EdPsych 401 Group Differences Blog Post

            I apologize in advance.  This is my absolute last assignment for this semester and, as so, may not be as involved or as detailed as any of my previous work.  But I’m going to give it a shot.

            Ladson-Billings article: This article was a very interesting read.  There were a lot of shocking facts and information presented, such as the fact that “Chicago public schools spend about $8,482 annually per pupil, while nearby Highland Park spends $17,291 per pupil” (Ladson-Billings, 2009, p. 6).  When looking at such spending rifts between white and black student populations, the question has to be asked if spending should come from somewhere else other than property tax.  I have worked a short time at an urban school here in Knoxville, and I have seen how such poverty-stricken areas can provide such little funding for local schools, and how such little funding can adversely affect student academic achievement.  And it still kills me how, if a school performs low in overall academic achievement, funds are taken away, rather than given to them in order to get new technology and highly-qualified teachers into the school.  No doubt, we do have an educational “debt” that we owe to the minority groups of our country.  (Downside of this article: the “debt/deficit” metaphor.  Not an easily accessible metaphor that people can understand a new concept through, especially an economically-ignorant person like me.)

            My multiculturalism group read and presented the article “Improving Race Relations in Schools: From Theory and Research to Practice” by James A. Banks.  In a way similar to the Ladson-Billings article, this article deals with race and the need for racial equality and acceptance in schools between majority and minority groups.  Banks offers some valuable strategies whereby educators can get their racially diverse students working together, talking about issues of prejudice together, and, ultimately, appreciating and accepting one another more.  One strategy that Banks presents which I believe every teacher (especially English teachers) should follow is to present students with multiethnic readers.  In multiethnic readers, the protagonist of the book is typically of a minority racial group, or hails from a cultural group outside of the mainstream culture.  It is important for teachers to assign these books to their students and allow their students to read these multiethnic readers because such books can offer majority group members a peek into the lifestyle and experience of someone, in a way, different from themselves.  And hopefully, by allowing students to see read about the life experiences of minority group members, majority group members will realize that they really aren’t that different from each other, that they both experience similar struggles/pains/happinesses, that they are both, essentially, human.  (Downside of this article: the “do-ability” of these strategies.  Are teachers really expected to take time out of their already hectic and structured schedules to conduct in-class “simulations” and “role plays” in which majority group students can experience and better understand racial prejudice.  Even Banks (2006) himself acknowledges that “it is often challenging to create these kinds of conditions for interventions within the context of courses,” and that “teachers and diversity workshop leaders often use didactic lectures and other kinds of informational presentations…because they are more convenient and practical” (p. 610-611).  And they do, to me, seem more practical and ideal for the reality of a classroom schedule.)