Race, Public Opinion, and Social Sphere - Essay Example

?Sur Number: Minorities and Education Minorities refer to the communities whose ancestors initially came from other continents and settled into the USA, and include the African American, Hispanic, and American Indians communities. For a long time these people faced a challenge in getting a good education, since the Government seemed reluctant to fund their education. There was also a wide spread opinion that communities such as the black people required a different kind of education, as black leaders, Booker T. and W.E Dubois strongly debated (Ayres 43). Over the years, there have been tremendous developments with minority grants and scholarships available. Currently, the minorities comprise of the largest proportion of low and middle class earners in the country. In the past, the US Supreme Court handled many cases that were resolved in favor of minorities. Dr. Martin L. King believed that for equality to be achieved, Whites majority needed to adjust many aspects in their lives, a thing they were not willing to do. Although many people felt that minority students needed a different approach of learning due to a different culture, some felt that it was a deliberate move not to do so. For instance, Shor and Freire (15) believed that education does not shape society, but rather the society shapes the education depending on who has power (Douglas 75). Public opinion Race, public opinion, and social sphere In American society, issues relating to race seem to intertwine together with social class, in such a way, that one cannot clearly have an honest discussion regarding race without having to look at the issue of class. Many people avoid the discussion of race although it is still very much alive within people’s hearts. These aspects of the society were constructed, seemingly for the advancement of such community as white. The African –Americans are widely blamed for the wrong things happening in the community. Some scholars believe that a number of events in the society have continuously led to the tremendous income inequality between Whites and Blacks. According to Douglas (29), these events comprise of reconstruction, suburbanization, and the contemporary institutional racism as among the key factors in the widening gap between the communities. Additionally, the media seems to have aggravated the situation, by distorting the views of the ground. These media houses, owned by the ruling class, distort views about economics by making believe the ruling class is nonexistent and that poor Blacks are actually the dregs of society (Bobo 28). Thus, the media with its 'magic' apparently make the sins and also harshness towards African-Americans go away by claiming it is their fault and blaming that they are poor. As a result, upper and middle-classed Americans end up fearing and loathing poor Blacks and often refusing to make a connection between systematic form of racism and high poverty evident amongst African-Americans. In a similar vein, a widening wealth gap describes how offending but legal dealings amongst corporations and politicians usually lead to work wages stagnating far too long and millionaires becoming even more richer. Racial attitudes, Educational level and personality measure Many people insinuate that high black people crime rates are a result of blacks' predisposition to criminal behavior. They base this premise on the correlation, for instance, between cities having large populations of black people also having relatively high crime rates. Such a theory is simplistic and superficial, although this level of pseudo-scientific kind of analysis could hold some water. However, some people say that if this theory held true, such same numbers would be reflected worldwide. In America, Black people descend from African Blacks. Thus, why do African countries fails to reflect same ridiculously high crime rates? In America, Whites are viewed to be the most read community (McDonald 39). It is seen obvious for the children of the rich to attend the best school in the country. Most of black kids drop out of school and hardly do they complete their college education. This is contributed by the fact the most of them would be involved in activities such as doing drugs and other criminal activities in an effort to earn an income. The education system in the country has embraced equality among all the communities although Whites still dominate some high-class schools (Ayres 60). How Whites Explain Black and Hispanic Inequality Firstly, politics has played a big role in the lives of this couple of minority communities, and have grown up believing the myth that they are supposed to be poor while Whites are generally supposed to be rich. These white also believe these people follow the same trends as their fore fathers, and thus tend to be very united especially due to the fact that, they are inclined to identifying with one another(McDonald 573). Funny enough, Whites feel that these people have continued to rely on government subsidies and handouts and that they are in constant fear of not receiving all the free help they get every year. The minority is also viewed as very much united in terms o their political orientation, whereby they are quite suspicious of White people’s intentions. Collaboration: The Awful “C” Word Variables such as free will, reflection, experience, as well as self-beliefs, have continually emerged as factors affecting collaboration. Thus, there is a need to confirm this evidence and emphasize the importance of self-reflection in a successful collaboration. There is power of thinking, as well reflectivity in considering its significance in educational continuous change (Atlinson 173). The premise of this claim is the reflection guides free will as well as the personality traits in collaboration, which is the purported current change agent. In addition, the acculturation procedure is negotiated as a probable resolution to the social, cultural, political, and linguistic conflict in collaboration. The model of acculturation suggests a radical change of majority to minority point of views, provides an effective resolution to the empowerment dilemma that still continue to haunt the proponents and opponents as well, of collaborative reform. State Constitutionality and Adequacy: Signposts of Concern on Utah’s Path Towards Developing Vouchers The State of Utah became the focus of an education debate back in 2007 after the government passed a national voucher program, House Bill One Hundred and Forty Eight, by a slim margin of a single vote (Ferrin 47). Many people witnessed and got involved in public debates in Utah, concerning House Bill 148 and other predecessor bills and came to a conclusion that several key issues relating to a voucher plan have been inadequately been considered in Utah as par the current legislative and current political climate as well. The possibility of the constitutional infirmity apparently has been dismissed altogether by the advocates of Utah's bill. This dismissal of the likely unconstitutionality of such bill seems somewhat misplaced, especially in the sense of the open nature of the Utah's proposed universal voucher (Ferrin 62). In addition, it seems quite an expensive experiment, looking at the attention to the adequacy of education in the sense that it has far greater potential in improving educational opportunities for Utah's school going children, including those from low socio-economic status. Latinos and School Vouchers: Testing the “Minority Support” Hypothesis Education is the new form of civil rights issue that the US and many people certainly seem to agree. Issue of vouchers in Schools is quite sensitive since it is quite controversial. Those in favor of this voucher system maintain that standards of Latino and Black minority students at schools have effectively led to many students being left behind. Statistics shows that, close to forty percent of these minority students in Utah do not leave school with a diploma. Thus, voucher proponents are using these staggering statistics in underlining their opinion that the continued use of vouchers significantly helps boost minority level of education in schools (Bobo 96). They claim that the public school system has failed many students over the years, thus a probability of long-term damage unless vouchers is immediately brought into effect. On the other side, the spectrum are some anti-voucher lobby, mostly comprised of schools' authorities, parts of the media, and public education officials who claim the voucher system has no benefits, especially on the low-income students who apparently remain at the lowest of the heap. Anti-voucher lobbyists claim that most private institutions set their fees above the normal range, which is a burden on the families for arranging for tuition fee. Most low-income earners are unable to pay up the extra fees, thus costing them to use voucher. Private Schools are mostly located far from the low-income neighborhoods, bringing up the sensitive issue of transportation. Families who cannot afford car are not able to drop their children off at these schools, rendering the voucher system useless (McDonald 58). Court cases: Regents of university of California v. Bakke and the Impact of Brown on African American Students This was a decision of the U.S Supreme Court that ruled the admission procedure of the university unconstitutional, after the case filed by Allan Bakke after the institution rejected his application his application (Douglas 67). This was even after he scored exemplary well above the cut-off point in the admission test, which was a clear evident of an effort by the committee to turn down well-qualified applicant from minority community. The court clearly identified that the program in the college operated in what they saw as a racial quota, since the minority applicants in the program were rated against each other only, and that the institution reserved only sixteen places for them. The court ruled in favor of Bakke when the college was forced to admit him, which was an action that banned the use of race as a core factor in considering those admitted in public school. This lead to a proposition that the state should not at any one time discriminate against any individual on the basis of their racial background, sex, ethnicity or even country of origin in employment, education and other operation such as public contracting. Another case that demonstrates the racial discrimination is witnessed in the Brown v. Education Board, where yet again the supreme Court was instrumental in effecting monumental changes in the operation of public schools (Saddler 55). The central question revolving the case was whether the tendency to segregate children solely on race basis deprived minority children of rather equal educational opportunities as other Whites, even when other factors remained equal. The court declared the laws on establishing separate schools for black and white children unconstitutional, stating that separate educational institutions were inherently unequal, thus paving way for integration as well as civil rights movement (Bobo 25). The holding of the Supreme Court was that even if the segregated institutions were of equal quality in terms of facilities and teachers, it was still harmful to black students, as it affected them psychologically and socially, and furthermore it was unconstitutional. After the court ruling, the board of education stated integrating schools by ending the segregation in the elementary schools in Topeka starting in August 1953. Don’t Tell, Don’t Ask: Marrow Tailoring After Grutter and Gratz and Educational pluralism The Supreme Court’s affirmative decisions in this case changed the whole meaning of narrow tailoring, which refers to the legal objective that a law should only fulfill the only intended goals. The principle was that the government should use the least racial preference so to achieve its compelling interest. However, the preferences in the program of admission upheld in Grutter apparently were larger than admissions program Gratz had actually struck down (Ayres 78). These results were not wrong although the court analysis of the case was unfortunately wrong, since it replaced the necessary preferences requirement, requiring that admission programs provide consideration for individual person, amounting to a “do not tell, do not ask” kind of regime. This means that the court would not ask probing questions concerning the size as well as differentiation of preferences provided that government official does not enlighten the court on the racial preference it is actually giving. Secondly, Educational Pluralism is yet another significant case that describes the process of college admission through the phase of affirmative action (Nicholas 28). These include several phases, whereby the first one, obligatory affirmative action, gives a description of its history and the impact it had on college admission. Secondly, the phase referred to as voluntary affirmative action, which describes the efforts of University of West Florida to increase enrollment of minority as well as its retention capacity. Finally, tempered affirmative action phase that explores the plans implemented to provide insight into the future by eliminating race criterion in admission of students. Conclusion According to Nicholas (194), human rights strive for education to adapt to the minorities communities in a more fundamental process than simply through the eradication of offensive stereotypes from textbooks. This includes issues such as instruction language, inclusion, and the equal opportunities needs human rights responses. In many countries, linguistic and ethnic minorities are marginalized. The ‘untouchable caste’ ends up suffering extreme discrimination. Thus, they live in remote places and have quite limited access to information and resources. They are discriminated against through prejudice as well as denial of cultural rights, in addition the curriculum offered tend not is appropriate to the lives they lead (Hesselbart 18). Work with this type of groups involves valuing culture and language, and ensuring that their knowledge, skills, and preferences are integrated into the current education system. This may involve arguing for an alternative curriculum covering specific issues to be added into teacher training. It could also involve looking at issues concerning funding and resourcing. The human rights approach is beneficial in that the minority rights are not by definition guaranteed by mere majority in politics, but instead requires legal protection and rights of individual involved. Works Cited Atlinson, Samuel. "Urban Review." Collaboration: The Awful "C" Word (1999): 173. Ayres, Ian. "Don't tell. Don't Ask: Narrow Tailoring After Grutter and Gratz ." Texax law review (2007): 517-583. Bobo, Kevin. "Public Opinion Qurterly." Race, Public Opinion and Social Sphere (1997): 1-15. Douglas, William. "California Law Reveiw." Regents of the University of California v. Bakke (1979): 67. Ferrin, Daniel. "Brigham Young Unversity Law Review." State Constitutionality and Adequacy:Signposts of concern on Utah's Path toward developing Vouchers (2008): 253-375. Hesselbart, Gregory. "Public Opinion Quarterly." Racial Attitude, Educational Level And Personality Measure (1976): 108-114. Nicholas, Jeffrey. "Journal of College Admission." Educational Pluralism: A Compelling state Interest (2005): 21-28. McDonald, Steven. Read More