Relationship Between Discipline & Race
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This paper is an exploration of the relationship between discipline and race in the classroom and the issue of discipline itself as part of the teacher's job. It examines the question of whether students are disciplined differently because of their ethnicity and looks at the role of discipline within the classroom. Educators agree that discipline is essential to the learning process, but debate rages about the extent and nature of discipline necessary to effective learning. In addition, since many educators would argue that students learn differently and that some of those differences can be attributed to their backgrounds, does it then follow that discipline must also be applied in different ways to different students, in part according to their backgrounds? This paper will argue that ethnicity is, in fact, a component of the contemporary classroom; therefore, teachers must take care not to be influenced negatively by their prejudices, especially regarding the administration of discipline. Educational consultant JoAnn Miller argues, "Classroom management is essential to a successful educational environment" (Mathews, 2000, December 19, p. A19). Without control of the classroom, teachers cannot effectively control the learning process. Yet keeping the upper hand is a delicate process. Ann Gazin (1999, August) observes that teachers "must maintain control in the classroom yet still give children the freedom to explore, create, and experiment" (p. 28). In the ideal c
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" (p. A08). Zero tolerance policies are more likely to exist in school districts with predominantly black and Hispanic populations, which may skew the statistics. Nonetheless, enough evidence exists to suggest that minority students either tend to cause more discipline problems or tend to be punished more severely when they do misbehave.
Wright (1997, May 19) argues that this behavioral pattern may, in fact, be based on an increased likelihood of outside stresses on minority students. She observes, "Family breakups, conflicting value systems and exposure to violence all have a role in children's behavior" (p. C05), and minority students may be more subject to the kinds of personal situations that encourage, if not violent behavior, at least behavior that prompts the need for disciplinary measures.
If nothing else, communicating a common set of expected behaviors has become a more complex job in the modern classroom. Wright (1997, May 19) points out, "Today's teachers can be in more diverse, multicultural classrooms where not everyone may speak the same language" (p. C05). This inability to communicate can even occur when all parties are actually fluent in English. Joel Stein (1997, December 15) notes that the fight that
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Wasicsko Ross, Jon Hull, A08 Zero, Friedrich Bowen, Sandy Kleffman, Jesse Jackson, Steven Ross, , Sara Lomax, Joe Clark, 1994 may-june, minority students, ross 1994, zero tolerance, ross 1994 may-june, wasicsko ross, wright 1997 19, cooper 2000, 1997 19, wright 1997, 2000 june, june 15, 2000 june 15, wasicsko ross 1994, cooper 2000 june,
Approximate Word count = 2642
Approximate Pages = 11 (250 words per page)
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