1. Diversity and Equity Today: Defining the Challenge
Chapter Twelve
Diversity and Equity Today: Defining the Challenge
(c) 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Tozer/Senese/Violas, School and Society, 5e

2. Liberal Ideology: Meritocracy Reexamined
Does inequality stem from individual deficiencies or external conditions? The debate resurfaces in 1960s and continues.
Setting the stage
GI Bill
Brown v. Board of Education
Civil rights movement, Vietnam protest, social unrest, “War on Poverty”
(c) 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Tozer/Senese/Violas, School and Society, 5e

3. Coleman Report
Most African American and white students attended separate schools.
According to measurable curriculum, these schools were similar.
White students performed better on standardized tests than African American students.
Educational inputs (facilities, curricula, teachers) made no meaningful difference in outcomes.
“Quality of peers” made some difference.
Minority children begin school with lower scores and the gap continues to increase over the years.
(c) 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Tozer/Senese/Violas, School and Society, 5e

4. Cultural Deprivation Studies—Flawed but Accepted
Moynihan & Mosteller
Educational inputs already equalized
More money for schools would provide little benefit
Poverty stems from personal problems
Jencks
Cognitive ability dependent on characteristics of child entering school
Economic success due more to luck or peculiar talents than background, schooling, IQ, intellect
(c) 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Tozer/Senese/Violas, School and Society, 5e

5. Race, Ethnicity and the Limits of Language
Race as a socially constructed concept
Terms of ethnic identification not consistent; often disputed
Categories are often used divisively, but without them, we cannot track inequality and inequity, especially in education
(c) 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Tozer/Senese/Violas, School and Society, 5e

6. Ethnicity: Income and Wealth
Income differences are very real for different racial and ethnic groups
Family income correlates highly with school achievement
Income differences therefore mean different life chances for children
(c) 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Tozer/Senese/Violas, School and Society, 5e

7. Ethnicity: Employment
Unemployment differentials are dependent upon socioeconomic conditions other than education
Additional education in and of itself is not likely to overcome differences among groups as long as discrimination exists
(c) 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Tozer/Senese/Violas, School and Society, 5e

8. Ethnicity: Family and Housing
Single-parent families mainly white non-Hispanic, but more black single-parent families in poverty
Infant mortality rate among African Americans twice that of whites
Patterns of segregation have changed little in 30 years
Draining of manufacturing jobs from central city leaves devastation
(c) 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Tozer/Senese/Violas, School and Society, 5e

9. Socioeconomic Class
Groups by wealth, income, power, occupational responsibility, social prestige, cultural identity
Poverty still hits ethnic minorities, the young and women at disproportionate rates
Poverty rates stable over time and impervious to educational attainment
Gap between rich and poor increasing
The “power elite”
(c) 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Tozer/Senese/Violas, School and Society, 5e

10. Socioeconomic Class and Education
Racially, with each successive stage of formal schooling, the pool of minorities eligible for the next stage is reduced ethnicity
Standardized testing, tracking, segregation, language issues are obstacles for many minority students
The higher the socioeconomic status of student’s family, the more likely is access to a “better” school, more resources, parental involvement—perhaps regardless of race or ethnicity
(c) 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Tozer/Senese/Violas, School and Society, 5e

11. Equity, Education and Handicapping Conditions
1975 Education for All Handicapped Children Act
Special education population has grown, but labeling may be misdirected
Possible benefits to identify difficult children as learning disabled, to child’s detriment
(c) 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Tozer/Senese/Violas, School and Society, 5e

12. Gender Employment Income Benefits The “glass ceiling”
Predominantly female occupations
Income
Wage gap still exists; worse for African American and Hispanic women
Benefits
Motherhood damages careers
Other countries provide benefits U.S. does not
(c) 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Tozer/Senese/Violas, School and Society, 5e

13. Gender and Education Sex definition and role socialization
begins early
School culture, teacher behaviors, textbooks can all reinforce gender bias
As girls get older, they lower their goals
The current gap in math, science, technology
Teacher education has not confronted gender bias adequately
(c) 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Tozer/Senese/Violas, School and Society, 5e

14. Concluding Remarks
The failure of liberal ideology and the “meritocracy myth”
Cultural contexts shape academic and economic success
Schools and the cultural deficiency misunderstanding
Gender and cultural sensitivity as a response
(c) 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Tozer/Senese/Violas, School and Society, 5e

15. Developing Your Professional Vocabulary
cultural deprivation studies
Education for All Handicapped Children Act
equality
equity
Ethnicity
GI Bill
“glass ceiling” for women
“Hispanic”
meritocracy
“model minority”
race
racism
sex-role socialization
sex vs. gender
socioeconomic class
(c) 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Tozer/Senese/Violas, School and Society, 5e