How are schools agencies of empowerment and disempowerment - Essay Example

A disempowered state arises when there is subjugation, discrimination and domination based on race, sex, social class, poverty etc. As vehicles of empowerment, schools play a vital role in the "development of a properly trained and socialized citizenry" (Dornbusch, Kristan & Lin, 1996). Schools have two most important purposes in the society. Firstly they teach "cognitive skills" which is an integral part of technical education. Secondly, they help in sorting individuals in different job categories depending on their skills (Dornbusch et al., 1996). Various reforms have been made by the American government for improving the quality of education and increasing the student's achievement level.

"In March 1994 the U. S. Congress passed the eight National Education Goals for the year 2000", under which some important rules were passed: Schools should be attended by all children, all the children should be literate and "every school would promote partnerships that would increase parental involvement and participation in promoting the social, emotional, and academic growth of children" (Hanushek & Jorgenson, 1996, p. 3). The legislation, No Child Left Behind (NCLB), passed in 2001 re-authorized the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) of 1965 (Hess & Finn, 2004, p. 3). NCLB's major tenets were to think over the problems faced by schools, to research on the current means of improving schools, "suggest new ways of thinking ", and "help prioritize the challenges and make recommendations when possible (Juvonen, Le, Kaganoff, Augustine, & Constant, 2004, p. xv). Research shows that parents become less involved with children's school homework and other activities as they become older (p. xix) "Several studies show that, when parents do not monitor and stay involved, their young teens are at elevated risk for compromised school achievement and conduct problems "(p. 86).The school reforms objectives was to "offer interventions for the lowest -performing children" (p. xix). These reforms are important for empowerment which in turn helps the students to acquire knowledge "outside their immediate experience in order to broaden their understanding of themselves, the world, and the possibilities for transforming the taken-for-granted assumptions about the way we live" (Irwin, 1996, p. 5). It helps them to get critical thinking skills that make them question the prevalent social setup and not accept it on face value (p. 5). Empowered teachers would be the ones who "understand systems of domination and work to transform oppressive practices in society" while respecting the "dignity of others" (Irwin, 1996, p. 13). Schools as disempowering agencies perpetuate social discrimination .

They sustain a "system of structured inequality" (Dornbusch, et al., 1996). Student's class, race, ethnicity can generate a different set of treatment by schools. "The students with the greatest needs are often given the worst education" (Irwin, 1996, p. 64). Even though there is much hype about "all persons being equal in our democratic documents, we have not yet internalized this concept as a society" (p. 65). Even though, meritorious students get advantages in "status attainment" and students with lower social order can ride over their shortcomings through education, research shows that students with higher "social origins" get the benefit of status attainment (Dornbusch, et al