Reflection 4

The authors of the Tozer book contended that individuals succeed or fail in our society not simply due to their native abilities and applied efforts, but on the basis of their membership in one or more ethnic, gender, or economic groups. If this is true, what are the implications for teaching, learning and schooling? Support your position with evidence and reasoned argument.

It is true that students who are members of an ethnic, gender or economical group succeed or fail. Further, depending on what category a student falls into, which maybe more than one category, determines whether they will be successful students and even successful members of the community. Theories of social inequality do distinguish why and how students will perform in the classroom. Genetic inferiority and cultural deficit theory are part of the theories of social inequality. Theory of social inequality discusses the individual and how the home plays a role in the student’s life, language, cultural differences and how other groups affect them. Genetic inferiority theory suggests the idea of “myth of the metals”, this describes how monarchies were able to stay in power for such a long time. The idea that God gave them the divine right to rule and also established roles for the other members in society is at the heart of genetic inferiority theory. Eugenics also plays a vital role in the genetic inferiority theory. The belief that racial cleansing is necessary to control the genetic pool would definitely have an effect on society and students living within that society.  IQ tests are another example of genetic inferiority. The idea that a test can measure inherited intelligence, say that whites are smarter than African Americans, jobs and pay is measure by achievement and poverty is the direct result of testing affects students and people. A shocking component to IQ tests as a measure of genetic inferiority is the testing the army did prior to World War I. They placed people in categories of morons and feeble-minded. The cultural deficit theory discusses cultural effects the child. Minority and poor children do not get the opportunity to travel and see different things that white or wealthy people get to see. The dominate culture would be highly critical and more advanced than people who did have these experiences. IQ tests have great implications on education and schooling. One way to combat unpreparedness in school is Project Head Start and other programs have great results for keeping students in school and “caught up”, but it make them assimilate into the dominate culture.

Critical theory calls into question the how society is operates and how power is delegated. Educators, who teach with the idea of social justice in mind, will not be afraid to think and use techniques in class that will help the student who not a member of the dominate culture. Sometimes school culture and the student’s culture do not match. It is up to educator to find out the problem, reason, and act on the situation. The cultural difference theory respects differences in cultures and the relationships within and between the cultures. Students perform better with they are schooled with people of their same culture. However, when students fail to perform, behave, or learn in the dominant culture, then they are considered unintelligent and their self-esteem falls. The cultural subordination theory discusses how society affects the lower status for minority groups. Students who are part of this educational culture are taught to make decisions, take risks and test theories. The importance of the individual is important because understand where the knowledge comes from. Educators must teach students to demand changes in the school. Finally, the resistance theory is important because it not only affects race but gender. Students who are discriminated against eventually give up and stop performing. They act dumb or that they don’t care, and many of them loose their self esteem. It can occur as a language barrier, the pressure to use the dominate language, and self esteem in the language knowledge can be affected. Gender plays another key role. Rousseau believed that girls were intended to be nurse maids or a companion for their male husbands. This idea lasted for hundreds of years. Every teacher in school has a moral obligation to teach girls and boys and different races the same. The implications can be for all of theories are that they lead to failed student achievement, lack of student learning, and decreased schooling for students who are not part of the dominant class.   

Multi-cultural education is one way in which educators can succeed in teaching to all races and genders. They can teach a cultural relevant pedagogy that empowers students to think intelligently, act socially responsible, behave emotionally, and act or rebel politically. Educators have a responsibility to learn about themselves, understand cultural relevancy, and understand social relations. Culturally relevant pedagogy attempts to help the teacher and student understand their beliefs in totality. All schools should adopt this type of learning pedagogy so all students can be successful.