Inequality in the Educational System and Its Impacts on African American Achievement Essay Example

may not provide a conducive environment to study. Students are thus unable to enrich their after-school activities promoting less development of background and overall skills.

Segregated Schools

Most of the schools attended by the blacks are isolated in high-poverty neighborhoods which are surrounded by all types of vices such as crimes and violence. This affects the students psychologically leading to stress which interferes with learning (Aronson, 2002). For instance, segregated schools consist of overcrowded classrooms, inadequate as well as outdated resources which promote challenges to teachers most notably the inability to deliver (Decker,Dona & Christenson, 2007). Consequently, segregation of schools has continued to affect students’ performance since there is no interaction with the white students leading to less familiarity with standard English which is imperative in their success (Eitle & Eitle, (2004).

Critique of Current Approaches

According to Aud, Fox & KewalRamani, (2010), many black students have continued to fail to achieve their academic goals due to racial discrimination whereby they are restricted from attending the whites’ schools. For instance, discrimination comes in handy due to their color, social and economic status. This in turn leads to poor performance thus inability to achieve the desired success (Berends & Peñaloza, 2008).

Policy Recommendations

Inequality in the educational system has contributed largely to inability of African American students to achieve their goals academically. In response to this inequality, the government should impose measures to curb the situation by allowing the black students to attend the whites’ schools. This in turn will promote integration thus providing a platform for black students to learn and acquire skills relating to the White American culture. Additionally, the community can promote equality by embracing and educating the Americans

on the importance of appreciating each other despite their color, social and economic status. This in turn will promote learning and help bridge the achievement gap. The government should also build schools in a strategic position such as in middle class environment to restrain the effects brought about by the vices in poor neighborhood and advocate for school desegregation to promote equality in provision of education to all Americans especially in public schools.

Conclusion

Inequality of education system among the African American students have greatly affected their performance hence their inability to advance in education to achieve their dreams and goals. The effort to curb the situation has been in vain since the students are discriminated in line with their color, social and economic status. In response to this, the government ought to put measures to curb the situation by advocating for desegregation in schools and promotion of education equality.

References

1. Aronson, J. (2002). Stereotype threat: Contending and coping with unnerving expectations. In J. Aud, S., Fox, M., & KewalRamani, A. (2010). Status and trends in the education of racial and ethnic groups (NCES 2010-015). U.S. Department of Education, National Center for
2. Education Statistics. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.
   Berends, M., & Peñaloza, D. (2008). Changes in families, schools, and the test score gap. In K. Magnuson & J. Waldfogel (Eds.), Steady gains and stalled progress: Inequality and the black-white test score gap (pp. 33-65).
3. New York: The Russell Sage Foundation.
   Brooks-Gunn, J., & Duncan, G. (1997). The effects of poverty on children. The Future of Children: Children and Poverty, 7(2), 55–71.
4. Decker, D., Dona, D, & Christenson, L. (2007). Behaviorally at-risk African American students: The importance of student-teacher
   

relationships for student outcomes. Journal of School Psychology, 45 (1), 83-109.