Social Challenges in Schools

1. Social Challenges in Schools Chapter 3

2. Learning Outcomes • Understand the benefits to whites by being members of the dominant group • Respect differing family backgrounds and minimizing stereotyping • Understand that young people need caring adults • Describe the role schools play in socialization • Understand that educational equality requires that all students are proportionately represented in advanced classes and special education classes

3. Social Challenges • A democratic society struggles with how to support individuality and yet develop a consciousness of shared concerns and actions that promote equality • Although the U.S. describes itself as the premier model of a democratic society, it is governed primarily by members of the dominant culture • Power provides economic, educational, and political advantages for individuals and groups

4. Power in Society • Whites usually give no credit to their membership in the dominant group or think they have power advantages over other racial and ethnic groups • Large gap in perceptions of power between different groups in society • Power allows domination over the powerless as well as access to social benefits such as good housing, tax deductions, social services and the best schools

5. Ethnocentrism • The belief that members of one’s group are superior to members of other groups • Many members of the dominant culture believe their culture is superior to those with non-European roots • Curriculum content and classroom interactions by teachers often subtly and not so subtly transmit superiority messages

6. Prejudice and Discrimination • Prejudice…preconceived negative attitude toward members of a group • As one struggles in the construction of the self while growing up, one also constructs the idea of “otherness” often based on stereotypes • Prejudiced attitudes can become discriminatory behavior

7. Institutional Discrimination • Racism…the conscious or unconscious belief that racial differences make one group superior to others • “Racism is so universal in this country, so widespread and deep-seated, that it is invisible because it is so normal.” (Chisholm) • Sexism…the conscious or unconscious belief that men are superior to women and subsequent behavior that maintain the superior, powerful positions of males

8. Development of Racial Identity • BRI…preencounter, encounter, immersion-emersion, internalization, internalization-commitment • WRI…contact, disintegration, reintegration, pseudoindependence, immersion-emersion, autonomy

9. Today’s Families • 68% of children 18 or younger live in families with both biological parents • Average age of parents older than in the past • Over one-third of first-time married couples have separated or divorced after ten years • Almost 25% of children in the U.S. live with a single mother, a single father, grandparents, or another guardian

10. Homelessness • Three million people in the U.S. are without shelter at some point during a year • Parents who live in shelters are typically single mothers with one or two children under the age of six • 20% of homeless persons are working • Only 28% of the minor children of homeless parents live with the homeless parent

11. Abuse • About 33% of the females murdered in the U.S. are killed by a spouse, ex-spouse, or boyfriend • Domestic violence is the primary cause of homelessness for women with children • More than 20% of homeless families in the U.S. are fleeing domestic violence • Neglect is the cause of 60% of child abuse cases, 20% is physical abuse, 10% is sexual abuse • 13% of all girls are sexually abused before they reach 18 years old ( most often a parent or friend)

12. Today’s Youth • 63% of high school graduates enter college immediately after high school • 78% of 17 year olds work and go to school • 1 in 25 female teenagers becomes pregnant, only 1 in 50 becomes a parent (the fathers of a majority of these babies are not teenagers) • Poverty is the most important factor determining teenage mothers (83% are in poverty) • 8-12 years after birth to an unmarried, teenage, high school dropout…10 times more likely to be poor

13. Drug Use • Chemical dependency…the habitual use, for either psychological or physical needs, of a substance such as drugs, alcohol, or tobacco • 53% of 12th graders have used illicit drugs as some time, but only 25% have used in the past month • 25% of 8th graders have tried drugs, 10% in the past month • Teens under 18 use illegal drugs other than marijuana less than adults in the U.S.

14. Violence • The U.S. is the most violent industrialized nation in the world • Children under the age of 15 are twelve times more likely to be killed by firearms than children in 25 other industrialized countries • Majority of people arrested for murder are between 18 and 24 • 80% of crimes committed by males…although juvenile arrests are increasing for females and decreasing for males

15. Violence • Crime is related more directly to poverty than to the age of the criminal, low income teens have about the same rate of crimes as adults who live in poverty • 24,500 gangs with 750,000 members • “Gangs can provide a sense of place and a feeling of importance as well as a strong identity structure

16. Harassment and Bullying • 80% of students report that they’ve been sexually harassed at school, one-third experiencing it often • Most common form of harassment is verbal abuse, nearly 25% of students indicate that faculty or staff sometimes make homophobic remarks

17. Social Reproduction • Schools are expected to reproduce the cultural, political, social, and economic order of society traditionally • Functionalists view schools as important in supporting technological development, material well-being, and democracy • Conflict theorists view schools as reproducing society to maintain power, legitimizing inequities • Resistance theory believes students can help change schools to be more democratic

18. Purposes of Schools • Citizenship…patriotism and loyalty are implicit values in most schools and part of the hidden curriculum • Workforce readiness • Academic achievement • Social development • Cultural transmission