Problems for African Americans in School System
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The low achievement of African-Americans in K through 5th grade reflects a number of continuing problems not just in American education but in American society. The black community remains disproportionately poor, uneducated or undereducated, and unemployed. Education is seen as the key to success in America, and every immigrant and ethnic group has eventually come to the conclusion that education for the next generation will give that generation a leg up on the ladder of success in American life. We still believe this today, but blacks seem to have been unable to make this idea work for them as well as some groups have done in the past. Among the reasons for this problem are a poor distribution of tax moneys for education, the perpetuation of poverty, and some cultural conflict, all problems that are at their worst in inner city regions. The basic problems for blacks in the educational system begin with access--the schools of the inner city regions are not as good as some and are also increasingly more dangerous. However, the problems are deeper than this and extend to the curriculum, the attitudes of teachers, and the institutional structure. Once in school, black students may encounter a form of institutionalized and unintentional racism in terms of the way topics are presented, often in terms understandable to children from the suburbs but coming out of a very different social structure than is understood by inner city youth. These children also may be given hist
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f budget cuts (Banks 2). We continually repeat that education holds a special place and that it is vitally important in conveying American values, and then we fail to address the problems of the schools or to cope with the particular need for money to fund education and produce the students--and the world--we want.
While the disparity between blacks and whites on test scores has narrowed in recent years, it is still true that the average African American still scores below three fourths of whites on most standardized tests (Toch 60). On IQ tests, the gap between white and black youths declined by almost a third (or by between 3.5 to 4.7 points) between 1970 and 1990 (Alexander 1). This shows that progress is being made, but it also shows that there is still a disparity to be overcome. A recent study from Harvard University suggests that one central element of the problem is low teacher expectations for black students. It is argued that closing the gulf between black and white achievement is crucial to improving the wages, health, family unity, and societal status of African Americans, and this means that school reform is critical to blacks' welfare. The researchers argue that poverty is a factor, but they also say it is a m
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Approximate Word count = 1646
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)
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