Final

Dhanvin Sriram
Dr. Brandon
School & Society
8 December 2014

Race And Gender Discrimination
The issue of discrimination has been the cause of raging debates for a long time in the history of the United States. Such discrimination may be based on race, gender color, ethnicity, or any other basis that distinguishes people and tends to favor specific groups over others. During the history of America, the American people have observed discrimination on many fronts and especially so against black people and the minority. The concepts of race, gender, and class have had a tremendous effect on children’s experiences through the American education system. Different children and people have different life experiences as well as different backgrounds. As such, one cannot wish away these elements of race gender and class in an education system that has real people from real societies. As such, a society can only hope to find ways of reducing the distinctions and the discrimination associated with those elements in the schools. The discussion in this paper will analyze the modern forms of racial and sexual discrimination, which affects access and treatment of students in schools. It will propose an argument for ways of creating racial and gender equality in schools in the United States.
Equality of education in American schools refers to the provision of similar opportunities, expectations, and support in education for people from both gender as well as for people from different backgrounds (DeMarrais, Kathleen& Margaret 291). It refers to the leveling of the playing ground, whereby no particular social class retains an upper hand over the other. As such, gender equality means that boys and girls, blacks and whites etcetera need to receive equal treatment in schools. In the contemporary world, many forms of race and sex discrimination affect access and treatment in schools. There are many ways such discrimination affects the access of education by people who are discrimination. For example, when people profile students racially, especially during applications to join a school, they may possibly deny a deserving student a chance to join a school based on his or her race.
Such treatment, based solely on the color of their skin or other superficial features, automatically gives them a lesser hand as compared to the ‘favored’ race. It is what makes discrimination remain among the most preposterous ideas of human beings. Varied level or degrees of punishment are another instance of modern race discrimination whereby student from different races receive more punishment than students from other different races are. It is also another form of discrimination whereby students get different levels or degree of punishment solely based on the color of their skin or their background (DeMarrais, Kathleen& Margaret 257). Access to veteran instructors or teachers is another basis on which discrimination happens in schools.
It is whereby for example; black students are denied access to lectures that feature veteran teacher who have a wide wealth of knowledge. Similarly, minority students may be discriminated in this way, whereby even though the schools might understand the students’ needs to learn proper English; they still offer them the newest and inexperienced teaches to teach them. As such, they end up not receiving the same quality, level of knowledge as the white students do and in addition, they may not understand the concepts well since the teachers do not have much teaching experience (J.McNamee, Stephen 187). Such kind of discrimination is especially common in the public school systems in America.
There are also instances where students from difference racial backgrounds may be expelled more often by the schools as compared to students from other particular races. It is yet another way in which students from different racial backgrounds are discriminated in the schools. For example, the black students may be victim of expulsion or suspension from school at a very high rate compare to their white peers. Teacher salaries by schools are also another level on which discrimination occurs. It is whereby the teachers in school, which predominantly consist of a single race,may be paid more than schools in schools that are multiracial, that is consisting of blacks or Latinos. The effect of such discrimination is that teachers lose interest in their job and may end up offering low quality education to the students. The effects of all these forms of discrimination are that they generally reduce the quality of education received by racially or sexually discriminated students (DeMarrais, Kathleen& Margaret 265). They also increase the chances of drop out for the racially discriminated student.
Minority children have always had many problems through their schooling experience. Apart from discrimination, they face other impediments such as poor understanding of the English language as well as coming from cultures that are fundamentally different form the American culture. As such, they remain somehow ‘detached ‘form the other children, which open the doors for discrimination. Further, sometimes minority students are discriminated based on the courses taught in schools. For example, one may find that in schools where minority students form the majority do not offer courses in subjects such as chemistry or advanced mathematics courses. In addition, such minority students may not be afforded chances to engage in the talent programs in their schools. Such are the type of experiences that the minority children face through the education system in America. Although the discrimination is primarily subtle, it exists and is highly practiced in many schools in the United States.
Gender socialization is the concept of conditioning children of different genders on the ‘right’ way to behave or act according to their gender. Such conditioning is mainly done by parents as well as by the teachers in the schools. Such differences in the way children are taught to behave lead to people having unequal expectations from either the boys or the girls (DeMarrais, Kathleen& Margaret 292). The effects of gender socialization are that they have led to situations where girls in school do not receive equal treatment as the boys. It has rendered the girls to similar treatment as the way minorities are treated. Gender socialization has led to the rise of sexism in American schools, which affects the academic performance of girls in schools as well as their chances of getting a placement for a job. In a society where gender socialization has been in practice for many years, men have always felt like they were the stronger gender and this is the foundation of sexism (J.McNamee, Stephen 191).
According to DeMarrais, Kathleen & Margaret (296), social conditioning started very early in the education system, whereby girls could be provided with their own playground, which was smaller than the boys’ playground. In addition, the boys’ would play masculine games like baseball and football while girls played feminine games like jumping rope or playing hopscotch on their playground indicating the differences in strength and abilities. All these elements lead to the discrimination of girls in schools and create a patriarchal environment where men feel superior to women. Ultimately, this leads to fewer opportunities for women because they are considered secondary to men.
The federal government has tried to level the playing field by introducing legislation that prevents sexual or gender discrimination, such as the Title IX legislation. Such use of legislation influences the schools that receive federal education money to ensure that there is absolutely no form of sexual discrimination taking place in the schools. The federal government has also tried to level the field by banning subject segregation based on gender. For example, the events of 1903, whereby girls studied subjects dealing with housekeeping while boys studied the technical subjects in science (Wise, Tim. Affirmative Action 3)
There are many ways to create gender equality in society. In the case of gender socialization, which we have seen have many negative effects, the society needs to discourage it by teaching children, from a young age, that all people are equal despite their gender. Concerning the other forms of discrimination in schools, need to be addressed using government legislation and policy. Although there already exists legislation that bans any form of discrimination, it has not been effective and as such, stricter measures have to be put in place. In addition, harsher penalties and punishments for schools that discriminate would have a reducing effect on the prevalence of discrimination in schools.
The various government and non-governmental organizations also need to come together and create awareness against any form of discrimination in both private and public schools. The creation of awareness would ensure that everyone becomes aware of the various forms of discrimination as well as the different ways that discrimination affects the performance of discriminated children as well as their general welfare in society. As we have seen in the discussion, discrimination has many adverse effects on the lives of children in school.

Works cited
DeMarrais, Kathleen B, and Margaret D. LeCompte. The Way Schools Work: A Sociological Analysis of Education. New York [u.a.: Longman, 1999. Print.
J.McNamee, Stephen. The Meritocracy Myth. United Kingdom: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, Inc. 2014.
Wise, Tim. Affirmative Action. New York : Routledge Taylor and Francis Group.2005. 3. Print