As the semester has progressed I have looked at both sides of the argument to tracking. This post will look at it from a different angle. This article is actually from the UK, but I believe that the same concepts still apply. The article as a whole is about gun problems in the UK. About a week before this article was published there had been a shooting involving four black males. The government now is trying to get at the root of the problem to see what can be done to control gun violence. The interesting part of the article is when they take a look at the educational system and what effects it may have on the problem. The overall point of the section on schooling basically says that teachers suppress the development of minority students by begging them as behavioral problems prematurely. They peg this as institutionalized racism. The result of this by the numbers is as follows:
Black children are three times more likely than white children to be prematurley excluded from school and five times less likely to be included in well-funded “gifted and talented” programs in schools.
These numbers are the same type of numbers we are battling in the United States. In the UK they are realizing how these numbers are effecting the future lives of the students. I also thought it was interesting that the article points out that there was a government leak that said they were aware of the institutionalized racism that exists. This leak was later denied by certain government officials. So, they know if exists and they are doing what about it. This type of information is what turns me off to the whole idea of tracking. We should in no way help promote this type of racism.
Other research that was equally shocking has to do with the way the teachers are managing their classrooms. With so much training focused on this area one would think that teachers had a good idea on how to do this equally. The article gives a different point of view on the subject. It says:
A lot of research shows the tendency among teachers to fall into the trap of problematizing individual students, parents, students, families, areas, and forgein languages as a reaction to the inability of teacher unions and the left more generally to mount any notable defense on the level of ideas and organization of, “progressive education”.
The teachers do not use a real life approach with the students and they are not concerned with how the home lives might affect their behavior in the classroom. The argument is the same in the UK as it is in the US. The teachers are so busy trying to teach to the standardized test and the different regulations that they do not take the time to do any discussion on the social issues that may be influencing the students in their room. This is a huge mistake made by teachers. I think that this just goes back on the ability of the teachers. They have to be able to get to the students on their level no matter what material they are teaching. There has to be some element that can help tie the material to the students lives. This way the teachers will learn more about the students and they may not be so quick to make judgements about their abilities. The problem there coincides with the problems with NCLB in the US.
Under this governments selective regime there would be an active disincentive for schools to accept students with more educational needs: they get more money for being “beacon schools”, and teachers are on performace related pay.
This may be the root of the whole problem. The teachers are concerned with the student’s performance on the standardized tests and nothing else because the results are reflected in their pay. It seems like everything relates to the final product. The teachers teach to the test. Therefore, students with other issues that cannot relate to standardized tests score low on the tests. The teachers then dismiss these generally colored, or lower class students as behavior problems. These are the same students who end up leaving school early. Thus, these students are on the streets and not in school. Now, I know that I just made large jumps and it is a generalization, but they are all logical connections.
This article shows ushow everything is connected. Teachers perceptions can have an effect on student performance. They have the power to help these students and they need to realize the important role they play. Teachers need to realize that every student has potential to be gifted and every student is talented.
Poverty, Crime, and Institutional Racism
February 23, 2007
Workers’ Liberty
