There is a big number of problems that one can come up with when thinking about social issues within an educational environment. For instance, racism which is present in every sphere of society and education is not an exception, gender issues and cultural issues, unequal opportunities based on status. What is more, all these problems seem to become more and more relevant and serious in the contemporary world. This is due to the fact that individuals are brought up in different environments and are not educated properly about the idea that we have to learn to treat each other equally no matter what our distinguishing characteristics are.
It can be stated that the problem of unequal opportunity in educational institutions is largely affected by other more specific issues like racism, gender, ethnicity, and religion. All these problems are extremely serious and are developed due to the type of environment children live in, the type of social groups they are exposed to on a daily basis, and the type of opinions their parents transmit. While being surrounded by stereotypes and various beliefs from an early age, children learn to choose who is good and who is bad. However, these opinions are not based on someone’s personality or action but rather their skin color, nationality, gender, financial status of their family, and religion. All these problems are then being brought to education where children who do not look or think normal “normal” are provided with less opportunities for personal development and recognition. Most importantly, the inequality is added up by not only personal relationships between children and teenagers but also teachers. These people, who are supposed to be professionals, fail to educate their students about the rights and freedoms of people and who also choose their favorites based on the differences mentioned earlier or various benefits children can bring to them.
Education is one of the most important spheres of life. It currently places a central role in politics and various countries’ policies because of its significant impact on the long-term development of nations (Brooks et al., 2013). Therefore, in order to create an effective solution to social problems in educational institutions, it is necessary to conduct extensive research and understand the issues in detail. As mentioned by Ball et al. (2011), it is obligatory to observe the situation, “tracing how economic and social forces, institutions, people, interests, events, and chance interact (p. 3). In short, many details have to be taken into consideration before creating a strategy that would make a positive impact. Nevertheless, as confirmed by various researches, the most effective method of dealing with serious societal problems in educational environments is putting effort into educating children and informing them about the realities and how we have to respond to them. For example, it is useful to engage children in discussions about culture and cultural differences in order to widen their understanding of nationalities and their characteristics (Faas et al., 2019). In this way, it can at least be ensured that children are provided with enough resources to learn from and apply in real life.
References
Ball, S. J., Maguire, M., & Braun, A. (2011). How schools do policy: Policy enactments in secondary schools. Routledge.
Brooks, R., McCormack, M., & Bhopal, K. (2013). Contemporary debates in the sociology of education: An introduction. In Contemporary Debates in the Sociology of Education (pp. 1-18). Palgrave Macmillan, London.
Faas, S., KasĂĽschke, D., Nitecki, E., Urban, M., & Wasmuth, H. (2109). Globalization, Transformation, and Cultures in Early Childhood Education and Care.