Tackling the Gender and Race Issues in Schools - Essay Example

Tackling the Gender and Race Issues in Schools Introduction: Every individual have there own specific character and each will be unique in their own way. If you take a family, children in the same family differ in character. The atmosphere of an educational institution plays an important role in developing the character of a child. Children during their school time interacts more with teachers, classmates and other school mates than with the family members. At the same time, family does have an essential role in teaching their children to differentiate between right and wrong. These two interactions put together form a base on how the child will behave in a society as an adult. In the UK schools, classrooms have children from different race, class, religion, and customs. So, the children in their development stage, mentally and physically interact with children of different ethnic groups and social status. These interactions can turn bad if the right kind of attention is not given by the education system. Gender discrimination in school is another problem that can have bad effects on growing child as it is the time when children start exploring themselves and start recognizing their part in the society. Racial Tension: As per the reports in the late 2009, racial problems among the UK school children touched up to 40,000 cases, which give us an idea that it’s growing as an issue of national importance. The cases include all categories of pupil; right from primary school to higher school level. Mostly, in cases where a toddler or primary school children is involved in calling nick names or jokes that have racial inclination, it’s never taken into notice that these small kids are not aware of the length and depth of the word “racism”. Many of these cases involving school children are those which can be solved within the classroom with a well needed involvement and attention of the teacher. The problem of racial issue gets an unwanted attention when the local authorities and media are involved and the teachers are required to report and fill in the forms regarding the issue. This is the time when the existence of racial division gets into the mind of young children. The Race Relations Act 2000 was enacted to remove the discrimination under close observation of public authorities and schools. They had to observe the reflection of the policy with regard to educational achievements of students from various races. In 2002, the policy newly included certain other regulations in school by which each school has to observe and inform any kind of racial events to the concerned local authorities. New documentation procedures were set wherein teachers had to record the details of pupils’ involved in the racial incident and at the same time enter the details of the event and the punishment given. It was made mandatory for the schools to maintain such records and any failure in documenting racial incidents are considered as a serious offence. These anti-racist policies that were set into the society to monitor and regulate racial issues in school children will eventually help in creating racial division starting from within the classroom. A large percentage of the racial incidents associated with children in school are mostly in regard to personal issues or playground fights that cannot be very well connected to be done against a race. At such situations it is better that the teachers handle the problem. In relation to academic performance of students underperformance cannot be correlated to the race of the student. “Ethnic heritage presuppose underachievement. Some ethnic minority groups, such as Indian and Chinese, have levels of attainment above the average of white UK groups.” (Demie 2001). According to reports, the bad performance of certain ethnic groups in school is related to degree of knowledge in English language and also related to gender. An important part has to be played by the teacher. In a news that came in September 2008 it was revealed that “Researchers have uncovered evidence that teachers are routinely under-estimating the abilities of some black Caribbean pupils, suggesting that assumptions about behavioural problems are overshadowing their academic talents. The survey adds weight to the theory that low achievement among some black students is made worse because teachers don’t expect them to succeed.” (Curtis 2008). It is mostly seen that, many have a view point that the Black Caribbean pupil are more of argumentative character. Many believe that this preconceived notion about the behaviour of Caribbean pupil make teachers to shed less attention on this group thereby neglecting the capabilities of the student. Certain educational analysts have the opinion that the connection between performance and behaviour should not be related to institutional racism; the major area to be dealt here is the argumentative mentality of Black Caribbean pupil. The racial tension does not end with pupils but a recent study by the University of Manchester and Education data surveys, revealed that most of the Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) teachers have the opinion that racial discrimination in British schools have affected the advancement in their career. The studies have pointed that a ‘endemic culture of institutional racism” is nurturing in the British educational system which is denying leadership post to many teachers from other racial origin. An Ideal System to Solve Racial Tension: As the saying goes “young minds are as clear as white paper, the first impressions made will last for life long”. So, tackling the racial incidents at schools should be done with utmost care. So, when it comes to handling situations of racial touch; the teachers have a main role to play. A teacher should first of all know how to handle a problem of such nature so that he/she should not hurt the feelings of both the victim as well as the perpetrator. Then, the mentality of the teacher also makes a wide difference; the teacher should be able to handle racial issues on a humanitarian level rather than being biased and taking decisions in favour of pupils that she/he likes or being biased on a racial basis. So, the education of the teacher comes as a main requirement here in handling situations of racial nature and the government can do a lot in conducting special programmes in this regard that should cover schools across the country. Such programmes are of prime importance as present day classroom have pupils from across the globe from various races, class, religion, beliefs and customs. Understanding each student at a personal level and also in regard to their country of origin may be a difficult task but worthy when attending situations of racial nature. Keeping all the above things in mind, a teacher should be given the freedom to tackle the problem within the classroom. The documentation of racial incidents may be good for surveys or to evaluate the racial issues in schools on national level but it at the same time observes such issue as a crime done by young minds. So, we have to be careful how pupils take this into mind when they find that such incidents are recorded and their names are entered into files and they are noticed. Of course, such activities may withdraw the perpetrator from committing mistakes of similar kind in future. But, the conclusion he or she makes in mind will start making the barriers of a racial division and it will grow with time when same situations of racial incidence occurs around them and the same way when they get documented. The seed that a racial system is present in the society will be sown in innocent young minds. So, the teacher should be given the freedom to sort out such problems. The teacher also has to analyze the severity of an incident and the pupils involved should be interrogated in a friendly manner. The root cause why a racial texture came into the incident should be investigated and knowing the root problems makes it easier to find possible solutions. A school with total racial free incidents is not practically the best way to tackle the problem effectively and reduce number of such incidents. This is possible only when there is a good level of communication and understanding between the students (of all backgrounds) and the teachers. The present anti-racist policies make it feel that teachers are incapable of dealing with children’s problems at school. When concerned about under performance of certain ethnic group of students in school, poor English knowledge has been found to be the basic reason. The performance of such students can be raised by educating such students the basics and grammar of English and usage of English as a communication language. Special class for developing the fluency of English should be employed to such students after evaluating the level of each student’s English knowledge. Then, preconceived notions in the society are against certain ethnic groups like that of confrontational nature of Black Caribbean pupil described earlier. Such issues should be dealt from multiple angles. The reason why such a notion has come into being should be researched on and how teachers in general react to such groups. At the same time, the behaviour pattern of an ethnic group of pupil is generating a concern that the root cause behind this should be found out and proper actions should be taken. In many cases, a typical behaviour of a student or student from a particular group may be a reflection of the way in which the teacher deals or behaves with them. When a teacher is more understanding and observes all students as equal beyond racial, religious, and colour considerations, such problems get solved naturally up to an extend. The education of a student, behaviour of the student and how he grows up as a human being will have reflections of the environment in his house .If a teacher finds a student to be frequently racially abusive by his classmates of other race then, he/she can make arrangements to meet the parents of the student and have a detailed discussion with the them. A teacher should be well prepared for such meeting as it can sometimes hurt the feelings of the parents. So, the teacher should learn a way to present the matter and discuss it in a proper manner. A detailed discussion with the parents will give an idea of the environment in the child’s house and the teacher can find out the root cause for the child’s behaviour. Based on the discussion and conclusions made the necessary actions can be taken. Counselling of parents may also be required at certain instances when it is observed that the child’s behaviour has its origin from home. The school should try to have a good rapport with the parents. Parent –teacher interactive meetings should be conducted on a convenient basis that will put a platform to discuss such issues. The parents also have an essential role in discussing with their children about such issues. Each school should put up committees that will have members and teachers of various races that can discuss on racial incidents taking place at school. These committees can discuss and solve such issues within the school limits and also take the help of the parents when it is required. Gender Issues in School: Gender discrimination often puts the girl or boy inferior in terms of sex and this can affect badly the academic as well as extracurricular performance of the child in school. According to reports, more female students are targets of gender discrimination compared to male students in the UK. In many incidents when teachers prefer either male or female student for assigning important works, the opposite gender feels like they are neglected because of gender. If a teacher makes such gender choices based on his/her likeness for a gender or for certain students the problem of gender discrimination gains more heights. Gender related problems can occur between students and in this case it can be in the form of verbal abuse or physical abuse. In the UK more girls were victims of verbal and physical abuse and this in turn make them feel that females have a lesser importance and position in society. In case of academic performance, it is seen that in the UK; girls are much better than boys. But, certain sources claim that in case of subjects like science and mathematics both girls and boys have the same level of performance. In case of subjects related to science and technology, good performance is mostly by boys than girls. “The National curriculum compels pupils to pursue the same core subjects in school, but once compulsory schooling is completed pupils appear largely to revert to traditional choices, with girls tending to choose arts/humanities subjects and boys opting for science and technology subjects. It is a know fact that sciences have a higher status than arts in western society and science qualifications are more likely to secure a job that is also better paid, but such advantages of science qualification has not attracted more girls to pursue a career in science and technology.” (Francis 2000). According to available data, it is seen that girls are more motivated to do homework when compared to boys. Both girls and boys do not consider whether the teacher is a male or female. The ability of a teacher to teach well comes into account here for the students. The social set up is like in which the boys are required to be more competitive. But at the same time such set up invokes in boys the fear of losing. When a boy will not be able to perform academically he will find alternative disruptive ways to put his competitive nature. Unisex classes are said to be the best way to improve the academic performance of each gender but it has turned out to be false in case of boys. Unisex education for girls has given academically good results when compared to boys. “The overall comparisons between boys and girls are misleading, however, and tend to mask the significant effect of social class and ethnicity on the achievement levels of particular groups of boys and girls. Rather than the “gap” in performance continuing to increase between the boys and girls it has actually been fairly stable for over a decade and, if anything, there is evidence over the last few years that it is slowly beginning to reduce.” (Connolly 2004). It is illegal for educational institutions to deny admission based on gender preferences as per Sex Discrimination Act 1975, expect in case where it is a single sex school. Even in the prevalence of such acts, certain mixed schools seem to bring in admission policies to maintain the ratio of boys and girls at school. There were reported incidents in the UK where girls or boys were denied admission to mixed schools stating the reason that last available seats are reserved for a particular sex in order to maintain the sex ratio at school. The issues of social class differences in school often overweigh gender related problems. Ideal Solution to Gender Issues: It should be the duty of parents to observe their children and recognize any problems of gender discrimination affecting the children. If the discrimination is made by teachers or other students it is the duty of the school to make out these matters. The parents at such situations can have discussion with the school to take proper actions and to make necessary measurements to avoid further incidents of gender discrimination. If the child seems to be disturbed in regard to such problems a medical counselling will be of great help. It is important that, both the parents and teachers should be educated about the possible psychological effects on the mental development of the child if the child is disturbed with gender discrimination. If a school turns to be irresponsible of such discrimination, the parents can take the case to court where in constitutional law supports such cases. In this case also the formation of school committees that deal with gender discrimination cases can help in solving many incidents and also in reducing such incidents in future. The school should also try to gain the confidence of parents and students in such committees by putting up clear cut aims of the committee and transparent working procedures. Drawing opinions and suggestions of the parents and students for the betterment of the committee will be of great help. The committee should also study the depth and severity of each incident and should consult with all the individuals involved in such cases whether it is teachers or students. Making a non –biased decision is very important after drawing conclusions to gain the trust of parents and students. If mixed schools are denying entry of a particular gender by stating reasons of maintaining gender ratio in the school, then such cases can be taken to court as the school will be on the illegal side of the law. In case of academic performance, motivation is very much required. In case of boys who fail to achieve good results academically, the parents and teachers should motivate the child to help him cop-up with his poor academic performance. In case when such motivation is absent, the child tends to be disruptive. The gender of a teacher does not matter as long as the teacher gives his care and concern to each student. At the same time, the teacher should have good teaching skills. The idea that all boys are underperforming in schools is a wrong notion, there are many boys that perform and gain good grades and at the same times there are girls who under perform. The statistical analysis has revealed that boys perform better than girls in science and technology subjects. Conclusion: Various problems related to race, gender, and class can be reduced by making friendly interaction about the topic between students in the class. Making presentations in class by getting the students involved will lead to a better understanding. In relation to academic performance of children from different genders, races and classes the teacher will have an important part to play by understanding the root problems behind the underperformance of the student. Reference List Connolly, P., 2004. Boys and schooling in the early years. [Online] Rutledge. Available at: http://books.google.co.in/books?id=x3_SCIc6bx8C&printsec=frontcover&dq=Gender,race+and+class+in+schooling&source=gbs_similarbooks_s&cad=1# [Accessed 30 April 2010]. Curtis, P., 2008. Education: Black Caribbean children held back by institutional racism in schools, says study. [Online] guardian.co.uk. Available at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2008/sep/05/raceineducation.raceinschools [Accessed 30 April 2010]. Demie, A., 2001. Ethnic and gender differences in educational achievement and implications for school improvement strategies. [Online] Educational Research, 43(1), pp.91-106. Available at: http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~content=a713766138&db=all [Accessed 30 April 2010]. Francis, B., 2000. Boys, girls and achievement: Addressing the classroom issues. [Online] Rutledge. Available at: http://books.google.co.in/books?id=xsbqjJ0g_wIC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Gender,race+and+class+in+schooling&source=gbs_similarbooks_s&cad=1#v=onepage&q&f=false [Accessed 30 April 2010]. Read More