The Flat World Educational Inequality, and America’s Future essay
Today, the development of the education system is vulnerable to the impact of multiple factors. In this regard, such issues as race, gender, power and privilege are particularly significant and influential. At the same time, the contemporary education system focuses on the elimination of inequalities, especially in the public education. On the other hand, historically, the US society perceived education as a privilege rather than a social good, while the development of the contemporary society and progress of science and technology have changed the role of education. At this point, it is possible to refer to the studies conducted by Lopez and Hammond, which reveal the fact that the impact of racial, gender, race and other biases and prejudices is still very significant and they have played the determinant part in the development of the contemporary education system.
In the contemporary society, race, class, gender, ability, language, and/or sexual orientation have a considerable impact urban education. Lopez develops the idea of the race as one of the main issues related to the contemporary education which have influenced consistently the development of the contemporary education. To put it more precisely, the racial inequality persisted in the US for a long time. Today, the development of the contemporary education system attempts to overcome racial biases and stereotypes on the ground of the concept of race. For instance, the introduction of the Human Rights Act of 1964, the introduction of the No Child Left Behind programs and other legal acts and policies conducted by the US government aimed at the elimination of the inequality and racial biases and other forms of discrimination in the US society. Nevertheless, today, the problem of racial inequality in American public schools does persist. For instance, many public schools face the problem of segregation, which has started to eliminate in the 1960s – 1970s, when the elimination of racial segregation was one of the major goals of official policies and civil movements that aimed at the inclusion of racial minorities into the education system.
Paradoxically, by the end of the 20th century, the problem of segregation persists, while public schools are available to all students but many public schools are segregated with the overwhelming majority consisting of racial minorities, i.e. non-white population. The progress of the contemporary education and provision of access to the public education still failed to provide non-white students with the equal access to the higher education because of its high costs and the low academic performance of students attending public schools. Instead, charter and private schools are more effective and open wider opportunities for students, who are mainly white students, to enter colleges and continue their higher education.
Hammond argues that knowledge plays an increasingly important role in the contemporary society because knowledge is the key to business opportunities and success of individuals as well as organizations. In such a way, individuals having access to education can gain knowledge, while those, who have limited educational opportunities turn out to be in a disadvantageous position. As a result, the access to education turns out to be crucial for the ultimate success of individuals. In such a situation, the inferior position of non-white Americans and their limited access to education compared to white Americans is one of the major reasons for current and future inequalities in the US society. Moreover, in the future, the gap between non-white minority and white majority will grow wider because of the limited access of the non-white minority compared to the white majority.
Moreover, issues of power, privilege, and oppression play an important part in the development of the modern education and school system. In actuality, a large part of the US society still views the US education as a privilege rather than a social good. However, Hammon insists that knowledge plays the key part in the contemporary society that means that knowledge is essential for all people to gain equal economic opportunities and stand on the equal ground with those members of society, who possess knowledge. In such a way, the inequality between individuals on the ground of knowledge or access to education turns out to be crucial for the overall success of individuals operating in the society. At this point, the dominating view on education as a privilege leads to the concentration of power in hands of the white majority, whereas non-white minority remains deprived of the access to education. Such disparity leads to the persisting inequality in socioeconomic development of the white majority and no-white minority. As a result, the contemporary education system fails to meet needs of all Americans and these inequalities create conditions for the widening socioeconomic gaps in the US.
Thus, the contemporary education system needs profound changes to eliminate persisting inequalities and gaps in the access of representatives of different racial and other social groups to education. Such situation is unacceptable in light of the increased role of knowledge in the contemporary society.
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