The Meritocracy of Education
The Meritocracy of Education
Even in the 21st century, long after slavery was abolished and the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s, desegregation is still something that as a nation, we struggle with. It’s difficult, and very predictably so. Increasing pressure from society to increase student performance has increased dramatically over the past few years. As America faces external threats and immigration policies are continually shifting, our government has seen to the reestablishment of education. This epoch of change has led to federal and state implementation of debatably reductionist standardized testing, scoring, and ranking systems to try and measure school quality. As some schools excel, bringing in more resources and opportunities, some get left behind.
The desire to create a largely objective quality assessment has shifted schooling closer to a meritocracy, with endless positive feedback loops. “Good” schools get the best resources, attracting the “best” families with the students that are statistically more likely to be high achievers in the future. Within schools, honor rolls and academic achievement awards repeatedly celebrate those who do the “best”. The continual use of labels and numbers to delineate student education makes it easy to lose sight of the privilege and background factors that put those students there. How does the demographic of the honor roll kids compare to the school population? What is their socioeconomic status? Based on past studies, did we already think they were more prone to succeed?
Desegregation is difficult because few people recognize it as a racial issue anymore. Embracing a mindset of abstract liberalism, “bad districts have bad and lazy kids”. Since individuals can definitely completely decide their own fate regardless of their surroundings, hard work and intelligence can completely explain the differences we see. This mindset is tied closely with color-blindness. Since we cannot collectively recognize the crucial role that race plays in this scenario, where’s the justification for this seemingly risky and pointless effort?
America has made it so that systemically, access to quality education depends on the affluence and ability of your parents. This can make it hard to break the cycle of poverty and close the wage gap that we see increasingly. Until there is a shift in mindset, desegregation will continue to be difficult. We should begin by recognizing that it is a racial issue and understand the role the privilege plays in success, so that we can move forward toward a better, more integrated future.
I agree with your point that desegregation is difficult but necessary. It not only affects the future of many kids, but it will be an overall improvement for everyone if it is achieved. I like how you tied color-blindness to an issue not related to race. Discrimination in any area is going to put some people at a better position to succeed. The equal quality of education all kids should be receiving is definitely something to work towards for a more integrated future.
ReplyDeleteThe political cartoon you found is so brilliant; I competely agree with everything you said, specifically the part about how we hide behind numbers to avoid discussing the fact that we're talking about actual children. I remember when Sia's movie about autism came out, everyone was talking about how inaccessible the public/education system is for disabled and/or autistic-spectrum students as well. We've decided that intelligence level is dictated by SAT score, completely ignoring that getting a good SAT score depends on how many tutors you can afford to buy, how much Dicken's your school forces you to read, and has relatively little to do with your inherent intelligence or ability to succeed.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree that a students background plays a major role in the education they receive and the success they have later in life. We get quality education because our parents lived decided to move here. The cartoon gives an accurate representation of what quality education can do even if the students are at the same intelligence level.
ReplyDeleteIt is true that breaking out of the cycle of poverty is difficult, since poor people have the odds stacked against them from the beginning. It's easy to agree that the system is flawed, but difficult to find a fair solution. The wealth gap in the United States only makes this problem worse. Desegregation is one way to help solve the issue, but more interventions are necessary to ensure all children have a good education.
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