Wednesday's discussion of segregation was very interesting. I had never thought of segregation as an issue that still existed today. It wasn't until Keri-Ann asked if we had went to segregated schools that I really thought about it. I grew up in pretty much an all white suburban town. In all my years of schooling I never felt like I was missing out on something because of a lack of diversity. In all honesty, I don't think it would have made that much of a difference. Learning material about math, science and english would not have been different had there been diversity in the class. The only subject it would have made a difference in is possibly history. I think that having more diversity would have enhanced the social aspect of education. Being able to learn about different cultures would have been interesting. I think now that I am in college, it is more important to have a wide range of cultures in the class because it allows us to learn about different backgrounds and experiences. This article talks about how private schools play a role in segregating schools.
Another issue that was touched upon was the issue of funding. Kozol writes on page 245 that in 31 states, districts with the highest percentage of minority students receive less funding per pupil than do districts with the fewest minority children. This was hard to believe. I feel that schools should receive the same amount of funding regardless of the amount of minority students. Funding is a big reason why there are such differences between the low income and upper level schools. If we can start equally dividing funds and giving money to those who need it most, we can become a step closer to closing the achievement gap between students of lower and upper classes. Unfortunately, it is hard to believe that this issue will be solved anytime soon, thus allowing the issue of unequal education to further perpetuate.
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2 comments:
Segregation in the schooling system really is a issue that seems to continually perpetuate. I also began to waver in my thoughts of diversity in classroom environment really mattering, as the core curriculums of math and language arts would be taught the same either way. However, in trying to eliminate such cut and dry methods of teaching, and emanate individuals' multiple intelligences, diversity is crucial, as you said such would enable a different outlook in subject matters, such as history and understanding various cultures, which would help in providing us for the real world. I definately agree with you that equality in funding is deemed necessary, and it really is shameful to read about such inequities to date. We cannot be satisfied with sufficient measures anymore. Adequate is not equal, and if we continue to think so, like you said, change will never occur.
I think you hit it right on the head. If resources were created equal then the gap would narrow a bit.
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