Gender, ethnicity and social class issues in higher education - Essay Example

?Running Head: GENDER, ETHNI ISSUES IN HIGHER EDUCATION Topic: Lecturer: Presentation: IntroductionStudents aspire to join higher education after completion of primary and secondary level in preparation of taking up future careers. These students expect to gain a lot in these educational institutions but various issues concerned with gender, ethnicity, race and social class emerge that affect educational achievement and shape the future of these students. However, if managed well by faculty members education could be fruitful for all candidates irrespective of their social class, gender or ethnicity. Most governments emphasize on equal opportunity for all in education attainment and stern actions are taken against those found discriminating students. The question that begs answers is therefore, if there is equal education opportunity, why do issues of gender, ethnicity and social class matter or why do they continue to bog down the education system? According to Ball (2006) such education policies just contribute to a meritocratic education system. This view is supported by the Virginia university teaching resource center (2004) which believes that such classifications influence “what we teach, how we teach and how students learn’ and that “gender equality is taken for granted but it is not yet a reality.” In view of this, this paper will discuss how socio-economic, national identity, gender and English proficiency affect student behavior or faculty behavior towards students. To start with, the socio-economic factors will be discussed. These include the challenges faced by students from low socio-economic background such as emotional and social challenges, acute and chronic stressors, cognitive lags and health and safety issues that affect participation rates and educational achievement. It will then look at gender issues such as gender stereotyping and their effects on education after which it will look at issues of national identity and language proficiency faced by international students and their effects on students as well as faculty behavior. Lastly, a short summary will be made. Society is divided into various classes of citizens; the upper, middle and lower class. These represent the hierarchical ordering of society especially due to the emergence of the capitalistic mode of production. Karl Marx often criticized this mode of production for many societal problems and for bringing about exploitation of some people by others, that is, exploitation of working class by the dominant ruling class or capitalists (Morrison, 2006). Emile Durkheim on the other hand, blamed this system for eroding family values and morals but he believed the division of labor in society was the key to enhance social solidarity which had been dismantled by the system. It helps to move from mechanical to organic solidarity but at the same time division of labor may also result in classification of people into high class and low classes depending on their occupations (Morrison, 2006). For examples, professionals such as accountants or lawyers are considered as from high classes while clerks are in the low social class. Individual identity in modern system is defined by what one does rather than what one is. Paid employment is thus very crucial in defining identity and determining the future of individuals especially where work ethic is emphasized. Education being the key to employment is thus very vital in society and determines what people become in future and can also affect social mobility. This is the reason why issues of equality and equity in education provision are the center of education policies. According to Weis and Dolby (2012) social class determines most aspects of our lives such as which schools to attend and even influences participation in education, academic achievement and student interactions. This view is supported by Jensen (2009) who asserts that students from different socio-economic status bring into the education system their experiences which influences learning and teaching in higher education. For example, students from low socio-economic status are faced with numerous challenges that students from high socio-economic status are unaware of thus putting them at a disadvantage and influencing educational outcomes. However, proper management of the classroom can help to eliminate such differences and create a peaceful learning environment. It is thus worth discussing how socio-economic factors affect participation, interaction and education achievement. There are different ways in which socio-economic statues affects education achievement, interaction and in-class participation. As noted earlier, social affects education, health, income and many aspects of our lives that have direct influence on student behavior as well as faculty behavior towards students. It is also worthy noting that students from low socio-economic status are faced with numerous challenges thus putting them at a disadvantage at the entry level (Parida, 2010). Jensen (2009) like many other sociologists admits that human behavior is as a result of combination of genetic and environmental factors. He asserts that while genes account for 30-50%, the environment accounts for 50-70%. This is to mean that most of student behavior especially education achievement is influenced by the environment which is in turn influenced by socio-economic status. This is because social classes determine allocation of resources in society and influence how people interact with each other. A poor student may have a high IQ than a student from a wealthy class but in the end, the student from the wealthy class performs better. This is especially why the new labor government in the UK tries to help “bright students from poorer backgrounds” to get into high status universities for equality purposes (Ball, 2006 p. 215). This is also to say that students from high socio-economic status can join well equipped universities hence excel more than a bright student from a poor family who cannot access good quality universities due to financial constraints. Socio-economic status also affects how students relate with each other. Those from wealthy families have high confidence as well as high self-esteem and try to differentiate themselves by the kind of activities they engage in such as sports or recreational activities after school (Weis & Dolby, 2012). This affects the interactions in school. Those from poor families find it difficult to socialize due to lack of self-esteem and confidence. Furthermore, they have no finances to engage in variety of activities and this may affect their development as well as social skills. Students from wealthy class attend private schools where interaction between parents, teachers and students is encouraged. This creates a good learning environment that enhances student achievements. Those from poor families attend bureaucratic public schools where interaction with teachers is non-existent or minimal thus affecting their grades (Ball, 2006). Besides, faculty has a tendency to underestimate students from poor backgrounds and thus do not spend time trying to advice, motivate or encourage them on how to achieve high performance (Archer, Hutchings & Ross, 2003). Symbolic interactionists believe that people form identities by considering what other people think of them and acting according to interpretations of their feelings or expectations (Newman, B & Newman, P, 2010). As such, if faculty members label poor students as underperformers, there is likelihood of such students being underperformers as that is what is expected of them by the faculty. Labeling students based on their social classes also affects in-class participation. The teacher concentrates on students he/she believes are good performers and thus engages them in challenging tasks and in asking them questions while ignoring poor students (Jensen, 2009). These poor students believe they are not important hence rarely engage in class activities such as discussions, that is, their participation rate is low. This also leads to low achievement. A study conducted by Rajput in 1984 found out that the economic status of children affected achievement of standards in mathematics (Parida, 2010 p. 82). Pandey on the other hand found that children from high socio-economic class were more socially acceptable and also found a relationship between social acceptability and academic achievement (p.83). The more socially acceptable the students are, the higher their educational achievements. As earlier stated, poor students are faced with a myriad of challenges that affect their participation, achievement and interaction. These are outlined by Jensen (2009) as emotional ad social challenges, acute and chronic stressors, cognitive lags and health and safety issues. These will be discussed in depth. To begin with, behavior is shaped by the environment and children from poor families live in unhealthy conditions and these may affect school performance in future. Moreover, parents from such families work for long hours thus find little time to bond with their children. This results in insecure attachments that affect quality of relationships. Emotional dysfunction may also result leading to depression. It also hinders students from cooperating with others and this may affect achievement. Acute and chronic stress is also another challenge faced by the poor. These families have poor living conditions that add up to their stress. Furthermore, they are known to have high levels of violence especially domestic violence. This causes trauma for such children which in turn affects their attention levels leading to poor grades and poor social skills (Heryton & Paczuska, 2002; Jensen, 2009). Such students may also have high rate of absenteeism which may in turn affects educational achievement not forgetting lack of motivation to learn. Teachers from high socio-economic status may not understand what such children are going through and as such may consider them as failures and have low expectations for them (Newman, B & Newman P, 2010). Since they are not expected to achieve much, such students relax and believe they cannot perform better thus affecting their educational outcome. The solution to this problem according to Jensen (2009) is for the faculty to avoid criticizing such students but instead offer them support. They can also create a conducive environment for learning and empower students by teaching them how to deal with stress. Students from low SES may also have problems with cognitive development due to lack of learning resources and not having good foundation from parents (Jensen, 2009). They may thus have difficulty in vocabulary acquisition since their parents are also not educated. There is thus relationship between SES and academic achievement standards, participation rates and interaction. However, SES doe not work alone but combines with other factors such as gender and ethnicity to influence educational outcome. The society socializes individuals into different gender roles which affect all aspects of people’s lives including education achievement. The society portrays men as masculine and aggressive in nature while women are feminine and nurturing. This stereotyping goes into the education system affecting the way the faculty behaves towards boys and girls and choice of subjects (Teaching resource center, 2004). Boys thus take up challenging subjects such as mathematics, science and engineering while girls take humanities and social sciences as the society expects them to. It is not that girls cannot perform well in sciences in fact recent studies show that girls can perform well than boys; rather, it is because the faculty expects them to take up feminine subjects and besides, the teachers themselves are role models as women teach simple subjects (Ball, 2006). For example, a study conducted to show the effects of age and gender upon student business ethics showed that females are more ethical than males in perception of business ethical situations (Ruegger & King, 1992 pp 179-186). Gender expectations according to the teaching resource center (2004) shape thoughts and interactions of students. It influences what is taught and how it is taught. Its study showed that teachers are more likely to call on male students to respond to questions, call for critical thinking for males, and allow them to complete projects on their own. Such is not the case for females. Discrimination is prevalent but what is worse is that the teachers do not realize that they are treating students in such manner. In fact, it took a videotaping to make teachers believe and accept that such is the case. This proves how gender plays part in education achievement, in-class participation and interaction especially in the hidden curriculum. To prove symbolic interactionist views, the study by teaching resource center (2004) showed that female students reacted in a way they are expected to. They did not raise hands immediately, call out for attention, or receive feedback. According to the same study, race, class and culture determined who got to speak and for how long and whose voice was to be taken seriously. Women who tried to act as males by using similar linguistic styles were considered troublemakers while their male counterparts were considered bright. This discourages female students from participating in class activities thus lowering their grades. The only solution to this problem is for the faculty to change their behavior towards different genders and treat them equally or even encourage females to be more active in classroom (Haryton & Paczuska, 2002). Besides socio-economic status and gender, national identity is another issue affecting education attainment. Due to globalization and increased use of technology, the education system has gone global thus enrolling students from diverse countries. This poses a great challenge to the international students compared to nationals. First, there is the issue of language proficiency. Most of these international students are non-native speakers thus get problems comprehending what the teacher is saying, in other words, communication is difficult (Archer et al. 2003). These students have problems in pronunciation, with accent, and slang. Moreover, they have to adjust to different cultural and social environments while at the same time catching up with lessons (Teaching Resource Center, 2004). This may affect their level of participation, interaction and educational achievement. Besides language proficiency, there are issues of exclusion and inclusion (Archer et al.2003). These students belong to different racial groupings and some races such as the whites are considered more superior than others such as blacks and Hispanics. There is thus a lot of hostility towards international students in form of “threats, racial profiling, physical violence and discrimination” (Teaching Resource Center, 2004). This may result in emotional stress and trauma thus affecting their interaction patterns and level of achievement. Furthermore, students who want to take up science subjects such as nuclear technology are thoroughly investigated a phenomenon not found in their US counterparts. Another issue is the faculty behavior towards international students. If the teachers are racists, they may consider whites as achievers thus pay more attention to them than non-whites thus affecting in-class participation (Weis & Dolby, 2012). This is even worse if combined with gender and social class issues. Conclusion The education system is faced with numerous challenges as a result of gender, ethnicity and social class issues. Despite the system emphasizing on equal opportunity for all, it is bogged down by such issues which refuse to disappear. People from high socio-economic status are more advantaged than those from low SES. Those from low SES face challenges not experienced by high SES students such as financial constraints, stress, cognitive lags, and health and safety issues. These play a great role in affecting in-class participation, educational achievement and interaction patterns. Gender stereotyping does not help matters as female students experience low participation rates and are expected to achieve less than male students. This is even more challenging for international students who have to deal with issues of national identity and language proficiency that hinder their learning capabilities. The solution to these problems is the faculty to try and understand students and help them instead of labeling them. References Archer, L., Hutchings, M and Ross, A (2003). Higher Education and Social Class: Issues of Exclusion and Inclusion. London: RoutledgeFalmer. Ball, S.J (2006). Education Policy and Social Class: The Selected Works of Stephen J. Ball. New York: Routledge Heryton, A and Paczuska, A (eds)(2002). Access, Participation and Higher Education: Policy and Practice. London: Routledge Jensen, E.P (2009). Teaching with Poverty in Mind: What being Poor Does to Kid’s Brains and What Schools Can Do about it. ASCD. Retrieved January 10, 2013 from http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/109074/chapters/how-poverty-affects-behavior-and-academic-performnace.aspx Morrison, K. 2006. Marx, Durkheim, Weber: Formations of Modern Social Thought. 2ed. London: Sage. Newman, B.M and Newman, P.R (2010). Development through Life: A Psychosocial Approach. Belmont, CA: Cengage Parida, B.R (2010). Improving English Teaching: Role of Psycho-social Factors. New Delhi: Discovery Publishing House. Ruegger, D and King, E.W (1992). “A Study of the Effect of Age and Gender Upon Student Business Ethics.” Journal of Business Ethics, 11 (3), pp. 179-186 Teaching Resource Center (2004). “Teaching a Diverse Student Body: Practical Strategies for Enhancing Our Student’s Learning.” Retrieved January 9, 2013 from http://www.tvc-virginia.edu/publications/diversity/diversity.html Weis, L and Dolby, N (eds) (2012). Social Class and Education: Global Perspectives. New York: Routledge. Read More