On Education...

There is a video posted on Kellie's blog that I believe everyone should watch.

I've seen this video before, and yet when I watched it again the other day, I experienced the same overwhelming feeling of sadness and disgust that came over me when I first heard about this "experiment".

The differences in educational funding are shocking. If education is supposed to be the leveler of the proverbial "playing field", then shouldn't students' educational experiences be comparable across the board? When watching this clip, I can't help but draw connections between the current educational system and the perpetuation of racism and stereotype in our society.

If the children who attend poorly funded "inner city" schools are working as hard as they can at the highest level offered at their school, they will still not be learning the same things as students at higher funded suburban schools.

When these kids graduate and compete for spaces at colleges, their lack of exposure to certain educational concepts will undoubtedly hurt them.

And when they find themselves sharing a class with students whose schools were better able to academically prepare their students for the rigors of college, I would imagine that college professors would notice the difference in preparedness between students.

However, not having access to prior academic records, nor having knowledge of the type of high school that each student attended, it would be relatively easy for a professor to make assumptions based solely on outward appearances.

Since the majority of students at "inner city" schools are often students of colour, the assumptions are truncated, and this is where stereotypes are born:

Students of colour are lazy / less intelligent / and so on and so forth.

From that point forward, it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Many of us with an interest in education are aware of Rosenthal and Jacobson's 1968 Pygmalion in the Classroom study which examined the effects of teacher expectation on student performance. The results clearly indicated that there is a strong and direct positive correlation.

Coming from a background of privilege, I will have the ability to exercise choice in the types of schools that my children will attend. However, I cannot ignore the fact that it is in my interests as both a parent and as a human being to fight for equality in education. By denying any child the ability to pursue an education, we decrease the talent pool that can work to solve global problems.

And, far more personally, by allowing educational inequity to continue informing stereotypes, the risk that my children will be judged on the basis of their skin colour rather than their ability is increased.

I want my children to become who they will be and to develop their unique set of talents unencumbered by societal judgement. Perhaps that is an idealistic or even unrealistic goal, but in no way does that diminish my need to stand up for them at every possible juncture.