Social Classes within the Social Structure - Research Paper Example

? Gender Issue and education Introduction The social es within a societal structure are basically hierarchical arrangements of the people withina society (Singh, 14). In the society the element that represents as well as determines one’s class include parameters like wealth, prestige, power and education. Individual life chances are associated with the social classes within the society. Life chances are the amalgamation of opportunities which are available to a given individual. They are basically restrictions or hindrances on various choices (Moore, 46). Not every individuals face same choices and restrictions on the choices are internalized and they shape the behavior of the individuals. Sociologist Weber first coined the term life chances and he defines, “Life chances are opportunities for individual development provided by social structure, ‘moulds’, as we have called them. As such, they provide an important bridge between an understanding of society which emphasizes the structural quality of things social…..and a normative theory of society which emphasizes individual liberty” (Sherraden & Sherraden, 41). Education is a life chance which varies from individuals to individuals. Now numerous previous researches have concentrated on the education and gender. Biases in gender have affected educational attainment. In this paper, my school of research is Oakland High School. A trend in this school is found that the female enrollment rates are higher than male enrollment and the African American are also improving their educational rates. My research question in this paper is, “How does some aspect of race (with the option of modifying race by gender) facilitate or impede academic achievement in high school (Oakland High School)?” Now having stated the research question, now I will concentrate on a brief literature that will highlight on this issue. Literature review The department for education and skills (DfES) in 2007 investigates the interaction between gender and ethnicity revealed that the difference in the male and female is relatively stable across the SES (Supplementary educational service) groupings which dictate that in a particular social group the educational performance of the girls outperform the performance of boys. The studies also revealed that gender gap occurs with varying ethnicity and Black Caribbean and other black people as compared to the other ethnic groups. Gender gaps also vary between various subjects like English, literature and humanities. This gap disappears in subjects like math and science. Studies of Burgess et al in the year 2004 focused on whether characteristics in school can explain the gender attainment gap. Using the National Pupil Database (NPD) they studies gender differential across various types of schools with respect to performance, gender adulteration, policies and percentages related to the students. Findings of the study reveal that the characteristics of school do not gets affected by gender gap. Studies of Skelton et al in the year 2007 reviewed psychological literature which aimed at explaining gender gap. Their studies revealed that the behavior of the human beings are determined in a biologically manner. The boys and the girls possess discrete structures of brain which influenced their skills and abilities. They also stated that the behavior of the human beings is constructed socially and they state that the differences in gender attribute to the socialization process starting from birth till the death. External factors and elements of the outer world like images and messages guide the boys and girls to behave accordingly. The children actively construct their gender identities and incorporate different behaviors within them for the purpose of expressing. Studies of Skeltal et al also revealed that a very important variable is the peer group effect. The friendship within the group of students tends to be composed of similar gender. The traits which are associated with a sizeable number of boys in secondary schools are that of masculinity which replicates to a non hard working behavior. Traits like discipline and diligence are majorly associated with feminine attitudes. The studies at this instance explore that these stereotypes of not hard working by the boys are hitting hard on the educational attainment. From the studies of Gutman and Fedman in the year 2007 it was found that from age five to seven the boys have escalated levels of motor development and in comparison the girls mainly undergo higher levels of social development. The researchers associate these differences to varied forms of game played at the time of development of the children. The boys are mainly prone towards outdoor physical games and in comparison the girls are basically engaged in imaginary indoor games which include attributes like cooperation and negotiation. Studies of Sylva et al in the year 2007 compared the behavioral development of the boys and girls. Their studies find stark differences in genders in association with self regulation and hyperactivity. The studies focused that the boys exhibit more hyperactive behavior and the girls mainly exhibits more self regulating behavior (Johnson & Kossykh, 36-38). Pollack in 1999 studied and stated that the boys often possess social constraints which are indeed hard to break. In many cases, it has been found out that the boys are required to dropout for the purpose of helping their families and so on. Studies of Kutnick in 2000 and Myhill & Jones in 2006 revealed that the boys were in general a bit problematic in discipline paradigm. Among the other traditional gender stereotypes like that of the parental influences which explains the drop outs of the girls from the school or they may be any other physical problems (Shel, 1). Gray and Leith in the year 2004 focused their studies on the teachers and associated with the educational attainment of the students. The researchers claimed that the teachers vehemently expressed their concern related to gender inequality within the classroom but this issue was almost nullified in their teaching training. Through the collection of surveys from around 344 primary school in service teachers the questions highly focused on whether the teachers felt that there was adequate gender issues involved in their teaching training or not. Interviews included teachers that are through the focus group and also with the teacher educators. The results found that the teachers explored awareness of the gender stereotypes within the classroom. The teachers were found to impart their concern over the underachievement of the boys. The teachers considered their students as individuals and not as a part of quantitative data and not also in case of gender issues. The teachers basically expressed their sheer frustration on the failure of the government “to focus on the needs of individuals rather than groups” (Shel, 3). In United States of America there has been a strong concern in reference to gender inequity in education. However the focus on the girls is more than the boys. From the studies of Newsweek in January 2006, girls’ advancement in relation with math and science was given. As for instance, the project Sisters in Science (SIS) aimed at familiarizing the teachers with reforms in areas of scientific education as well as gender equality in the classroom. In a two week program, the teachers were provided training in relation to help the female students to make advancement in science. The study incorporated a focus group reflection and that of dialogue with the teachers. The findings revealed that majority of the teachers had the capability of treating boys and girls with equal respect with respect to engagement, interactions, encouragement, listening, and acknowledging” (Shel, 3). The researchers also revealed that there was an association among the boys and girls with respect to class assignments. Many teachers stated that class assignments helped both the boys and girls to enjoy the tasks provided to them. Developed ways of teaching subjects like math and science was developed throughout the year. Involving the students in the learning process made them more enthusiastic and energetic. There were claims from the teachers that in times of teaching something new they resorted to traditional approach of teaching. This was a cause for which the female students showed less participation in the activities of class. In another study made by Metz and NcNally in the year 2001 there was assessment of varied training programs where the teachers included drama for understanding their own biases while they interacted with the students. The researchers worked with one female English language four grade teachers who had five female students and fourteen male students in her classroom. One of the researchers also played the role of teaching assistant in an active manner. This helped the researchers in understanding better the role of the teacher as an insider as well as an outsider and also served as guidance for learning techniques to mitigate gender biases. Although the studies revealed that there were differences in gender in association with the ways in which the teachers introduced their teachings with male and female students. The researcher subsequently noticed that there was more flexibility imparted by the teachers on the boys in comparison with the girls (Shel, 3-5). Methodology I will spend one year in Oakland High School as an ethnographer and my prime task is to gather optimal information regarding gender issues affecting education in this school. First of all I will gather the total enrolment figures of the school with various ethnicities like Asian, PI, Fil, Latino, African American and the whites. Then I will analyze the trend or the enrollment pattern of these students. This will give me an idea regarding the rate of enrolment across various ethnicities. The time period taken will be from 1998 to 2009 and the grades include from 1st grade to 12th grade. High school education is a significant arena which reflects educational importance. I mean concentrating on the enrollment pattern from grade 9 to grade 12 will highlight how many pupils are actually opting for higher education. So enrolment pattern from grades 9- 12 is a crucial parameter in my study. This will facilitate me to understand the coping pattern of the students in this transition class. Interviewing the staff of the Oakland high school will be also done for a time frame of 2005-2006 to 2010-2011 in order to see whether the number of academic staffs have declined or increased. This will help me to gather information and associate its correlation with the academic achievement of the students in the school. Assessing the technological forefront of the school is also an important aspect from my side. I will analyze the number of computers installed in the school along with per student rate of computers. People per class will also be a significant issue in my research methodology. I will collect data on pupils per class corresponding to the subjects like English, Math, Science, Social Science, Foreign language, Fine Arts, music, health physical education, advanced placement, vocational education and special education. Ethnicity of the teachers also implies a significant importance on the educational forefront. I will also evaluate the ethnicity of the teachers. I will particularly concentrate on the educational dimensions of the male and female. I will collect the data on the graduate and graduate drop out figures among various ethnicities. Focus will be highlighted on the Africans and the Hispanics and their comparison will be made with the white pupils. Through interview I will also collect data on the cohort graduates and their dropout rates. I will also focus on the change in female and male enrolment rates from grade 9 to 12. I will also concentrate on the data of students who are enrolled from the high school level to the post graduate studies. Analytical subjects like Math and Science will also be concentrated and knowing the evaluation of those subjects across various ethnicities. Interview will also include the collection of data regarding the parental education. After collection of all these relevant data I will be able to analyze and finding the answer to the research question which focuses on the evaluation that to what extent racial diversity benefits education or hamper its dimension. The results will be fed in statistical software for evolving more robust results associated with the individual life chances in educational attainment with gender differences. References Johnson, Paul & Kossykh, Yulia Early years, life chances and equality: a literature review, Equality and human rights commission, 2008. 7 December 2012 from, http://www.equalityhumanrights.com/uploaded_files/research/7_earlyyears_lifechances.pdf Moore, Stephen, Sociology Alive! Third Edition Nelson Thornes. 2001 Singh, Vijai, P. Caste, Class, and Democracy: Changes in a Stratification System, Transaction Publishers, 1976 Sherraden, Michael & Sherraden. Michael Wayne, Assets and the Poor: A New American Welfare Policy, M.E. Sharpe, 1991 Shel, Tammy A, Gender and Inequity in Education Literature Review, United Nations Educational, Scientific and cultural organizations. 7 December 2012 from, http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0015/001555/155580e.pdf Read More