Inequality in Education and Power
While education is supposed to be a key to access opportunities in the social, economic, and political arenas, discrimination of the minorities hinders personal development. Undertrained teachers are also evident with those in power, formulating policies that favored the majority, thus segregating the minorities. The authorities made policies and strategies that favored individual races against others. It led to restricted access to political aspects or positions.
In the United States, Latino teachers were not welcome in the teaching jobs until the mid-twentieth century. According to Conchas et al. (2015), the history of the education system in the United States worked to ensure that all immigrants, Chicanas and Latinas, and students from other races got Americanized to the new ways of life of the Americans. Students of Mexican origin were required to abandon their ethnic cultures and undergo Americanization to assimilate into the white system. The Latino culture created an obstacle in the development of the education system in the United States.
According to Flores (2016), teachers from Latina culture played a massive role in Latino pupils from inception to the system, engagement, and accommodation to the United States’ way of life. They acted as a liaison between the American culture and the minority groups both in urban and public schools.
However, in 1960, the civil rights authorities necessitated the need to embrace different cultures and ethnic groups to promote equality in access to education (Flore, 2016). It was after teachers, parents, and pupils caused an uproar in the mode of an education system that was discriminatory in the race, social class, and ethnicity. They advocated for the accommodative education system to all despite their different backgrounds orientations. They presented a broader understanding of multiculturalism, which empowers and transforms the student’s way of life and treating them with equality with others, thus enhancing their overall performance. Teachers came up with pedagogical measures that led to policymakers’ public input in instituting measures such as national examinations.
Education stands to be the significant equalizer amongst both the immigrants and the former Americans despite their races. There have been additional classes and programs which focus on individual interests and knowledge in a bit to recognize every student’s potential. However, white dominance has been evident in performances and access to opportunities both in the political and social-economic fields.
References
Conchas, G., & Gottfried, M. (Eds.). (2015). Inequality, Power, and School Success: Case Studies on Racial Disparity and Opportunity in Education. Routledge.
FLORES, G. M. (2016). Bicultural Myths, Rifts, and Scripts: A Case Study of Hidden Chicana/Latina Teacher’s Cultural Pedagogy in Multiracial Schools. Inequality, Power, and School Success (pp. 142-171). Routledge.