Education in America - Essay Example

?Education Introduction Certainly, education is a basic need in America just like in any other country of the world especially in the modern times. It is through education that citizens secure good jobs or make a good foundation of life through other economic activities. To the American government, education means a lot to the employment sector because it equips citizens with the necessary skills that support the economy of its states. Therefore, education receives great support from the US government to enable them avoid the current huge budgetary allocation that goes to support poor families of school dropouts. In addition, US government supports education to reduce illiteracy, criminal activities, and drug abuse behaviours that are prevalent with the uneducated. This paper discusses education in the US as a social issue. The two theories quoted in literature trying to explain or predict student’s performance include needs theory and expectancy theory. According to Geiger and Coopers, “expectancy theory suggests that motivation to act is a combination of the perceived attractiveness of future outcomes and the likelihood one’s actions will lead to these outcomes” (Geiger and Coopers 1995). This means that to motivate a student to work hard depends on their perceptions of the academic performance and in their beliefs that after hard work they will yield great results. The second traditional that attempt to explain academic success suggests that motivating students to perform depends on their intrinsic individual needs. Individual student’s motivational behaviour is influenced by their desire to achieve, to dominate, to belong to a certain affiliation, or autonomy. The two theories differ in that motivation from students may come from some needs in the subconscious mind or by a conscious choice. A concern on whether educational opportunities are equal to all lingers many minds. According to Collins, “Social reproduction theory argues that schools are not institutions of equal opportunity but mechanisms for perpetuating social inequalities” (Collins 2009). Researchers have associated three perspectives in the analysis of the emergence and development of social reproduction, which include economic, cultural, and linguistic. Despite different analysis to understand how social inequality results from the interplay of schools, classrooms, and the wider society, no solution exists yet (Collins 2009). Conflict theory believes that the society is full of a community with different values and social rewards. It views relations in society as based on exploitation, oppression, domination, and subordination. Teachers equally behave in the same manner whereby they use traditional teaching curriculum and expect students to get some support from their parents in the evenings but this is not normally the case. The state gauge knowledge passed to its students via the curriculum, which in most cases does not make sense to the students. Structural functionalism views institutions of education as gateways that keep order and meaning to a society. Through socialization, the society produces citizens after equipping them with knowledge, attitudes and values the need. These theories together with political arithmetic helps one understand the structural mechanism in educational inequalities. Implicitly, schools have central role of assisting immigrants in adapting to the new lives they find themselves. This is where immigrant students start their integration with working life as they share the same skills with the native students. However, this is not the case in America since equality in schooling inputs is no longer enough to assess equity in education. After accounting for the social-economic factors of the parents of the students, PISA mathematical scale discovered that immigrants still rage behind by 30 score points to their native counterparts (Schleicher 2006). Researchers shows that immigrant students attend schools with poor learning conditions such as student-teacher ratio and that they lack in other social amenities. Culture and structural patterns found in the neighbourhoods of immigrants explains differential patterns of educational attainment by race or ethnicity. For instance, on landing in the US, Indians settle in places occupied by their black counterparts, which has profound implications in their lives. According to Waters, “racial segregation for blacks is more than any other immigrant group” (Waters 1999). As a result, of residential segregation other things that follow include active discrimination, institutional racism, declining private investment, increased street violence, and overall ineffectiveness in schools. The differential education attainment pattern is explained by the living conditions in areas the immigrants live in. Growing up in Ghetto schools increases the chances of dropping out of high school, attending colleges and eventually dictates poor lives the immigrants have since they cannot secure better jobs without college education (Waters 1999). Kao Concurs with this in the theory of minorities that suggests that tries to explain outstanding performance of Asia-American immigrants. Unlike in cases of other immigrants, Asia-Americans have stable families with less conflict and some practices at home give them the motivation they need to excel academically. The theory of immigrant’s selectivity tries to explain how selectivity affects adaptation. In her research, Feliciano found out that nearly all immigrants are more educated than the population that remains in their home country. In her view, “educational selectivity may affect children’s educational outcomes through family background and social, cultural, and ethnic capital”(Feliciano 2005) Parents educational status motivates their children to stay in school either because the parents can afford it or by the perceived pressure by the children. Segmented assimilation theory explains the different adaptations of immigrants together with downward integration of immigrants, which hinder second-generation children to attain good grades. At times, immigrants use ethnicity as a social capital through which they identify themselves with and this hinder success. According to White house website, Dream Act “is a legislation drafted by both Republicans and Democrats that would give students who grew up in the United States a chance to contribute to our country’s well-being by serving in the U.S. armed forces or pursuing a higher education” (White House 2012). The Dream Act will enhance integration between the Americans and the natives through the education systems and through the military. Fresh blood comes with new ideas and innovations, which will influence positively on the economy of America. On integrating the natives and the immigrants who have acquired Americans citizenship, it will ease the efforts to fight with the threats from outside. Conclusion Education is an important aspect of any society and different sociological perspectives like culture, ethnicity, and the economic environment affect it. This is the case in America despite being a developed country. Different states have tried to give quality level of education to both migrants and the natives but this is not enough to integrate the two. The Dream Act is the last result in making America citizens one despite their sociological backgrounds and improves the economy. Works Cited Collins, J. 2009. “Social Reproduction in Classrooms and Schools” Anthropology. http://www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev.anthro.37.081407.085242> Feliciano, C. 2005. “Does Selective Migration Matter? Ecp Gaining Ethnic Disparities in Educational Attainment among Immigrants’ Children” IMR. 39 (4):841-871. Geiger, M, and Cooper, E. 1995. “Predicting Academic Performance: The impact of expectancy and needs theory.” Issue of Journal of Experimental Education 63.3: 251-262. Schleicher, Andreas. 2006. “Where Immigrant Students Succeed: A Comparative Review of Performance and Engagement In Pisa” OECD. OECD briefing note for Germany. White House. 2012. “The Dream Act: Good for Our Economy, Good For Our Security, Good for Our Nation” Retrieved from http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/DREAM-Act-WhiteHouse-FactSheet.pdf Water, Mary. 2001 “Segregated neighbourhoods” Black Identities: West Indian Immigrant Dreams and American Realities Harvard University Press: England Kao, G. 1995. “Asian Americans as model Minorities a look at their? Academic performance” American Journal of education103:121-159 Read More