Privileging Class in the Educational Context Essay

Abstract

This paper discusses the topic of how class, privilege, and power affect the sphere of education. Despite the widely spread assumption that the U.S. society is classless, the signs of issues based on the ideas of class and cultural identity are evident. The myths that relate to the notion of class are discussed in order to underline the importance of addressing the real matter of things. Students that come from the lower-income families, urban areas with high crime rates or students of color usually underperform thus affecting the rating of their schools. Furthermore, this paper lists some solutions to the problem of ineffective teachers that rarely address the process of teaching from a diverse perspective.

Main

There has been a never-ending controversy about the ways the society should come about providing education for poor children. One side of the controversial debate puts forward an argument that the public should consider resolving a number of poverty-associated social problems that involve health issues, malnutrition, poor mobility and school preparation, as well as other issues. Another side of the debate underline the importance of providing adequate education for all students irregardless of their social status and stopping making any excuses (Noguera par. 1).

Recently, the policymakers have gathered all their forces to improve the scores in the educational testing without taking the issue of poverty into consideration. The results of their action were far lower than expected. According to the statement of Arne Duncan, the U.S. Education Secretary, there are several thousands of American schools that never reach the required levels of performance. Such poor results are attributed to the fact that the mal-performing schools teach bulks of poor children that face much more challenges than others. Thus, to improve the performance of these children and schools in general, the authorities should do much more than just putting pressure on them (Noguera par. 4).

Pedro Noguera, Professor of Education at New York University, in his Daily News article “Accept it: Poverty hurts learning” discusses his experience working with urban schools. He underlines the fact that there are great barriers that prevent schools from achieving educational success, despite the social and financial efforts targeted at improving the schools’ performance. One of such efforts was the Newark Global Village Zone that was trying to establish partnering relationships between schools and other organizations like universities, hospitals, non-profit organizations as well as other organizations that can provide services and support for the children in need. However, despite the positive motivations, the success is still complicated to achieve. Noguera argues that there are very few cities in the United States of America that were able to make necessary efforts to support mal-performing schools by adequately addressing the negative impact of poverty at the same time with improving the learning conditions in those schools (Noguera par. 5).

Class as a Driver of Power and Privilege

The problem of class as a driver of power and privilege is probably the most evasive social disease that the society has to confront. The problems that relate to class include the areas of origin, background, ethnicity, gender as well as other social dimensions. Thus, the problem of class cannot be outlined with the use of exclusively social privilege and power. The notion of class can be adequately explained because a status of an individual or a group of individuals that has achieved certain economic dominance, influence on others, and the power to manipulate the community.

A topic of class determination is highly debated, although its criteria are quite easy to identify. The primary criteria that determine class are the economic status. Some assume that the working class is individuals whose main channel of income are their wages. Others do not take into account professionals whose income is high enough to sustain them in a system of capitalism. Thus, depending on these statements, approximately seventy percent of the American population can be attributed to the concept of a working class. Classism is explained as an oppression of subordinate groups (individual without any power, privilege, or influence in society) governed by the system. To begin resolving any damage that was caused by classicism, subordinate groups should examine their ideas and assumptions about power, privilege installed by the cultural norms as well as the struggle for becoming valued (Brantley, Frost, Pfeffer, Buccigrossi and Robinson 3).

Within a context of education, the concept of class plays an integral part in the areas of social and individual psychology. In their day-to-day life, in schools and other institutions connected with education, individuals start noticing that social class challenge the meanings of psychology. Thus, in an educational sphere governed with class privileges every individual develops his or her own identity to understand their place within the given society. By doing so, people are able to vocalize their opinions about class and its role in the discourse of education (Ostrove and Cole 678).

Myths Associated With Class

When it comes to discussing the notion of class, the term has been accompanied by a number of myths. One of the primary myths is associated with an assumption that the American society is classless. Thus, despite the income, individuals acquire the ‘middle class’ status due to the fact that it has neither significant wealth background nor an unthought-of level of poverty (Ostrove and Cole 685). As quoted in Patton, Renn, Guido, and Quaye’s Student Development in College: Theory, Research, and Practice, “while working class folks are born in struggle for survival and upper class folks are into native-born entitlement, middle-class folks are born into the anxiety of not slipping back into the working class (or slipping out of their tenuous privilege status born from educational attainments)” (qtd. in Patton et al. 76).

Another class-related myth is an assumption that education is able to equalize all individuals within society as it is considered a key to the lifetime success. There is a prevailing opinion that education is a notion that is able to put everyone on the same level thus making sure that every individual has equal access to any opportunities despite the background he or she was born into. The education myth causes another class-related myth to appear. The myth is the assumption that everyone has equal abilities and opportunities thus suggesting that everyone begin at the same point. It is unfortunate that this assumption does not take into account the fact that only some individuals are able to benefit from the opportunities they have from the very beginning (Patton et al. 80).

White Privilege and Education

According to Peggy McIntosh and her article “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack”, white privilege is a “package of unearned assets which whites can count on cashing in every day… an invisible weightless knapsack of special provisions” (qtd. in Harpalani par. 4). Thus, white privilege is a number of visible and invisible advantages that the white population possesses on a sole ground of the color of their skin.

Since the white population historically had created access to such benefits as money, social networking as well as property, education has always been an asset accessible to them on every level possible. Furthermore, the rules and standards within the schools are also targeted mostly at the white population, and the cultural expression of the low-income people of color are sometimes frowned upon and discouraged. Thus, these aspects are contributing to the issue of white privilege within the area of education. This is where multicultural education should become a guide for eliminating the issue of white privilege; however, in some cases, it reflects it. Through the means of putting an emphasis on the Asians, Latinos, Native Americans, African Americans, and other minorities that have less access to proper education a perspective can be shifted on defining the whites as the ‘mainstream Americans’ (Harpalani par. 7). Thus, even if educational system does its best in emphasizing the value of the minorities, the white population acquire a status of privilege, a certain standardized status that all other minorities are being judged by in the sphere of education as well as other social areas.

In order to eliminate the issue of white privilege in the sphere of education, adding diverse minority groups into the school agenda. White population should also be included as those minority groups their practices should also be examined as those of the minorities. Furthermore, the ultimate goal is being able to change the educational system in such a way that it treats and values all groups the same way (Harpalani par. 12).

To conclude this section, the discussions about racism, oppression, power, and privilege should first address the problem of white privilege. This will be instrumental for white students to understand the privileges they have so they can work together towards eliminating any inequalities. Like the colored students, they also can become advocates for social change.

Low-Income Students and Their Teachers

To continue the discussion about class and the way it impacts the education, it is important to underline that many schools are unable to eliminate the economic issues their students face. Furthermore, it is believed that the poverty and family-related attributes greatly impact children’s education. Such a theory is an excuse for educators that like blaming outside factors for the poor performance of their students. If schools make even a slight progress in the education, this progress will be exaggerated. On the other hand, there is a lot of evidence that points toward the fact that schools have great potential to overcome the barriers created by poverty and cultural background and provide the students with adequate education (Klein, Lomax and Murguía 1).

Thus, to resolve the issue of poor performance, it is crucial to outline the ways schools can improve their teaching techniques for students that come from low-income families. To start with, schools should look into employing teachers whose college performance was on high levels. The countries that tend to exhibit high points in international testing employ teachers from the one-third of the best performing college students. On the other end of the spectrum, the U.S. schools tend to employ college graduates from the lowest third. Unfortunately, the most underperforming group from that bottom third is widely spread in those schools that need adequate education for low-income students (Klein, Lomax and Murguía 2).

Then, the policymakers should create and establish a new rewarding system that does not value seniority but excellence. Teachers should adequately evaluate the performance of their students and then be compensated for their hard work. Furthermore, it is important to remove ineffective teachers from the process of teaching. Lastly, schools should make an effort to attract more effective teachers to students and schools with high needs, especially to the subject areas of specialized education, English teaching, as well as other fields to which it is complicated to find talented teachers because of a mass chances elsewhere.

The above-listed changes are ambitious but feasible. Schools should consider to integrate them into their policy alongside with reevaluating the aspect of seniority in a manner that will actually be beneficial for the low-income students.

Critical Pedagogy for Dealing with Education

In her article Life after Death: Critical Pedagogy in an Urban Classroom Alleyne Johnson discusses the connections between the realities that the oppressed students face and the every-day process of teaching that occurs in urban public schools. The homicide rates are astonishingly high in urban areas, thus, students are greatly affected by such an issue. In this case, the need for critical teaching and pedagogy is crucial. Critical pedagogy is a process of education that incorporates discussions about self-identity, power, and the struggle for being recognized and respected. Critical pedagogy is an aspect of teaching that requires combining three ‘languages’: the language of teachers, the language of students, and the language of schools (Johnson 214).

Each of the listed above ‘languages’ is vital when it comes to discussing the current state of American educational facilities, although unfortunately, it is very rare to come across a conversation that involves all three of them. For instance, if one is to ask mal-performing students why they ‘failed’ school, the most likely answer is that the school did not do much to teach. Educational practitioners have issues with keeping up with a frantic classroom rhythm that is not reflected in the manner the students are being taught. Furthermore, the university graduates across the entire country are struggling with translating possible solutions from the extensive selection of academic writings into their daily teaching practice.

Conclusion

To sum up, the topic of how the concepts of race, class, power, and privilege affect education will always be debated because of the fact that despite the public funding, students that go to schools rarely get equal treatment and levels of education. The students that come from the middle and high-income families and that are of the white population tend to receive better treatment. To overcome such issues, it is important to invest time, efforts and funds specifically into those schools that need the most care and attention. Schools should start attracting teachers that got higher performance grades in college. Furthermore, the students that have the luxury to be socially privileged should not be considered as such. By doing so, the issue of privilege will disappear, paving a path changing the educational system in such a way that it treats and values all groups the same way.

Works Cited

Brantley, Carol, Delyte Frost, Charles Pfeffer, Joan Buccigrossi, Marcus Robinson. Class: Power, Privilege, and Influence in the United States. 2003. Web.

Harpalani, Vinay. White Privilege: a Challenge for Multicultural Education. 2002. Web.

Johnson, Alleyne. “Life After Death: Critical Pedagogy In an Urban Classroom.” Harvard Educational Review 65.2 (1995): 213-230. Print.

Klein, Joel, Michael Lomax, and Janet Murguía. Why Great Teachers Matter to Low-Income Students. 2010. Web.

Noguera, Pedro. Accept It: Poverty Hurts Learning: Schools Matter, but they’re not all that Matters. 2010. Web.

Ostrove, Joan, and Elizabeth Cole. “Privileging class: Toward a critical psychology of social class in the context of education.” Journal of Social Issues 59.4 (2003): 677-692. Print.

Patton, Lori, Kristen Renn, Florence Guido, and Stephen Quaye. Student Development in College. 3rd ed. 2016. San Francisco, CA: John Wiley & Sons. Print.