that all of the conflicts we’ve been involved in are reasonably sound, to remove our abilities to think critically, or to rightfully be proud of a bloody
A key part in the history of America’s schools involves clashes over culture and religion, as well as racial and ethnic conflicts. The struggle for power between different aspects in our educational history has shaped the way we learn today.
Overall, we see the textbook companies being pulled in multiple directions fearing influence from powerful lobby groups to create bland textbooks, which have limited multiple viewpoints, and controversy. Loewen, talks about only the good traits of historical figures like Woodrow Wilson, instead of showing both sides. Tyack presents a similar viewpoint, that textbooks are all about American Acceptualism and that we as society did no wrong. Lastly, in the Lindaman piece, each nation does the same thing in order to show their nation is good light or limit the dirty laundry of their past.
If people’s mistakes and, reasons causing said mistakes in history aren’t portrayed completely for educational purposes then is history doomed to eventually repeat itself? The lower class is growing, middle class is shrinking and the upper class is making more money, which has been a pattern over the time frame the America’s existence. “Land of Opportunity” and “Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong”, both written by James W. Loewen contain brilliant insight to why some textbooks may be feeding students not necessarily false information but information irrelevant to the real issues most Americans face every day like unfair living conditions and opportunities due to social class. Mistakes, such as unfair distribution of wealth somewhat due to moving jobs overseas, make it hard for one to move up in ranks regarding social class. The social class issue in America goes much deeper than a deteriorating economy because, like Loewen says “opportunity is not equal in America”, which tends to be true due to factors like race, community, pay checks, and even inherent wealth of ones’ parents.
For years, people have been trying to figure out ways to equalize the divergent academic achievement rates between rich and poor children. A study published by the Kaiser Family Foundation in 2010 found that, since the late 90’s when they first started monitoring over 2,000 children, media
This book, Dare The School Build a New Social Order by George Counts, is an examination of teachers, the Progressive Education Movement, democracy and his idea on how to reform the American economy. The book is divided into 5 different sections. The first section is all about the Progressive Education Movement. Through this, George Counts points out many downsides and weaknesses of this ideal. He also talks about how he wants teachers to lead society instead of following it. In the second section, he examines 10 widespread fallacies. These fallacies were that man is born free, that children are born free, they live in a separate world of their own, education remains unchanged, education should have no bias, the object of education is to produce professors, school is an all-powerful educational agency, ignorance rather than knowledge is the way of wisdom, and education is made to prepare an individual for social change.
Living in poverty exposes children to disadvantages that influence many aspects in their life that are linked to their ability to do well in school. In the United States of America there are an estimated 16.4 million children under the age of 18 living in poverty (U.S. Census Bureau, 2010). “The longer a child lives in poverty, the lower the educational attainment” (Kerbo, 2012). Children who are raised in low-income households are at risk of failing out before graduating high school (Black & Engle, 2008). U.S. children living in poverty face obstacles that interfere with their educational achievement. Recognizing the problems of living in poverty can help people reduce the consequences that prevent children from reaching their educational potential.
There are many different factors that affect education. One such factor is, socioeconomic status. Children who attend school in a wealthier community receive a better education than those students in poor communities. In poor communities, student’s education is not only affected by a lack of resources, but also from teaching methods and philosophies. Urban and poor schools’ students do not receive as equal of an education as their more affluent and suburban counterparts do.
It can be argued that the academic performance of children has nothing to do with their socioeconomic status, because there have been many cases of children from very poor families who have excelled greatly in academics (APA, 2017). Furthermore, many predominantly high-end schools have posted poor results when compared to school with poorer backgrounds. This is despite the fact children from lower socioeconomic classes do not have access to the best forms of learning materials. The high performance of children from poor backgrounds is often attributed to the fact that they are not preoccupied with many activities which would otherwise hinder them from concentrating on their studies (Sacerdote, 2002). Therefore, some believe it is false to say that poor performance is associated with children who come from low socioeconomic classes. Rather, they believe academic achievement is genetic (Sacerdote, 2002).