History Of Education In Usa And The Recurring Problems Our Education System Faces Today

The United States is well praised for its higher education systems and diverse institutions across the country. We have been a world of power for many hundred years now, highlighting how great the country is in all aspects including education. The history of education in the U.S travels back one hundred years. As a country we’ve went from having small classes in community churches to having multi-million dollar universities spread throughout our fifty states. To have the education system we have today took time, law making, and courage from many trailblazers. However, our system still has major flaws and could be improved. As a country, we continue to improve and expand our education system but it’s still rooted on inequality and discrimination. For example, many face racial and institutional discrimination starting as early as elementary school all the way up to college. This sets them up for a poor educational life and hinders future success. In theory, the discussion of the history of our education up until now will highlight the recurring problems our system faces by exploring the social-conflict, structural-functional approach, and symbolic interactionism theories.

First, to start off with a few significant events in our History of Education, from the 1800’s until present day. These events have no doubt helped shape our education system today. In 1896, Plessy v. Ferguson case was ruled by the Supreme Court that Los Angeles must make all schools separate but equal. Between 1900 and 1950, thirty-four states had compulsory schooling laws, Congress made Native Americans citizens, the G.I Bill was passed, and the SAT was created. The significance of the SAT is that the creator was a racist. The test was made to fail black people so that they had no chance in getting into college. In, 1954, Brown v. Board of Education rules that separate schools for black and white students weren’t equal. Shortly after, and over the years, schools were more segregated than ever. Even though it has been more than sixty years since the U.S Supreme Court decision, schools in the U.S remain economically and racially segregated. Last but not least, in 2001 SOLs were created to determine grade advancement, the pressure to obtain higher education increased, and tuition increased while teachers’ salaries were still stagnant for years. These are some of many events in history that has created the education system we have today. Some are still built with the same reasons on why they were made in the first place and these foundations need to be altered or removed.

According to Social Problems (2015), the structural-functional approach is a theoretical framework that sees society as a system of many interacted parts. This means society is one big complex system and, in that system, each individual person has various roles and completes tasks that are deemed important. If everyone does their part, society will continue to run smoothly. In this case, getting an education is a task to complete so you can gain the skills and knowledge to function in society. From a sociological perspective, functionalists believe that society can work together to benefit everyone, including the education system and the economy. Unfortunately, not everyone is benefiting from the education system.

Jencks and Phillips (1998) study found the following:

“..the typical black American still scores below 75 percent of a white American on almost every standardized test. This statistic does not imply, of course, that all blacks score below all whites. There is a lot of overlap between the two groups. Nonetheless, the test score gap is large enough to have significant social and economic consequences.”

Standardized tests have become the foundation for school systems across the nation that affects the lives of American in an overwhelming way (Green and Griffore, 1980, p. 238). From an early age up until highschool children are categorized by standardized tests. As time goes by, these are becoming more life determining. For example, college, including and graduate programs are reached by the scores of certain tests. These tests can be used for employment and furthering your position in some careers. Standardized tests are very powerful and can determine your future success. They are cons to standardized tests because they can serve as a convenient tool to justify discriminatory practices. Help closing this gap in standardized testing would build racial equality in the United States than any other strategy.

Symbolic-interaction theory underlines how people process the real world in their everyday lives. This theory suggests that from our interactions within society we create symbols to give meaning to the world in which we perceive. The way we act towards people or things is based on the meaning of symbol we created. The core principle of the meaning is vital to the theory of symbolic interactionism. Education is the base for everyone’s success, but when starting from and unequal starting ground your chances are slim to none. Low-income families are already behind in school compared to high-income families just because of their social status.

Jordan (2015) study found the following:

“Nationally, about 30 percent of white students attend low-poverty schools, while only 8 percent attend high-poverty schools. In other words, white students are about four times more likely to attend low-poverty schools than high-poverty schools. The pattern is flipped for black students, for whom attending high-poverty schools is commonplace. Over 45 percent of black students (about 3.4 million) attend high-poverty schools, and only about 7 percent attend low-poverty schools.”

Low-poverty schools lack the needed educational resources to help these children succeed. For example, high-poverty schools have highly qualified teachers, high student-teacher ratios, advanced placement courses, and extracurricular activities not available in low-poverty schools. Schools across the United States have implemented a program called tracking. Gifted is another word for tracking. According to Social Problems (2015), tracking is the policy of assigning students to different educational programs. The purpose of tracking is to separate children with lower learning abilities from students with higher learning abilities. By doing this, neither group will be overwhelmed or have the feeling of being held back. We can separate the two but we need to make sure these kids are receiving a fair chance as well. Children that come from low-income families are being left with second-class education when they should be getting more help to advanced them to the next level. Black students are less likely to be place in gifted programs, and more likely to be suspended. They’re are notable differences in the way black students are treated in the education system.

Social-conflict approach sees society as divided by inequality and conflict, which leads to inequality. It wasn’t until the late 60’s until schools became fully segregated. Just because schools were integrated doesn’t mean discrimination still doesn’t happen. Now, we are faced with institutional discrimination, even though institutional discrimination isn’t new, it’s being brought to the mainstream. There are certain disciplinary rules that are made to push the black kids out of school. By doing this, contributes to what’s known as school-to-prison pipeline. School-to-prison pipeline is a combination of school policies that push students, especially black students, out of the school system and into juvenile and criminal justice systems.

ACLU study found the following:

“Lacking resources, facing incentives to push out low-performing students, and responding to a handful of highly-publicized school shootings, schools have embraced zero-tolerance policies that automatically impose severe punishment regardless of circumstances. Under these policies, students have been expelled for bringing nail clippers or scissors to school. Rates of suspension have increased dramatically in recent years — from 1.7 million in 1974 to 3.1 million in 2000 (3) — and have been most dramatic for children of color.”

Many of these kids come from low-income homes, and have history of abuse or neglect. Instead of becoming another statistic they need additional education and counseling services. From an early age, children of color are expected to fail and start with an unequal advantage. With help of teachers and counselors these children can succeed no matter the stereotype placed upon them. However, the National Commission on teaching and America’s future says new teachers are usually assigned to teach “disadvantage” students in low-income and high minority schools, while whites gets the more qualified teachers. The 1966 Coleman Project discussed how class and money effects proper education. Stating there are four factors; small schools, small class sizes, challenging curriculums and qualified teachers. Equal opportunities are needed and education has a huge correlation to opportunities one can be given. When there is such a gap at a young age their opportunities are significantly less.

In conclusion, after discussing our history of education up until now, we’ve highlighted the recurring problems our system faces by exploring the social-conflict, structural-functional approach, and symbolic interactionism theories. Our education system needs to be more inclusive to minority students and students with disabilities. We need to work on getting rid of the school-to-prison pipeline and find a better way to discipline kids when they need our help the most. Police should not be the first call in minor incidents in schools. We need to have a better student to teacher ratio to make sure all kids are receiving quality education. We need to put less emphasis on standardized tests and more in emphasis into college prep courses. We can come to the conclusion that as a country there is a lot more that needs to be done for the education system. Our school system alone cannot solve these problems; we’re going to need help from the community, government and elected officials. According to Jordan (2015), we have the tools in both the housing communities and schools, backed by great research to address concentrated poverty and racial segregation.