The Weaknesses and impact of Education administration - Essay Example

? The Weaknesses and impact of Education administration The Weaknesses and impact of Education administration In the current world, the importance of education cannot be overemphasized. Access to education is considered as one of the fundamental rights that every individual across the globe ought to be entitled. As a result, there have been various policies, as well as reforms that have been advocated so as to improve education and foster economic capacity. All these efforts are an acknowledgement of the existent education disparities. However, there are still a lot that is needed to realize the potential. In some cases, education has been presented to serve a purpose that is opposite the intended one. According to CORI Justice, Education can be a powerful force in counteracting inequality and poverty but in many ways, the present education system has quite the opposite effect' (socio-Economic Review 2008). As far education disparities along the racial lines are concerns, the achievements between the native and the non-native populations is widely inferred. Indeed, it is agreeable that there have been disparities between the aboriginal and the non-aboriginal groups for quite some time. These disparities have been described as the legacy of colonialism. Colonization processes are associated with profound consequences on the colonized societies. Colonial legacies, which now come in the form of government policies, have seen individuals disperse from the tribal and clan inclinations. The eventuality of this has been the continuous fragmentation of the cultures belonging to the aboriginal people. There have been concerns that the fragmentation of culture and the struggle to adapt to the new way of life has been accompanied by social, as well as economic instability. As such, the disintegration of values of the family, as well as culture has been accompanied by the criminal and other forms of behaviors that are regarded as antisocial. This is evidenced from the fact that the aboriginal communities are over-represented in Australian prisons, and this is what has been the issue of great concern as far as equality is concerned. Intriguing is that most of the individuals in the jails are male (Rex, 1986). This way, it can also be inferred that most aboriginal inmates are fathers. Putting into consideration the pivotal roles that the fathers hold, it can be argued that the incarcerations of the minority are an addition to another dimension of the aboriginal family fragmentation. Nevertheless, the incarcerations do not heighten fragmentation of the aboriginal family and community culture, but it also have an impact on the male role models that is pivotal for the development of the children born to the aboriginal communities. Moreover, culture has been perceived as being dynamic. In this regard, there are various cultural aspects that aboriginal communities have been shedding off in adoption of new ones. These have been felt in terms of language erosion. It is arguable that there were various clan groups in the traditional aboriginal society. However, as time goes by and as the new generations come, the different clan groupings that existed before are no longer existent. In the traditional aboriginal community settings, men and women were considered independent but were connected. The roles were subject to gender, as well as the age. Extended family bonds were relatively strong. However, colonization legacy has seen all these aspects transform dramatically (Tovey and Share, 2003). The Torres Strait Islanders and the Aboriginal groups that are particularly disadvantaged compared to other Australian groups. All these can be well evidenced in terms of housing, health, education, contract with the judicial systems and employment. These disparities stem from colonialism, as well as government policies that followed. The loss of land is rated as one of the changes that bred the current disparities. The loss of land is associated with the disintegration of the spiritual, economic and cultural basis of the aboriginal communities. Colonialism saw most of the aboriginal communities moved to mission and reserves, where their lives were regulated by the government until 1970s. This move saw the aboriginal communities continue depending on the government, instead of participating (Tatz,1995). Historically, education among the aboriginal communities was community-based. Learning, sharing and teaching were intrinsic of their cultures. The situation continues to prevail even today. Colonization was followed by the feeling that the aboriginal communities were inferior and needed to be transformed. As of 1948, the Board of National Education issued a report that it was impractical to offer education to the indigenous communities. In 1883, the children of the aboriginal communities would still be barred from attending schools with white children. Such a form of regulation continued to be in practice for over a hundred years. Indeed, it was not until 1972 that such discriminating policies, which were referred to as the White Australian Policies, were discarded. The abolition of the policies saw various schools set up in the reserves. However, the schools were equipped with untrained staff. Moreover, the children of the aboriginal communities were only offered education up to the Grade three Primary levels, a practice that continued until 1938. The working conditions of the teachers working in aboriginal education leave a lot to desire. In spite of various policies, and programs that are targeted at meeting the objectives in line education prospects, the educational situation of the aboriginal people was unsatisfactory. It was at the time that that assimilation was adopted as the national policy, when education was perceived as an ultimate way of assimilating the aboriginal communities into the white society. However, children from the aboriginal communities did not enroll to regular education until 1950s. Secondary schools were only introduced in 1960s. Nevertheless, the education policies that were adopted have rated as ineffective. Even the moves of aboriginalizing the education programs have only been rated as successful but not effective checking education disparities created by the colonial legacies. Perhaps what has been another setback has been the otidis media, which is an ear defect that impedes hearing. A survey by Inner Sydney carried out in 1989 established that as significant as 90 percent of the aboriginal community students had been affected by the hearing complication. However, after the discovery, there were various approaches that were taken to remedy the situation. As from 1970s, AECG was founded to lobby for appropriate education to suit the aboriginal communities. AECG was successful at lobbying for the employment of aboriginal assistants, as well as the increase in the enrolment of the aboriginal student in schools. Other achievement that may be considered worth celebrating was the formation of partnership between Department of Training and Education and AECG, which is believed to have significantly improved the enrolment of the aboriginal people (Calhoun et al. 2007). The partnership was what necessitated the formulation of the aboriginal education policy. The policy was aimed at sensitizing the aboriginal communities on the importance of education, as well as developing education curricular inclusive of the culture of the aboriginal people. This was also aimed at revamping the education of the aboriginal people, ensuring the implementation of a reporting program for staff, students and aboriginal schools. NATSIEP, an education policy for the strait Islanders and the aboriginal people was formulated in 1990. Since its inception, the policy has offered supplementary funds for education for aboriginal students. In 2000, commonwealth founded a program to promote education of the indigenous people through aboriginal parent involvement. As from 1983, colleges and vocational training institutions were established to absorb the aboriginal students. These policies have seen the enrollment of aboriginal students increase significantly. Currently, tertiary institutions have aboriginal centers that give support and promote the education of the aboriginal students. However, the effect of education disparities between the two groups is still profound. This has been utilized in accounting for the economic disparities between the two groups. The disadvantaged group is unable to explore economic and political opportunities because lack of knowledge (Justin 2003). The state of education disparities is also pronounced along the gender subject. The education achievements of women are less than that of men. Such a problem is that which traces to history. The historical women’s movements that pushed for education reforms have been accompanied by various achievements, revealing a story of innovative ideas and achievements. The achievements have been linked to economic and social factors that have been continuously shaping the America’s society. Some of the factors include advent of urban and industrial growth, as well as the introduction of formal learning institutions. All these have played a crucial role in liberating women from the traditional societal roles and perceptions. The acceptance of women into formal education systems was a determining factor for their entry as faculty and administrators in the high education fields. Education has enabled women to exploit their potential by going beyond the traditional societal roles. As a result, the enrolment of women into high education has been improving, with enrolled numbers increasing year after year. The race had initially started with the establishment of female seminaries, but now co-education is not uncommon. Additionally, it is not uncommon to even see women education institution receiving funding. As if not enough, the struggle of women for high education persists until today, building strongly on the past achievements. Such struggles, founded on democratic society values, are aimed at firm establishment of equal access opportunity within all higher learning institutions. In the last 20 years, women have made significant achievements in education. The education level differences that were common in the past are not recognizable among the young generation. Despite the fact that they are widely considered to lag behind in mathematics and sciences, female students are considered as best performers in writing and reading. Additionally, female students are securing more credits in academic subjects, compared to their male counterparts. It is also arguable that females have high chances of joining tertiary institutions compared to male, leave alone the fact that female students are likely to graduate with post-secondary certificates. However, it has been widely inferred that is only a situation in the developed countries, and that there is still a lot to desire for developing countries (United States Department of Labor 2010). In developing countries, such as Africa, cultural practices that work against education re still rooted. Education is still considered as a priority for the boy child, at the expense of girl child. In some cases, girls are forced into early marriages, disadvantaging them further. The eventuality is that women end up having low education achievements, compared to men. The implications of these are far-reaching. One of the implications of this is that women have been denied the opportunities to meet their economic, social and political goals. This is in consideration to the fact that women literacy, especially improved education levels, is pivotal in securing human development and social equality, as well as high economic capacity and a society that is economically tolerant. Education equity and equality has been rated to be directly related to establishment of a society that egalitarian and democratic (Botterro 2005). The purpose of education is to produce people with the capacity of using the learned information to good use for the purpose of the society. In conclusion, it is agreeable that whereas education has the capacity of addressing various challenges that affect the society, its process of administration is such that it is producing negative results, opposite to what was intended. Education equity and equality has been rated to be directly related to establishment of a society that egalitarian and democratic. However, that would only be achieved if education is administered equitably and equally. The society has failed to accord education in the most equitable way. Disparities between races, as well as between genders, are still evident. It is not possible to comprehensively explore education disparities along racial lines. Rather, the case of the aboriginal and the non-aboriginal people has been picked to elaborate how disparities are pronounced along racial lines. In the case of gender, it has only been widely inferred that there are various developments are that taking place that are improving women access to education opportunities. However, in developing countries, there is still a lot to desire. This translates to undesirable social, economic and political positions that are occupied by women. References Botterro, W. (2005) Stratification: Social Division and Inequality, London and New York: Routledge. Calhoun et al. (2007) Contemporary Sociological Theory: Second Edition, Oxford: Blackwell. Justin, H. (2003), Racism in Australia. London: Oxford University Press. Rex, J. (1986), Race and ethnicity in sociological theory in Race and Ethnicity, London: Open University Press, pp. 18–37. Tatz, C. (1995). Race Obstacles: Aborigines in Sports, Sidney: South Wales Press. Tovey, H and Share, P. (2003) A Sociology of Ireland Dublin: Gill and MacMillan. United States Department of Labor. (2010). Twenty Leading Occupations of Employed Women 2010 Annual Averages. Retrieved on April 18th, 2013, from http://www.dol.gov/wb/factsheets/20lead2010.htm Read More