Introduction
In the past years, students of African origin have had many struggles to access education in countries away from their hometowns. African Americans are no exception since they face challenges in getting to the mainstream of education in their country. There has been a positive trend among African Americans where the high school dropout rate has decreased while the number of black students with high school diplomas is increasing. Research has been conducted over time to find the causes and the solutions to educational challenges facing African American students, comparing and contrasting the historical and current perspectives.
Causes of Educational Challenges
Different factors cause educational challenges, the leading factor being inequality in American public schools. Among the industrialized countries, the US is leading in inequality, and the students in the country receive education according to their social status. Other causes include government policies, race or ethnicity, family wealth, and school resources (Collet-Sabé, 2019). All these cause adverse effects on students, the quality of education they are receiving, and their education experience in general.
Inequality in American Schools
Since the segregation of schools in the American system, there has been less effort put into schools with black American students. The parents of African Americans are low-income earners, and their children are viewed as the minority of the group (Collet-Sabé, 2019). Due to low funding and dysfunctional hiring practices, the schools they attend are staffed with inexperienced and inadequately prepared teachers. Due to this division, the whites feel superior since everything good is directed to their institutions.
Government Policies
Through government influence, members of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) looked for ways to desegregate schools through lawsuits aiming at the legal doctrine of separate but equal. Later, the US supreme court outlawed segregation and ruled it unconstitutional (Leath et al., 2019). Due to government policy, these schools face overcrowding, inadequate supplies, less funding from the government, and insufficiently paid teachers.
Family Wealth and Race or Ethnicity
Family wealth affects education when linked with high- or low-income levels. Parents with low-income levels take their children to schools that are not good, while those with high incomes enroll their children in the best schools. Parents with high incomes will also contribute to school funding, ensuring that their children do not encounter challenges while in school. Race and ethnicity challenge education when children are discriminated against due to the two factors (Leath et al., 2019). Black students are disadvantaged because of their skin color and do not get equal access to education as whites. In scenarios where they are enrolled in schools with whites, the black students are bullied.
Resources Available in Schools
The availability of resources in schools makes some institutions effective and others ineffective. Effective schools promote a positive attitude toward learning, polite and attentive behavior, and excellent academic achievement, making education a lifelong process (Pascoe, 2022). In most cases, African American students do not experience this because they have inexperienced teachers. Most African Americans are enrolled in ineffective schools, which affects the quality of education they receive.
A Historical and Current Perspective of the Issue
Historically, African American students had no chance to experience a well-organized and formal public education until the civil war. Segregation in schools led to conflicts on whether there should be equal support for black and white students. This led to significant score gaps between black students and their white peers in math because black students had less access to high-level math and science courses. Currently, the system is being changed, but it is not entirely favoring blacks. For example, in prominent schools like Harvard, more than 70% of the newly admitted students were from the upper class, while only 10% were from the lower-income class (Anumba, 2015). A difference in achievement between blacks and whites has been noted, including high school graduation and dropout rates.
Black students graduated at lower rates at national levels compared to whites. Eighty-eight percent of White students and 75 percent of black students graduated from public high schools in the 2014/2015year (Anumba, 2015). The segregation of schools was implemented as a solution to give African Americans good education in the past. Anyway, it was not a decent move since this led to the neglect of those students who did not receive quality education compared to the whites. Currently, to curb the problem, most schools are admitting white and black students, although the blacks are being enrolled at lower rates. In most schools, it is also a crime to discriminate against students due to their race or color.
Student Attitude Toward the Issue
Race and color should not contribute to educational issues since no student chooses to be an African or a native American. This is because the two factors pose more disadvantages than advantages. Firstly, they are not beneficial to new teachers in that field because when they are posted to teach schools with African American students, they do not get the opportunity to learn from experienced teachers. Secondly, when students experience discrimination, they have low self-esteem, which can affect their education and lead to low grades (Leath et al., 2019). Thirdly, segregated schools do not offer quality education due to a lack of proper funding and a lack of experienced teachers. Fourthly, when the state agrees that students are taught separately due to color, the whites have the power to make the blacks inferior. Lastly, when African American students finish their studies, they might not get equal job opportunities to whites.
Solutions to the Issue
School systems can work on the black-and-white student achievement gaps by offering interventions to poorly performing schools, districts, and students. Several solutions can improve the quality of education for African Americans. Firstly, the government should acknowledge and address overcrowding in those schools. This is by building more schools and allowing admission for both black and white students. Secondly, they should raise teachers’ standards by increasing their salaries and giving chances to experienced and inexperienced teachers (Lopez & Jean-Marie, 2021). Thirdly, making schools funding a priority and not neglecting schools’ needs. The school should be left in the hands of the community to give them a chance to build the schools and run classrooms. Lastly, the heads of education should try to understand and address the challenges black students face due to their race, irrespective of their family income. Challenges that students face should not be linked to their socioeconomic status.
Students’ Recommendation for a Meaningful Solution and Implementation
The ministry of education can prepare, recruit and employ more African American teachers. Those teachers should be allowed to showcase their skills even in schools with white students (Lopez & Jean-Marie, 2021). This will work because it helps students of color to be motivated to achieve more when they have teachers who share their race and ethnicity. Black students will realize that people like them can also achieve greater heights in education. White students will realize that people of color can teach, and they will have respect for them. The solution can be implemented by giving black students more admissions to colleges and universities. Giving African American teachers equal job opportunities and access to resources even after school. When teachers are done with school, they should be given equal teaching opportunities regardless of race and color. Lastly, there African American teachers should be considered when promotion chances arise. This will give power to African American students knowing they have a voice in the country.
Conclusion
Educational challenges can never be avoided, but measures can be implemented to ensure they have no significant impact on students. The causes of educational challenges include inequality in American Public Schools, government policies, family wealth, race or ethnicity, and resources available in schools. There are historical and current perspectives on educational challenges. Historically, students did not receive well-organized education, so segregation led to conflicts. There were significant score gaps between black and white students.
Currently, most schools are trying to admit white and black students in the same institutions, but blacks have not yet benefited from this fully since they are admitted in small ratios. Race and color should not be challenging in education, and all students should have equal chances. There are different solutions to educational challenges addressing the overcrowding issue, raising teachers’ standards, funding the schools, and addressing African American issues regardless of their income. The government can prepare, recruit and employ more African American teachers. This will help motivate the students to aim and achieve higher in their education.
References
Anumba, E. A. (2015). Successfully navigating through college: Voices of African American males [PDF document]. Web.
Collet-Sabé, J. (2019). Understanding school segregation: Patterns, causes and consequences of spatial inequalities in Education. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 40(7), 999–1003. Web.
Leath, S., Mathews, C., Harrison, A., & Chavous, T. (2019). Racial Identity, racial discrimination, and classroom engagement outcomes among black girls and boys in predominantly black and predominantly white school districts. American Educational Research Journal, 56(4), 1318–1352. Web.
Lopez, A. E., & Jean-Marie, G. (2021). Challenging anti-black racism in everyday teaching, learning, and leading: From theory to practice. Journal of School Leadership, 31(1-2), 50–65. Web.
Pascoe, P. (2022). A dream of justice: The story of Keyes v. denver public schools. University Press of Colorado.