Social Origins of Educational System

Question: Write an essay citing and describing examples of problems in the American educational system, such as lack of financial support, dropout rates, and low levels of academic achievement. Describe ways in which the U.S. educational system helps perpetuate social inequality in some cases, while helping to reduce it in others? Answer: Education is of great importance to individuals as well as the society. The absence of which will lead to the loss of all the gathered knowledge and all conduct standards. Educational systems differ across countries. This paper is focussed on discussing some problems in the American educational system. In spite of its highly developed economy, The U.S. is facing some serious challenges in its educational system which has become a matter of concern. Family, economic and social demands sometimes lead students to drop out before completing high school education (Archer, 2013). Dropout rates are observed to be lowest in Asian American students followed closely by whites. But the dropout rates of Hispanic, Native Americans and blacks are almost double to that of Asian and whites. The dropout rate is very high among minority students. The best schools are almost always private, the fees of which cannot be afforded by the poorer students. There are different rates of funding even for public schools. Mostly the schools in the poorer areas experience a lack of funds as the funding of schools are sometimes attached to property taxes (Bowles, 2014). This makes high quality education less accessible to students residing in poorer areas. Another defect of the American education system is giving English the status of the second language (ESL). It is mandatory for the refugees, immigrants, and their children to learn English as a Second Language (ESL) for functioning in the country. They are sometimes identified as having lower test scores which sometimes fails in measuring their academic abilities. Some critics are of the opinion that a major fault of the modern Education system of the U.S. is that it lacks focus on the results. The system doesnt expect the students to meet high achievement standards, and the primary emphasis of the policy-making circles is on the process of education rather than the analysis of the results of education. Many schools of The U.S. focus on social values, attitudes and beliefs of the culture that is dominant and the influences of the minority are mostly ignored (Dewey, 2013). In schools, a sorting of the students is made on the basis of their interests, skills, talents, test results, family background, etc. The schools sort students in groups and programs with a view of maximizing human capital. But merit is not the basis of this sorting, and some sociologists opine that it further increases the social inequalities as the underprivileged students are denied access to the same programs, groups, and classes. The policymakers are taking steps for reducing the inequalities by trying to bring about a more or less standardized curriculum. Efforts are being made to focus more on learning opportunities and outcomes (Valenzuela et al., 2014). Another policy recently devised is the differential quality of schooling for blacks and whites. Many private organizations are coming forward for supporting the underprivileged students financially. Thus, it is evident that the American education system suffers from social inequalities, high dropout rate, lack of funds and some other drawbacks. The educational system is trying to perpetuate the inequalities on one hand and devising methods to reduce it on the other. Reference list Archer, M. S. (2013).Social origins of educational systems. Routledge. Bowles, S. (2014).Schooling in capitalist America: Educational reform and the contradictions of economic life. Haymarket Books. Dewey, J. (2013).The sources of a science of education. Read Books Ltd. Valenzuela, J. P., Bellei, C., Ros, D. D. L. (2014). Socioeconomic school segregation in a market-oriented educational system. The case of Chile.Journal of Education Policy,29(2), 217-241.