Privilege and Discrimination in Education

A Discussion of Disadvantages Perpetuated by the American School System

Malia Savella

Introduction

As a student, Im well-immersed in a problem that I depend on. The countrys school

system is foundational, unshakeable, and a necessity for anyone striving to fulfill the
archetypical American Dream. I cannot disagree with this sentiment: I want the
twenty-first-century success that modern education promises me. However, Im primarily
caucasian, and reside in a middle-to-upper-class sector of the Bay Area. I will not be held to the
standard that my Asian American peers will be on the SAT1, and Im in an area where Im
statistically expected to, at the very least, graduate college with an associates degree2. I am
guaranteed gains that other students at my capacity do not have, and in the game of finishing
school, Ive got more cards in my hands. An unfair game is not one worth playing, but
unfortunately, schooling is rigged for the white men who can afford it. The United States
education system is built upon privilege, and while it is also a sexist and ableist structure, I will
be focusing on its racist and classist undertones. The only type of student that should be served is
one of merit, and a system that lacks that value direly needs change.

Background

The etymology of the word learn relates to the Old English word leornan, defined as
to get knowledge, be cultivated3. The cultivation of knowledge, for most of human evolution,
was through experimentation and play. While there was no teacher present, or subjects of
academia, children learned basic survival skills through lighthearted trial-and-error. It was not
until ten thousand years ago that play was notably divorced from the learning process. This was
due wholly to agriculture, development of barter and the subsequent need for labor (tending to
crops, caring for other children, etc). Since that shift, children have experienced learning through
conditioning, replacing the puerile will in play with consequence-centered, violence-related
methodology. Agriculture also brought forth the relationship between master and subordinate,
which would later branch out to become the didactic symbiosis between teacher and student.
Later came a transition from agriculture to industry, primarily in Europe. Martin Luther, leader
of the Protestant Revolution in the 16th century, preached literacy in individuals, so they may

1
Shyong, Frank. "For Asian Americans, a Changing Landscape on College Admissions." Los Angeles Times. Los
Angeles Times, 22 Feb. 2015. Web. 14 Mar. 2017.
2
Brown, Steven E. F. "Bay Area Ranks No. 3 on Lumina 'degree Attainment' List."Bizjournals.com. San Francisco
Business Times, June-July 2013. Web. 14 Mar. 2017.
3
Harper, Douglas. "Learn (v)." Online Etymology Dictionary. Douglas Harper, n.d. Web. 14 Mar. 2017.
read and process religious texts for themselves. The stress of that Protestant belief lead to the
creation of the first public schools, where children became entrenched in literacy, numeracy,
nationalism, and the connotations of religious scripture. Teachers, comfortable with work union
structures, transferred ideals such as discipline and punctuality to the classroom setting4.
Through this millennia of development, we arrive in the nineteenth century with the principles of
our current definition of education: a teacher, a student, a subject, and a classroom.

Over the last three centuries, the US has phased through multiple educational
ameliorations outside of its foundations. One of the first pivotal reforms, brought about by
Massachusetts representative and senate member Horace Mann, allowed for state-funded
common schools to be erected across the country by 1870. Common schools were one-roomed
public classrooms that aimed to bring together white children of all social classes. Land-grant
colleges came about in the nineteenth century as well, by virtue of the Morill Land-Grants signed
in 18625. The twentieth century, crippled by two world wars, rapidly grew a dependence on more
adequate education for reparation. A normalcy for secondary school developed, and children
were expected to be in school until they were 18, not accounting for university. Educational
psychology came to be in the 1940s, by figures such as William James, Edward L. Thorndike,
and John Dewey. Their research revealed incredibly crucial figures on the neuroplasticity,
behavior, development, and motivations of children. As teaching methods began to suit the
quickly-shifting economic and scientific world, pushback was given from traditionalists who felt
that the new systems lacked discipline6. As a direct contrast, the progressive education
movement, started by Dewey and his associates, resurfaced following the cold war. Since then,
education has adapted to the student with new social reconstructionist improvements. The
foundations are now being shook. The amount of change to the definition of schooling, while
productive, has yet to fully suit students of every background. The next few paragraphs will
discuss two areas of growth for social justice in education, and where exactly the foundations
need to be shaken.

Schooling and Racism

Race has undeniably played a large role in the development of American education. To
comprehend the racial bias in education, one must understand Critical Race Theory (CRT), an
umbrella study (enveloping education) that challenges social constructs that marginalize people
of color. A common example of this is segregation. During the majority of the nineteenth

4
Gray, Peter, Ph.D. "A Brief History of Education." Psychology Today. Sussex Publishers, 20 Aug. 2008. Web. 15
Mar. 2017.
5
Boundless. "Educational Reforms." Boundless. Boundless, 18 Sept. 2016. Web. 14 Mar. 2017.
6
ncyclopdia Britannica. Encyclopdia
Ipfling, Heinz-Jrgen, and Ettore Gelpi. "Education in the 20th Century." E
Britannica, Inc., 6 Apr. 2015. Web. 14 Mar. 2017.
century, teaching free black children was illegal. In 1865, free black children had schools of their
own established in the South, owed to the work of the Freedmans Bureau5. For nearly nine
decades following, the US preached the separate but equal motto, a polite way of justifying
white superiority in schools, transit, restaurants, and other public spaces. As better stated by
Charles R. Lawrence, a legal figure in the civil movement, Segregation serves its purpose by
conveying an idea. It stamps inferiority upon Blacks, and this badge communicates a message to
others in the community, as well as to Blacks wearing the badge, that is injurious to Blacks
(Lawrence 1993). The act of segregation, while actively harmful to the black community, was
especially good at separating human beings from others societally, and it is easier to dehumanize
a group that you can recognize as different. That sort of separation is racist. Aside from
segregation, CRT has noted racism in studies like the inferiority paradigm of the 1920s, which
set out to prove that white people were biologically more intelligent through measures of
academic achievement. Its framework in other educational projects has been criticized since,
because of its lack of consideration for (a) pertinent historical and legal background, (b) the
ideology of racism, (c) a continuing reexamination of prevailing views of the role of race and
social class in learning, and (d) the influence of minority communities on schools (Weinberg
1987). Trying to prove genetic supremacy, while guised under the illusion of being an academic
pursuit, is a clear indication of racism in early education7. Education has ingrained white
supremacy in different ways, and school still retains a root of racial discrimination.

Racism, while being an old tradition in education, is perpetuated in the twenty-first

century through current acts. Demonization is prominent for many American students of color,
particularly black and latino children. The fabled school-to-prison pipeline, a descriptor for
disproportionate accusations of criminality towards students of color, exemplifies this well. In
the 2012 preliminary school-to-prison pipeline report, black children were recorded to represent
only 16% of the classroom populace, yet made up 42% of students given more than one
suspension. Such figures were mirrored horrifically in black preschool children: they made up
18% of the classroom, as well as 48% of all preschool suspensions. In addition, white children
who performed minor misdemeanors, like PDA or not following the dress code, were suspended
up to 30% less8. Racial bias is well-alive in schools, as evident by the fact that white and black
children actually are not genetically more prone to classroom disruption. It can be concluded that
school stereotypes black children to grow up as inherently sordid adults, thereby referencing its
root of a superiority/inferiority complex. In terms of representation, black students also have
little presence in STEM. In short, there is stigma that minority students dont have a place in

7
Tate, William F. Chapter 4: Critical Race Theory and Education: History, Theory, and Implications. Review of
Research in Education, 22. Washington, D.C.: American Educational Research Association, 1997. 195-247. JSTOR.
American Educational Research Association, 14 Jan. 2016. Web. 14 Mar. 2017.
8
Redfield, Sarah E., and Jason P. Nance. School-to-Prison Pipeline Preliminary Report February 2016. Rep.
American Bar Association, Feb. 2016. Web. 14 Mar. 2017.
intellectual fields. With notation to the same demographics from the previous example,
underrepresented minorities were found to earn 18% of undergraduate degrees at Brown
Univeristy, 4% of physical science degrees, and 3% of engineering degrees. In contrast, other
students at Brown earned 12% and 5% of the aforementioned STEM degrees, respectively9. The
lack of presence of minorities is not coincidental. It is through relentless conditioning that
students of color are severed from more pedagogical, academic pursuits. With the heart of racial
prejudice in education, students have lacked and continue to lack privileges bestowed to white
students.

Schooling and Classism

Modern American education, more obviously, is classist. Despite the years of effort
towards purely public schooling, our system is rooted in aristocracy. Agriculture, to re-reference,
was the culprit of inset classism. Along with its accredibility to creating student-teacher
relationships, agriculture was the first human movement to define status differences. Education
developed alongside a system of masters and servants in societal life: a civilization built around
landowners, farmers, and slaves, which would later morph into Europes feudal system10. The
idea that the rich, along with every aspect of society, deserved more than the poor was fostered
with a reasonable correlation to school learning. Thus, classism has been institutionalized in
education for as long as structural learning has existed for. Classism was also present in the
maturation of schools. As would be suspected, the first official schools were private research
universities, the oldest being the University of Karueein (859) in Morocco and the oldest in the
US being Harvard (1636). Public schools, inversely, were not introduced in the US until the
1870s, thanks to Horace Mann. While it makes sense to monetize education before publicity,
when resources were not as easily replicated, it still contrasts the progressive right-to-education
mindset. Exclusively private schools in America for over a century (which doesnt compare to
the length that older nations spent waiting) makes a point about the deservance of cognitive
skill-building. Through a lack of awareness, the false recognition of education as an exclusive
privilege retains to this day.

Classism in education is especially relevant in the twenty-first century. The new

Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos, serves as a topical case. Betsy DeVos was appointed by
President Trump in 2016, despite having little background in school work, outside of occasional
philanthropy. She became involved with education as a backer of school vouchers, and has since
relished in the concept of privatization. Expectedly, she is also notorious for her distaste in

9
Jones, Andrew. "Minority Groups Underrepresented in STEM Fields." Brown Daily Herald. Brown Daily Herald,
30 Oct. 2013. Web. 14 Mar. 2017.
10
Gray, Peter, Ph.D. "A Brief History of Education." Psychology Today. Sussex Publishers, 20 Aug. 2008. Web. 15
Mar. 2017.
public education, which is especially concerning to the 68% of American children in public
elementary and secondary school11. Her general plan, while vague to the public, is to relocate
said students to private establishments, and proved this by financially supporting organizations
like Focus on the Family (who believe public schools are godless and immoral) and the Acton
Institute for the Study of Religion & Liberty (whose founder believes that religious charities
should be funded over welfare centers)12. Considering DeVos net worth of 5.1 billion, theres
rather evident classism. Dismantling free education in favor of pricey alternatives by an affluent
person ultimately dismantles the dogma of education as a right. Displacing millions of children
who depend on accessible schooling to escape poverty screams aristocracy, and DeVos actions
during her term have the potential to harden American school systems origin of classism. The
private university Z-List is another current example of classism in education. While ivy-league
colleges supposedly admit students based on academic merit, there are many cases where the
child of a top-1% alumni is admitted because their parents are known to generously donate. For
instance, Paul Zofnass, a wealthy financial consultant and Harvard alumnus, donated at least
$250,000 to Harvard the year his daughter was a high school senior. Lo and behold, despite the
fact that she scored 60 points under their average freshman SAT score, she was admitted the next
year13. Many back-door agreements are made between university deans and wealthy parents that
supercede qualified candidates with the children of legacies. It devalues the accomplishments of
lower-income applicants and reintroduces high-born supremacy. Buying your way into an earned
position should not currently be a viable option in American education.

Conclusion

Teaching is a necessity in this era. Our world is changing on a day-to-day basis, and more
capable people are needed than school is manufacturing. American education is able to provide
more technology, resources, outlets of expression, and ways of communication than the standard
classroom has ever known, but the nations problems are still unsolvable. This generations
ill-equipped graduates is not to the fault of students, but the system in which they were taught.
Our systems paltry, implicit relapses cost the opportunities that minority students across the
country need and deserve. Every single student has the right to be taught justly and equally to
their peers, and the rigidness of the defined school system detaches minorities from their
academic sanctions. Achieving wholly free education will take constant awareness and
deconditioning of the classist, racist, sexist, ableist, and overall prejudiced biases that every

11
The United States of America. The U.S. Department of Education. FAST FACTS: School Statistics. N.p.: n.p., n.d.
National Center for Educational Statistics. Web. 14 Mar. 2017
12
Rizga, Kristina. "Betsy DeVos Wants to Use America's Schools to Build "God's Kingdom." She's about to Get
Her Chance." Mother Jones. Mother Jones and the Foundation for National Progress, Mar.-Apr. 2017. Web. 14 Mar.
2017.
13
Golden, Daniel. The Price of Admission: How America's Ruling Class Buys Its Way into Elite Colleges - and Who
Gets Left outside the Gates. New York: Three Rivers, 2007. Print.
person with a role in education holds. The more open we can make education, and the more we
recognize in our behavior to make that happen, the better built the whole of the next graduating
class will be. As members of the twenty-first century, it is of our utmost responsibility to ensure
that the next generation is given the space for world-changing personalities to unfold.
 Works Cited

Boundless. "Educational Reforms." Boundless. Boundless, 18 Sept. 2016. Web. 14 Mar.

2017.

Brown, Steven E. F. "Bay Area Ranks No. 3 on Lumina 'degree Attainment'

List."Bizjournals.com. San Francisco Business Times, June-July 2013. Web. 14 Mar. 2017.

Golden, Daniel. The Price of Admission: How America's Ruling Class Buys Its Way into
Elite Colleges - and Who Gets Left outside the Gates. New York: Three Rivers, 2007. Print.

Gray, Peter, Ph.D. "A Brief History of Education." Psychology Today. Sussex Publishers,
20 Aug. 2008. Web. 15 Mar. 2017.

Ipfling, Heinz-Jrgen, and Ettore Gelpi. "Education in the 20th Century." Encyclopdia
Britannica. Encyclopdia Britannica, Inc., 6 Apr. 2015. Web. 14 Mar. 2017.

Jones, Andrew. "Minority Groups Underrepresented in STEM Fields." Brown Daily

Herald. Brown Daily Herald, 30 Oct. 2013. Web. 14 Mar. 2017.

Redfield, Sarah E., and Jason P. Nance. School-to-Prison Pipeline Preliminary Report
February 2016. Rep. American Bar Association, Feb. 2016. Web. 14 Mar. 2017.

Rizga, Kristina. "Betsy DeVos Wants to Use America's Schools to Build "God's
Kingdom." She's about to Get Her Chance." Mother Jones. Mother Jones and the Foundation for
National Progress, Mar.-Apr. 2017. Web. 14 Mar. 2017.

Tate, William F. Chapter 4: Critical Race Theory and Education: History, Theory, and
Implications. Review of Research in Education, 22. Washington, D.C.: American Educational
Research Association, 1997. 195-247. JSTOR. American Educational Research Association, 14
Jan. 2016. Web. 14 Mar. 2017.

The United States of America. The U.S. Department of Education. FAST FACTS: School
Statistics. N.p.: n.p., n.d. National Center for Educational Statistics. Web. 14 Mar. 2017