Educational Curriculum, Social Economic Class, Gender, and Culture - Essay Example

SELF REFLECTION Student’s Name: Instructor’s Name: Course Code: Date of Submission: Introduction The aim of this essay paper is to reflect upon my education by understanding various aspects as encountered in the education process. These aspects will reflect upon my life as a student and how I will apply these concepts to improve the education curriculum as a teacher. The main concepts that this essay will focus from the educational point of view include teaching for Social Justice, Social Class and Gender and Sexualities in Education. Further, the impacts of these concepts will be studied and how they will help me to become a teacher and what I will do better. Educational curriculum During my first days in the school I did not understand the new educational curriculum of the Australian schools. I did not know which groups of students were discriminated and unfortunately I fell among the groups by being a woman. I did not understand the norms, values and culture of the Australian people. Further, I did not understand the impacts of these values on my education (Davies 2003, pp. 134). The curriculum oppressed the minority and promoted the curriculum of the majority. As a woman, I fell under the minority group and I was disadvantaged because of the inequity in the education system as it favored the majority groups including men. As a teacher, I will try to design and promote a standard curriculum that will promote equity in the education sector and eliminate unfair and unjust practices. Social economic class From my autobiography I stated that I came from a low social economic class which greatly impacted on my education. Social class greatly influences the justice in the education sector. At first I did not realize the real impact of social class on the education (McQueen 2009, pp. 47). From my personal experience I thought that being a bright student was enough to prosper in education. Social class greatly disadvantaged me as I came from a middle class where I did not meet my education demands better like the students from high social class. What I did not consider is how culture will hinder me from accessing equal educational opportunities like the male students. Culture greatly influenced my academic performance as I tried to fight for my position in the education system being a female and by the fact that I was a foreigner. In the Australian education system, the most disadvantaged are the students from low class and this is because they are not regarded well and therefore they cannot contribute to how the values in schools should be hence they cannot meet their educational demands and those of their children. This is an unfair practice in the education system. To be a teacher I will investigate the various effects of social class and try to design strategies that will promote equity in the education system to end unfair justice to students from low social class (McQueen 2009, pp. 47). I will consider my life as a student and try to uphold the moral values by interacting with students and gather their views and interpret them towards achieving equity in the social justice in the education curriculum. Gender Gender on the other hand greatly impacts on the education system especially in the Australian context. As I quoted in my first part, I stated that as a woman I was not expected to do much in the education field as my parents did not also do much. This is because the cultural environment in the community regarded education as an activity for men and were perceived always to do better than the female students (Collins et al 2000, pp. 37). As a woman I felt disadvantaged further because even the employment sector gender was an issue and that males were preferred to women. This factor greatly disadvantages females because of the real educational experience, some female students have proved to even perform better than men but they are perceived as if they can do little in the education system. Based on the above discriminating issues, the duties of the teacher include establishing an equitable environment for both males and females, abandon using teaching language that can offend one gender, try to come up with forums where both boys and girls will be taught and learn to appreciate the gender of the other party and set measures that corrects any acts of gender discrimination (Soliman 2009, pp. 21). This will help to promote equity among the students both females and males so that the education curriculum is equal to both. As a teacher, I will teach all the students on the importance of equal opportunity so that they will learn to appreciate one another and stop discrimination acts. This will help to eliminate injustices in the education curriculum. Culture Culture also impacts a lot on the education of an individual. From my first essay, I stated that I lived Sydney which was a multicultural town and I came from a non-English speaking background. In this regard, I felt advantaged because I was not treated differently as I looked one of them (Ninnes 2004, pp. 261). However, as a woman I was not expected to do a lot in the education because the culture was that female students were not supposed to study beyond a certain limit as they will not be able to learn and catch up with the male students. What I did not take into account is that, as a woman I was not expected to compete with male students and that there were different languages spoken in the school. This differentiated me from other students and I was greatly disadvantaged. In this sense, I can now understand why some students dropped out of school especially the female students. Being a new student in the new environment, I felt like am handling two cultures at the same time (Ninnes 2004, pp. 261). I had to take time to change my culture and adopt the behaviors of the new culture in the school and be familiar with the new environment. Culture also revealed my identity that I was not among the Australian students because at first I behaved differently from the Australian students thus I was seen as a foreigner. Culture needs to accommodate all students from different ethnic groups and needs to be flexible so that it can incorporate students from different cultures. Social justice can only be uplifted if the education system in Australia can be able to accommodate all the different cultures from different ethnic groups by developing a neutral system of education which will promote equality in the education system (Ninnes 2004, pp. 261). Minority groups should also be given a chance to take part in shaping the culture especially in schools so that they don’t feel oppressed. As a teacher, I will investigate the effects of culture on the education system and try to advocate for systems which will promote cultural equity. These strategies will help the minority groups to be recognized with their cultures and this will promote educational equity for all people. Place of origin In my first autobiographical essay I stated that I lived in a fairly multi-cultural city of Sydney although I was not born in this city. I had concentrated much on the cultural issues of the people of Australia and forgot how the new place will impact on my education system. There are many disadvantages when students acquire education far away from their place of origin or birth. It was hard to assimilate the new way of living as it was different from my environment I was brought up in (Schnukal 2002, pp. 8). The people behaved differently, the teaching environment and style was also different and the education system itself was different. In this regard, I had to take time to assimilate the new way of life in the new city of Sydney. Conclusion In my reflection above, there are many concepts that influence social justice in my education system. These concepts include culture, educational curriculum, the place of origin and my gender. I want to be a teacher because I would like to advocate for minority groups like the females so as to promote equity in the education sector. As a teacher, I will consider the above concepts so that they will help me to understand how I will relate to students so that I will offer best skills to students and improve their equity in the education system. I will also encourage various interactions among students from different communities so as to learn to appreciate various cultures. The characteristics that will guide me in my teaching system are equality and dynamic. I will not discriminate any group and I will also learn to be flexible and accept other people’s culture. To eliminate these educational injustices, I will set measures to ensure unfair practices are discouraged and punished; I will also promote social interactions among different students from different communities and finally teaching students on the importance of upholding the fair justices. Equal opportunities for all will guide me in my teaching role. References Collins, C. Kenway, J & McLord, K. (2000). Gender debates we still have, Australian Educational Researcher, Vol. 27, No. 3, pp. 37-48. Davies, B. (2003). Working with primary children deconstruct gender, Skeleton 7 B Francis, Boys and Girls in the primary classroom, Maidenhead, Open University press, pp. 134-150. McQueen, K. (2009). Social Class and Australian Schooling. Frenchs Forest, NSW: Pearson Education Australia.pp. Pp. 47-74. Ninnes, P. (2004). Discourses of cultural diversity in the science curriculum: Connections, contradictions and colonialism. Discourse: studies in the cultural policies of education, Vol. 25, No. 2, pp. 261-278. Soliman, I. (2009). Interrogating common sense: Teaching for social justice. French Forest, NSW: Pearson education Australia. Pp. 21-45. Schnukal, A. (2002). Some language related observations for teachers in Torres Strait and Cape York Peninsula Schools, Australian journal of indigenous Education, Vol. 30, No. 1, pp. 8-24. Read More