My trajectory from Primary School through to High Education

Numerous sociological notions, particularly those relating to class and race, have lighted my educational experience from elementary school through higher education, and they have made a significant impact on the person I am now. Additionally, schools foster cultural awareness, which is essential for a student's professional and social development, according to sociologist Gould's (46) theory. I've had the chance to live with or be around students from a variety of social backgrounds, and I've seen how class, gender, and ethnicity influenced how students interacted with one another. One of my best talents is interacting with classmates and other students at school, which is a result of my amiable, tolerant, and carefree character. By inferring the words of Ferguson and Arnette (89), both teachers and students bring varying knowledge and experiences of social structures which define how they reason and act accordingly. As a result, my social experiences in the different schools and groups I have had the opportunity of participating showed that there is a disproportion in treatment of the black American students relative to the Whites, and economic privileged to students of working-class families, socialization disparities, as illustrated in this essay.

Black American men are usually criminalized (Carter 2008), such that though they make up only 6% of the American population, one third of the total citizens that have been associated with a criminal offense are blacks (Ferguson and Anerte 77). For this reason, black students were treated suspiciously whenever a theft was reported or in case of a mischievous activity. Since the prejudice has been mostly a mental perception, the black students rarely interacted with the white counterparts leading to formation of groups that were ethically dominated. Though there are exceptions where you find students forming groups that are culturally diverse, in most instances, they are academically triggered. The notion that black students, in particular male, are rowdy, rebellious, and genetically naughty makes most of these kids to isolate themselves from the rest of the students making it difficult to form healthy relationships that are socially diverse.

Students coming from different income backgrounds rarely get a proper avenue for socializing given the varying education exposures attributed to each income class. Most of my friends have the same income standing and for the times that I have had to befriend a student from a higher or lower income class relative to mine, the relationship tended to be uncomfortable most of the times. Just like the story of Alyssa and Hannah, as described by Armstrong and Hamilton (26), financial status influences an individual’s social identity and socialization prospects. There is a variety of entertainment joints, out-of-class activities, and groups that influence attendance. You find that there are clubs that require a renewable membership fee which depending on the amount, attracts a certain group of students. With such disparities it is common to find that most friendships or groups consist of members that have the same financial capacity. As such, my socialization sprees in the years have in school have been largely influenced by my financial position and to avoid discrimination or a feeling of being left out, I mostly socialize with peers who can share in activities that I can afford or relate with.

The dominant ethnicity usually dominates the social structure within an institution and to a great extent, socialization. A class that constitutes white as the majority tends to be inclined to the western way of doing things including language and cultural activities. In most of the classes and subjects I have participated, the white have dominated given that they make up more than 90% of the total U.S.A population. As a result, most of the studies have revolved around literature and arts that are western in nature, and the outdoor activities mostly consist on American cultural values. It is the reason why schools have universally used English language for teaching. It is so easy to identify an immigrant student or a black American student with the former struggling to communicate fluently. In both the elementary and higher education, you find instances with immigrant students forming groups for social identification purposes when they feel like they cannot keep up with the blacks, who speak quite faster than the rest, and the whites. America is yet to incorporate a common culture that advocates for the good of each student irrespective of their ethnicity (Reese 431).

In elementary school, students that performed better in academics and extracurricular activities came from middle-income families or the affluent, whereas in the higher education, there is a marginal distinction in performance. Students that were known to be financially privileged also tended to score high in class and as Bowles and Gintis (2) noted, there is credible evidence showing that familiar economic status is transferred to children mostly through the unequal education privileges received. In elementary, students are prepared for high school and given that school choice policy is yet to become effective, only students from the affluent families have the chance of attending schools of their choice with most enrolling in the institution that befits both their social and academic aspirations. In addition, economic privileged students are endowed with material and emotional resources making it easier for them to focus on studies leading to high performance and better school choice. More so, the students find it easier to socialize with other students given their high esteem levels.

On the contrary, higher education institutions bring students with similar academic prowess given that a standard measure is used for recruitment of high school students (Shorter 20). Nonetheless, there are instances where social status influences academic performance, but indirectly. For instance, you find that at school students that work to pay their school fees tend to participate more in class work and even perform considerably better, compared to their peers. Similarly, some of the economically underprivileged student opt to major in subjects that are time demanding so that they do not feel left out when financial depriving parties are being held. For that reason, such situation tend to bring students with same financial capabilities together. Although my peers in the institution of higher learning perform when they are financially disabled, the performance is attributed to the fact that they have a lot of time to study such that under different situation, the opposite would have been the same. In elementary, kids perform better when they are socially stable, while in higher education the ones who are socially unstable, in terms of economic status attain better grades.

Though women dominated in high school graduation and in the higher education, there are fewer black American men who attend college compared to other ethnic groups. For instance, in 2010, Thomas and Claudia (371) reported that of all the Black American who graduated in college, 66% were female. However, the rate that men complete technical courses such as Medicine is considerably high. Black American men tend to highly involve themselves in drugs and criminal activities that limit their time in class hence the lower graduation rate. In addition, the perception by teachers that black students are likely to cause chaos makes them trail their activities which essentially makes it uncomfortable for them to equally participate in class leading to low performance, and consequently, lower graduation rate. As a result, there are fewer black students in a higher education institution and as such blacks who have made it this, usually find it difficult to participate in diverse social groups. Blacks in higher education are likely to form a group that identifies with their values for identity purposes.

Conclusion

Class and ethnic disparities are some of the major social concepts that tend to divide students within schools. Differences in culture and economic status have conventionally been used to label people and identify their socialization patterns. It is not uncommon to find that most of the students in the schools I have studied, both in elementary through higher education seek to form friendships or groups with peers who share similar values and aspirations. Whereas the education system is designed in such a manner that resources are equally distributed, the perception that individuals have towards their peers in terms of their ethnicity and economic status directly or indirectly shape how they relate to each other. Though class and ethnicity should not be instrumental in defining who to socialize with, they still predominate in today’s educational institutions.



Works Cited

Bowles, Samuel, and Herbert Gintis. "Schooling in capitalist America revisited." Sociology of education (2002): 1-18.

Carter, P. "Black cultural capital and the conflicts of schooling." Keeping it real: School success beyond Black and White (2005): 47-76.

DiPrete, Thomas A., and Claudia Buchmann. "Gender disparities in educational attainment in the new century: Trends, causes and consequences." US2010: America in the First Decade of the New Century (2013).

Ferguson, Ann Arnett. Bad boys: Public schools in the making of black masculinity. University of Michigan Press, 2001.

Hamilton, Laura, and Elizabeth A. Armstrong. "The (mis) education of Monica and Karen." Contexts 11.4 (2012): 22-27.

Reardon, Sean F. "The widening academic achievement gap between the rich and the poor: New evidence and possible explanations." Whither opportunity (2011): 91-116.

Reese, William J. "Public schools and the common good." Educational theory 38.4 (1988): 431-440.