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Introduction
The United States is a multicultural society. People from different races and ethnicity have different opportunities especially in educational attainment. The non-Hispanic whites make up about 67 % of the total population and the blacks 12 % (Suro et al 1). Generally, the educational attainment in both populations has increased significantly over the years. However, there are educational disparities between the two groups and this paper will seek to explore the reasons for these disparities.
Inequality in the education system
The educational disparity goes back in history in the United States. This was due to segregation that the Supreme Court upheld in 1886 with its ruling in the Plessy v. Ferguson Case that allowed schools to be segregated for whites and backs. The segregation set up the course for disparities in the education sector because the black schools mainly in the south were poor and thus could not afford to provide adequate facilities for the students. They could also not afford to employ sufficient teachers or qualified ones. This meant that the black students received inferior education compared to their white counterparts who went to schools that were well equipped. This situation persisted until 1954 when the Supreme Court ruled against segregation in public schools in the famous case Brown V. Board of Topeka. The gains made in reducing inequality have led to more blacks completing higher education but the disparity remains. For example, in 2006 non-Hispanics whites between the age of 25 and 28 were more likely “to have completed higher levels of education” (Educational Attainment 1) than blacks. However, disparities persist and that is why in 2002 the then president George W Bush signed into law the No Child left Behind Act. This act was formulated to ensure that all the children get equal opportunities in education.
Furthermore, the schools were funded by the local districts. Thus, the quality of education was dependent on the economic ability of the local districts. The blacks lived in poor local districts hence got low quality education as they lacked the financial muscle to improve their quality of education. On the other hand, the non-Hispanic whites resided in rich neighborhoods and funding the schools was easy for their local districts. Therefore, their children received quality education. After observing the negative effects of not getting involved in education, the federal government made some reforms and got involved in the education system. This is because the structure seemed to “enforce a racially unjust social order” (Omi and Winant 78). This has made great improvements but the gap between non-Hispanic whites and blacks in education has not been bridged completely. This is because the education system continues to perpetuate disparities as poor and rich schools continue to exist. Schools in affluent neighborhoods have good learning environments in terms of adequate teachers and facilities. Conversely, the poor schools in impoverished areas lack proper facilities and safe environment for learning. The likelihood that black students will attend the poor schools is more than for the white students. This is because blacks who are a minority are more likely to be living in the impoverished neighborhoods. The kind of education the blacks will receive in such schools will be inferior to that of non-Hispanic whites hence lower achievement (Lee 6).
Economic disparity
The economic disparity between blacks and non-Hispanic whites accounts for the educational disparities. The non-Hispanic whites are more economically empowered compared to the blacks. They are in a better position to send their children to private schools that offer quality education as funding is sufficient. They also give their children all the support that they need to complete school. On the contrary, the black students may fail to achieve their dreams of completing school due to their parents’ disadvantaged economical situations. Sometimes, the black students are forced to drop out of school and look for employment. This trend becomes a vicious cycle, as the dropouts will not be able to give their children all the support they need to attain quality education. This is because education level determines ones income and those with low level of education earn the least (Lee 6-7).
Educational expectations
Educational expectations vary between blacks and non-Hispanic whites because of the different cultural and social contexts. This is because students in the two contexts interact with people who have different expectations. For instance, many black children are in inner cities and attend schools there. The schools are underfunded and the teachers may be of low quality. This means that these teachers may have low expectations for their students and hence do not push them to attain their maximum potential. On the other hand, most non-Hispanic students attend well funded schools and teachers have high expectations on them thus they strive to reach the expectations set up for them. The lack of expectations affects the black students negatively (Hirschman and Lee 111).
Social background
The social background determines largely the educational attainment of an individual. The background may include things such as parental educational background, family structure and economic circumstance. Students from a family that has educated parents are more likely to follow their footsteps or even aim higher than their parents. However, there are students whose parents may not have attained much in education but still have high aspirations and actually make it through school and graduate. An intact family provides a stable environment for a student to learn. More black students are likely to come from unstable or single parent families than non-Hispanic white ones (Suro et al 10). This situation puts the family at an economic disadvantage in most cases and the children may lack funds to give them higher learning.
Conclusion
The educational gap between non-Hispanic whites and blacks has reduced significantly and some strides made in ensuring that the minority blacks are getting opportunities for educational attainment just like their non-Hispanic counterparts. Nonetheless, more needs to be done to eliminate the disparities that exist. The stakeholders in the educational sector should strive to ensure that equality in attained by putting in place policies that will speed up the process. This will enable children from the minority groups compete favorably with the non-Hispanic whites at the job market with par credentials. Bridging the educational gap will be beneficial to the economy of the country, as many workers that are more skilled will be released into the job market. However, this is not an easy task but continuous studying of the causes of disparities between educational attainment for the blacks and non-Hispanic whites will serve as mirror to what ails the education system. This will in turn make a major impact on educational attainment of these two populations because quality education has a bearing on all aspects of life such as health and income level. Every child in America ought to receive quality education regardless of ethnic affiliation.
Works Cited
Educational Attainment. census.gov. n.d. 2010.
Hirschman, Charles and Jennifer Lee. Race and ethnic inequality in educational attainment in the United States. soc.washington.edu. 2005.
Lee, Jaekyung. Racial and Ethnic Achievement Gap Trends: Reversing the Progress Toward Equity? Educational Researcher, 31. 1 (2002): 3-12.
Omi, Michael and Howard Winant. Racial Formation in the United States: From the 1960s to the 1990s. 2nd Ed. New York: Routledge, 1994.
Suro, Roberto et al. The American community- Blacks 2004. census.gov. 2004.
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