Discrimination in education

In the 1970s when the number of students attending New York's schools were still substantially non-equal white, the number of doctors was around 400. As the number of white students started to decline so did the number of doctors available to attend to the needs of students. By 1993 the number of doctors had been cut to 23 and most of them were part-time doctors, children in the Bronx where all these doctors had been removed from were 20 more times more likely than those children living in the city to develop asthma.[12] Another example of discrimination that occurs still today is also seen based on how each student is categorized with a price tag on them a soon as they started attending school: The students living in a low income community with low income families are valued at a lower priced then students that attend rich a schools and live in a higher class community. What this labeling means is that if you are born in a low income community you might receive for example $8,000 a year but if you are born in a rich community and attend a school at a rich community you might be receiving $16,000 a year for school education. "In 1998, New York's Board of Education spent about $8,000 yearly on the education of a third grade child in a New York City public school". (Kozol, 45)^[13] If you were to lift that same child and put them in a typical white suburb of New York he/she would be worth about $12,000, if you were to pick that child up once again and put him/her in one of the wealthiest white suburbs of New York their price tag goes up to $18,000. (Kozol, 45) ^[13] This labeling of students and how much they will be receiving towards school education is an example of discriminations and the way in which the poor stay poor and the rich keep getting chances to get richer. Teachers at schools also get discriminated against, the wages they get paid in a low income school is far less than those working in wealthy neighborhoods, the conditions in which schools are maintained is also discriminatory because students can't learn the materials and score high on tests if they don't have the proper teachers, proper materials, proper nutrition and adequate class rooms. All of these examples mentioned beforehand are explained with much more detailed information in the book The Shame of the Nation by Jonathan Kozol.

There is discrimination in education among schools that are in areas of lower income (generally students of color). This level of discrimination amongst marginalized groups can increase the "learning gap." This in turn already forces these specific people behind in their future endeavors. In The Shame of the Nation the author provides us with examples of students who come from lower income residences attend school with required work related workshops, instead of AP classes.^[14] Kozol provides an example of a student named Mireya, a black student, who wanted to be a doctor or a social worker, but was required to take a sewing class as well "Life Skill" class (Kozol, 178).^[15] In addition Mireya had plans to attend college, Kozol asked the teacher why she was not able to skip these subject and take classes that would help her pursue her college goals, Kozol was faced with the teachers response "It isn't a question of what students want. It's what the school may have available (Kozol, 179).^[16] Mireya was face with a confrontation of another student that made a claim "You're ghetto-so you sew!" (Kozol, 180).^[17] From this example students of color who are also low income, attend school that appear to be programmed to get them to the workforce (job), as opposed to other privileged schools who are able to provide their students with AP classes, getting them ready for college.

Teacher bias in grading

In several countries, teachers were shown to systematically give students different grades for an identical work, based on categories like ethnicity or gender.^[18] According to the Education Longitudinal Study, "teacher expectations [are] more predictive of college success than most major factors, including student motivation and student effort".^[19] Grading bias can be detected by comparing the outcome of exams where the teacher knows the student's characteristics with blind exams where the student is anonymous. This method may underestimate the bias since, for written exams, the handwriting style might still convey information about the student.^[20] According to the Experimental Evidence on Teachers' Racial Bias in Student Evaluation, "teachers rated a student's writing sample lower when it was randomly signaled to have a black author versus a white author. This study found that this bias was dependent on the teacher and their relationship and attitude towards race.^[21] Other studies apply the same method to cohorts spanning multiple years, to measure each teacher's individual biases.^[22] Alternatively, teacher's grading bias can be measured experimentally, by giving teachers a fabricated assignment where only the name (and thus gender and ethnicity) of the student differs.^[23]

Sexism

Multiple studies in various disciplines and countries found that teachers systematically give higher grades to girls and women. This bias is present at every level of education, in

Using individual teacher effects, Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Camille Terrier showed that teachers' bias affects male students' motivation and impairs their future progress.^[33] It can also significantly affect the students' career decisions.^[29] There is some evidence that students are aware of the unfair grading. For example, middle school boys tend to expect lower grades from female teachers.^[34]

Racism

According to a study from

A 2019 report by Universities UK found that student’s race and ethnicity significantly affect their degree outcomes. According to this report from 2017–18, there was a 13% gap between the likelihood of white students and Black and Minority Ethnic (BAME) students graduating with a first or 2:1 degree classification.[35]^[36]

One study conducted in 2009 starts by stating, "Teachers' expectations seem to affect students' behavior." This indicates that discrimination beginning in classrooms perhaps includes teachers' perspectives.^[37]

However, classroom discussion around race today much less negative than one would find in the past. ^[38] This article discusses a process called anti-bias curriculum. This advocates for classroom and parent discussion around issues of discrimination, privilege, oppression, and racism with young children. This allows room for children to develop skills with these topics. ^[39]

A recent study showed that African American middle and high school students who heard messages from teachers about ignoring race felt less connected to others at school and held a more negative view of their academic abilities. ^[40][41]

See also

• Bias in curricula
• Convention against Discrimination in Education
  - a UNESCO initiative
• Freedom of education
• Inclusion (education)
• Psychological impact of discrimination on health
• Right to education
• Racial segregation
• Sex differences in education - sex-based discrimination in education and its effects
• Malala Yousafzai

References