What is equity?
I included a popular image that gives a great visual example of what equity is. Equity is giving everyone what they need in order to succeed. This may be more than others need or less than what others need.
Is schooling equitable?
In my opinion, schooling is not equitable in America. We have students from so many different backgrounds, ethnicities, and economic groups, and yet, schools typically only have one strict way they go about educating.
There is a disparity in the way that students of color are treated, especially discipline-wise. Black students are often treated as adults or even as criminals, while white students' misbehaviors are ignored or they only receive a small slap on the wrist. The suspension and expulsion rates are high for students of color, and this does not give them a fair chance of succeeding. If they were the people in the graphic above, it would be like taking a box away from the smallest child. If you continuously suspend or scold students, they will turn their backs on the school and possibly end up dropping out because of the isolation they feel. I'm not saying that students of color should not be disciplined for misbehaving, but it needs to be fair and the same for all students. As a teacher, you should also look into why a child is misbehaving and what their home life is like before resulting to suspension or expulsion.
There is also a disparity in the demographics of teachers. A strong majority of teachers in America are white. In the past, I thought that this was because of the demographics of the United States. I have since realized that there is also an issue with racial bias and discrimination in the hiring process of teachers. We need to combat this issue and recognize bias in schools.
Anmei,
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comment! I totally agree that students should not have to worry about being discriminated against. Racism and discrimination is already so awful, but the fact that children have to face this, especially from their own teachers, is horrifying. It is important as an educator to recognize any racial biases you may have and actively work to get rid of them in order to give your students the best chance at success.
Hey Cayenne, thanks for sharing. I enjoyed reading your post! I really liked that you talked about equity and provided its definitions as well as an image that helped a lot with differentiating equity and equality! I also thought that there were mostly white teachers because of demographics but later realized it's not entirely that. Also another thing is communities’ income, teachers of color are mostly in districts of low income communities and private/wealthier districts mostly have white teachers.
ReplyDeleteHi Cayenne, I agree with your entire post. Low income schools oftentimes are not able to provide the teaching that is provided to high income schools. The reason why is obvious, so that is why I believe that schooling is not equitable. I also believe that Black students are treated very unfair, especially in a school that is not diverse. Meaning, that the students in the school are primarily white as well as the teachers.
ReplyDeleteHi Cayenne! I really enjoyed reading your blog post! The picture that you included is a great visual to help the readers understand what equity really is. I truly do not believe schooling in America is equitable. I agree that we have students from all over the world and a lot of the time they stick to one way of teaching. Low income schools are often not able to provide the same type of teaching and theres so many reasons behind that. They often do not have the same budget as other schools in wealthier areas.
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