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The role of education in society
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Recently, in education we have seen the call for the development of 21st Century skills to enhance the roles and responsibilities for our next generation of students. More importantly, society expects the education community to provide a safe environment for teaching and learning. Unfortunately, with the myopic focus of many educational institutions on instruction only, we have seen many organizations struggle to create environments conducive to teaching and learning. According to Losen & Gillespie (2012) over three million children, K-12, are estimated to have lost instructional “seat time” in 2009-2010 because they were suspended from school, especially with students of color.. These suspensions create negative working relationships between teachers, students and peers and leave school organizations with ineffective learning environments. In addition, according to Fusarelli and Boyd (2004) many states believe a more problematic America is emerging due to the stresses with multiculturalism and the inequalities which are transforming the character of not only American society but the school system as well. These racial and economic gaps are widening and making it difficult to develop character bridges within such a diverse population. Under those circumstances, schools will need to provide a …show more content…
There have been many attempts at defining character education and positioning it within the context of the school community. For centuries, schools and teachers have considered character development as part of their mission, but the struggle has been to define what justifies good character and its importance within the institution of teaching (Brown, 2013). In the 6th century, Confucius captured the process of character education in a
U.S. Department of Education. (2011). Character education…our shared responsibility. Retrieved August 22, 2011 from http://www2.ed.gov.
Another major reason why juveniles are ending up in the juvenile justice system is because many schools have incorporate the zero tolerance policy and other extreme school disciplinary rules. In response to violent incidents in schools, such as the Columbine High School massacre, school disciplinary policies have become increasingly grave. These policies have been enacted at the school, district and state levels with the hopes of ensuring the safety of students and educators. These policies all rely on the zero tolerance policy. While it is understandable that protecting children and teachers is a priority, it is not clear that these strict policies are succeeding in improving the safety in schools.
Topics of race and inequality are critical topics we continue to debate everyday in America. My research synthesis paper is about school segregation, and I wanted to identify how and why schools continue to be racially and socioeconomically segregated today. I will use these questions, as well as knowledge gained from scholarly articles, as a platform for my analysis of school segregation and its implications for students and communities. So I wanted to discover if integration still matters, do our schools need to be desegregated, and if not, then how can our schools become diverse and effective. Racial segregation, segregation and systemic oppression doesn’t just start in one place. There is a structure in place that makes all of the discrimination
Could you conceptualize how much mental damage is done to the elementary school student? Children are beginning to learn the concepts of all the rules and distinguishing what is appropriate and what is not, yet there are policies set up to where the child has no room for mistakes and to learn from them. There are various ways of disciplining a child that does not involve suspension nor does it involve arresting them. Students are being mentally and emotionally impaired by the school-to-prison pipeline. With all that has been said, this is only the beginning of the long list of problems with the zero-tolerance policy. How early this trend of “suspensions” begin could also affect students. According to an article, nearly 48 percent of African American children are suspended more than once while in preschool (justicepolicy.org). Suspension in preschool for one should not even be a part of their disciplinary action. Secondly, America has totally diminished the whole purpose of the
James Baldwin, author of “A Talk to Teachers,” argues that a future of equality in schools cannot be created unless past acts of racism are recognized. He writes “... as one begins to become conscious one begins to examine the society in which he is being educated” (Baldwin 1). This statement argues that it is impossible to be American and black at the same time. Baldwin explains that the American side advertises equal opportunity, whereas being black implies that he has contributed nothing to society, and his sole purpose is to serve white people. Challenging the American view on race is what pushes society forwards. On the contrary, students who are uneducated may unknowingly perpetuate the same racism that hold back education. In a study conducted in 2016, Maureen Costello commented that students who cannot connect or comprehend important policy, they are more likely to make an uninformed decision. One teacher commented that “’The white students ... say terrible things about immigrants, while sitting next to their immigrant friends...the others[immigrants] are quiet and afraid’’’ (Costello 12). The ignorance of students perpetrates an unsafe and uncomfortable learning environment. Immigrant students are aware of this tension because they are not only being targeted, but in a way that is not legitimately supported by facts, but rather propaganda and ignorance. Because of situations like these, administrators in some school districts have created protocol for situations for extreme intolerance built on a platform of
America’s school system and student population remains segregated, by race and class. The inequalities that exist in schools today result from more than just poorly managed schools; they reflect the racial and socioeconomic inequities of society as a whole. Most of the problems of schools boil down to either racism in and outside the school or financial disparity between wealthy and poor school districts. Because schools receive funding through local property taxes, low-income communities start at an economic disadvantage. Less funding means fewer resources, lower quality instruction and curricula, and little to no community involvement. Even when low-income schools manage to find adequate funding, the money doesn’t solve all the school’s problems. Most important, money cannot influence student, parent, teacher, and administrator perceptions of class and race. Nor can money improve test scores and make education relevant and practical in the lives of minority students.
I do not believe is right to suspend a student based on race and just because the student acts out is not because they are future criminals. A student usually acts out because they lack attention at home and are seeking attention from an adult. I believe is better to help the child early in age instead later in their life when they start hanging out with the wrong crowd. Another type of student who will act out in a classroom setting would be a student with disabilities because they feel so out of place. As educators we can change the outcome of a student success in their education. The first thing to do would be to stop stereotyping a student by their race. A student success in a classroom setting should not be determine by their race. If a student acts out we should discipline the child the correct way by having small punishments. Suspending the child would only put them behind and they would not learn anything from it. Having the child stay after class and help those with their homework would feel more of a punishment than staying at home. If a child stays at home from suspension than they would feel like it’s a reward because they can’t stand school at a young
Khadaroo, Teicher. “School suspensions: Does racial bias feed the school-to-prison pipeline?” The Christian Science Monitor., March 31, 2013. Web. May 3, 2014.
This injustice is commonly referred to as the school-to- prison pipeline. According to the American Civil Liberties Union, “zero tolerance” policies in schools criminalize minor violations of school rules, resulting in resource officers placed in schools lead students to be criminalized for situations that should be handled within the school. Moreover, students of color are three times more likely to be severely punished for their behavior than white students. This discrimination follows the student into young adulthood where they are more likely to be incarcerated. This continuous cycle of entering the prison system and then continuously going in and out of it was discussed in the documentary. Possible solutions that have been discussed to end the school-to-prison pipeline include: police being the last resort in fixing conflict, improving the student to staff ratio, and providing more alternative discipline practices. Recently, more schools are noticing the damaging effects related to taking students out of class for disciplinary reasons and have since came up with alternatives to suspension such as restorative justice, which allows students to resolve conflict through conversations that may include the student, the person the student hurt and their
It is estimated that 3.3 million children annually are expelled or suspended for violent or nonviolent offenses while attending school. The majority of the offenses are nonviolent offenses that are handled just as harshly as violent school infractions due to zero tolerance laws. This essay will show how zero tolerance laws, bad schools and policing in schools is failing millions of minority students and fueling the school to prison pipeline.
According to the most recent data from the Department of Education, preschoolers who are racially diverse are being disciplined at a rate 3 times as great as their white classmates (Rich, 2014). The Department of Education data shows 48 percent of preschool suspensions were of black students who only make up 18% of all students attending preschool (Rich, 2014). This data is deeply disturbing. What could a preschooler possibly do to warrant a suspension?
I was unprepared, unknowing, and curious about what South County middle school would offer me for my observation. South County is established in a well developed neighborhood with most of the houses costing $329,232 or more. The middle school has over 1,100 students with different ethnic backgrounds including: 59% Caucasian, 29% Hispanic, 6% African American, 4% unknown ethnicity, and 2% Asian (publicschoolreview.com, 2013). As I walked into the middle school the Leander ISD vision is posted on the walls stating, “Every student is encouraged, supported, and challenged to achieve the highest levels of knowledge, skills, and character.” South County tries to uphold this vision by ensuring that each student is provided the best opportunities to learn by having a teacher student ratio of sixteen to one (publicschoolreview.com, 2013). The middle school also upheld this vision when performing in the Performance Index Report. The school surpassed the goals set in student achievement, student progress, and closing performance gaps (. As I walked through the school the hallways were empty; however, there was a sense that those hallways would be filled within minutes. The bell rang above me and soon the halls were filled with students scampering to their designated classrooms. I entered the classroom of Bob Faust and saw that the desks were set in 5 distinct rows with whiteboards on opposite sides of the room. There was a math problem on the board followed by Mr. Faust stating, “Please find your chairs and solve the problem on the board.” As the sixth graders filed into the classroom each of them pulled out their notebooks and began to solve the problem on the board.
This week’s class discussed disproportionality. By giving sample statistics of Lower Merion School District that shows disproportionality, I also found statistical data to reflect the same concept. According to the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights, Black children constitute 18 percent of students, but they account 46 percent of those suspended more than once.
Character education involves teaching students social values and good morals as part of the curriculum and is embedded within the delivery of instruction and performance tasks. Out of all the topics that we have discussed throughout this course, character education appears to me to be a critical aspect of teaching. To be able to help guide students along in the process of making choices such as taking turns, showing tolerance for different ideas, and being gracious, are behaviors not only good for the individual but for society. Teachers design their work in a manner that provides opportunity to mentor students as they strive to be a positive role model knowing that to children, actions speak louder than words.
“There is no greater godliness than to transform yourself with the way, no greater blessing than to escape misfortune” (Tzu 547). Education at a young age reflects upon how the individual learns to behave and work towards a better understanding of the world. Learning is merely an intake of information whereas moral development involved the application of discussion with the process of learning. Moral development is not encouraged in our current education system because some teachers don’t care about the students as much. It is the teacher’s goal to teach and maintain certain morals, however, it is still up to who the person hangs around with.