A message to our new president
A message to our new president is a piece of writing about public education in the United States. According to the author, the next president will face significant challenges in the areas of health care, the environment, and security. However, continuing education discrimination between white children and their peers of color, which has been a persistent thorn in the education system, should be prioritized. For a long time, several lawmakers have been discussing the performance divide, which is dependent on standardized test results (Ladson-Billings 235). The author advises the president to reconsider the question of the performance deficit. Instead of addressing the achievement gap issue, the president should address an educational debt that is believed to be the gateway to equality in public education. In addressing the debt, the president should look at the four facets of the debt which include moral, sociopolitical, economic and historical.
Reviewing the American history
Reviewing the American history, it is clear that certain groups of families and children have been regularly and systematically excluded from public education and schooling. The unequal education opportunities were formed around gender, class and race but it has persisted in the realm of race. These historical injustices on education were not merely imposed by virulently and xenophobic masses but also by major leaders of the nation who endorse ideas of native, Latino and black inferiority. Thus, the new president cannot ignore the history gap in addressing educational disparities. The money trail also suggests that black and Latino funded while schools attended by white are sufficiently funded. This disparity in allocation resources is also another area that the new president has to revisit to cur the education debt (Ladson-Billings 236).
The sociopolitical debt
The sociopolitical debt is another facet of the educational debt that the author proposes. In addition to the right to vote, citizens also need to have the right to participate in making decisions that affect their children's education and the community at large. For a long time, communities of color have been excluded from various political processes. Hence, it is time they are allowed to express their feelings on different matters that directly affect them. On the moral debt, the author argues that it is unfair that students are assigned schools based on race (Ladson-Billings 237). The result of such a move is continued segregation. The author further adds that not only have school segregation persisted, they have been changed by transforming demographics. Issues such as the benefits of integration and the costs of segregation are yet to be addressed. Thus, the next president should take responsibility and come up with a strategy to streamline the failing education system.
Analysis of Author's Arguments
The author is disturbed by the current education system where inequality has become widespread. The author advocates for a system of education where there is no discrimination of any form. Sociopolitical and racial diversity in schools can provide students with various social and cognitive benefits. Students in integrated classrooms score higher in their tests and have higher chances of joining college (Garces and Hopkins 50). Furthermore, students in integrated schools are unlikely to drop out. Studies also suggest that integrated schools help in reducing racial achievement gaps and encourage problem-solving, critical thinking, and creativity (Garces and Hopkins 50). Despite the benefits of desegregation, there are also major limitations to cutting down the educational gap. Integration of students of different races in all schools may lead to isolation, racism, exclusion, and alienation of the students of color, particularly in white-dominated schools. Minority groups also feel anxious in the company of majority students who often respond with hostility.
The author's arguments suggest that there needs to be changes in public education
In the United States, public education is characterized by insufficient funding, ineffective teachers, inequity, and declining student aptitude. Most of the public schools are attended by students of color while the few that have better resources are attended by their white counterparts (Garces and Hopkins 48). According to the author, this is the education debt that needs to be addressed. Public schools in the U.S are perceived to be attended by failures. According to the author, public schools need to be seen as institutions of excellence that do not discriminate against students based on color, gender, or social status. Furthermore, the government needs to improve its service delivery to these schools by equally distributing resources, allowing all communities to participate in decision making of issues affecting their children, and ensuring that admissions are not based on race (OECD 3).
In conclusion
In conclusion, the issues of poverty, teacher education, equal distribution of resources should be prioritized in making the public education great again in America. Desegregation needs to be a priority and admission of schools should not be based on one's color or social status but merit. However, integration of white students with their colored counterparts would still work against the minority as they would feel inferior and anxious. However, normalizing desegregation and other inequalities would lead to equality in public education.
Works Cited
Garces, Liliana M, and Megan Hopkins. School Integration Matters: Research-based Strategies to Advance Equity. , 2016. Print.
Ladson-Billings, Gloria. “A Letter to Our Next President.” Journal of Teacher Education, vol. 59, no. 3, May/Jun2008, pp. 235-239.
OECD. Ten Steps To Equity In Education. 1st ed. 2008. Web. 14 Sept. 2017.
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
