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Hey everyone, my name is Jai and today I would like to ask for your help
First, I'd like to thank anyone who contributes to this research by offering the incentive of a review by me of any of their works.
Second, the research information gathered from this would make up part of my assignment for my unit Teaching In New Times, second semester of university, so I ask that any replies be as truthful as possible. As the users of this site are quite anonymous, nothing you post here will get back to your home town, or whatever else might be holding you back from replying truthfully.
What the Task Sheet says
In the field research section, you are to engage with the ‘real world’ in some way to see if what you find confirms, refutes or enriches what you’ve been reading and hearing on your topic. The purpose of the field study component in EDB001: Teaching In New Times is to introduce you to the application of research to the ‘real world’. It is designed to encourage you to observe, reflect on, and discuss your newly acquired ideas. What we’re looking for is an examination of the unit topic through a socio-cultural lens.
To my knowledge, I'm the only person in my unit who has decided on a whim that "real world" means an online literary forum
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The ways we behave are shaped by not only our prior learning experiences (behavioural model), or our biology (medical model), or unconscious (psychological model), but by our social and cultural contexts - the world in which we live. Socio-culture refers to classes in power (middle class, upper class), location, identity, lifestyle, a set of perspectives, race, ethnicity, physical differences, culture, values, traditions, stereotypes... Socio-culture is your culture and how it has been affected by society, or how your culture has affected society.
Socio-culture is a trajectory through time and space, it is relational, yet neither side of it is the dependent variable, and the overall significance of it is about being something and not something else.
Sociology is the study of society in an aim to investigate and refine a body of knowledge about human social activity. It is the study of the relationship between what exists (onotology) and the certainty of our theories about social reality and how we know these theories (epistemology). Essentially, sociology is humans studying themselves in an attempt to understand societies and the way societies are divided. This means examining inequality and what ideologies lend themselves to who has social power.
Inequality is reproduced over time and is shown to be systemic. Racism is one of the key issues facing education, as it is both institutionally embedded and interpersonally enacted.
A race is a group of people believed to possess certain characteristics, based on physical or biological ancestry. Classification of race began as early as the 17th century when scholars first began to separate flaura and fauna. Individuals are not remote from history and social structures, thus it was only a natural step to start separating people by location or skin colour. At one point in history, Africans were not considered human. It was only in the 18th century that The Enlightenment stated that humans were unequal and placed blacks as the lowest of the races in the Great Chain of Being.
Nowadays almost no contemporary scholar uses the term "race" to distinguish groups based on biological characteristics, and notions of "race" have no scientific basis. Ethnicity follows the same path, but is used to categorise people who share the same beliefs, culture (and/or religion), nation, heritage/ancestry and language. These physical differences are superficial, as under skin colour is muscle, and bone and marrow. Our understandings of race are socialised into us, and as such, provide fuel for discrimination.
Discrimination is not simply an individual bias, it is an institutional practice. The uneven inequalities of race/ethnicity are related to the legacy of predominantly European colonial domination, complex world history, aftermath of wars and the speed of industrialisation in different countries. All these contribute to the unconsciously perceived hierarchy of nations by individuals ("Iraq and Iran are full of terrorists, and American's fight terrorism, so American's are above Iraqis").
Racism is based on this socially constructed race hierarchy and is the structural subordination of minority racial groups by ruling social groups (in the case of Reverse Racism, the ethnic/indigenous group shows racism to the race that is higher on the racial hierarchy that exists in the wider society, even if the ethnic group is dominant in that local setting. Eg, Aboriginal children towards "white fellas" in the Northern Territory).
Conventional understandings of racism are usually linked with prejudice on the basis of physical appearance, nationality and language/linguistic stereotypes. This discrimination is commonly based on the perception that one ethnic group/language is superior to all others. Racism can lead to segregation and racial slurs can escalate to physical violence, which furthers the feelings of inequality harboured by ethnic minorities.
However, there are always outliers within statistics. Individuals can choose to reject the inherent stereotypes, change social class or even their own gender to escape the limits placed upon them for their characteristics. Straying too far from the norm can have consequences of its own. Agency refers to the capacity of individuals to act independently and make free choices, but Structure is all the factors that limit of affect the choices and actions of individuals. Can one be separated from the other? this is an ontological debate in social theory:
"Do social structures determine an individual's behaviour? Or does human agency?"
Changing demographics, social, political and economic forces and cultural diversity impacts on pedagogy, curriculum and assessment. Multiculturalism must go beyond tolerance to be diverse.
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If you've got some fantastic ideas about whether racial stereotypes affect approaches to teaching? by all means, address the question in any way you like. Otherwise, later on there are some points that can stimulate you and provide some points to build up your argument.
What I'm trying to encourage is a debate between you all about whether racism exists within schools. Personal experiences, stories you've heard, even stereotypes you believe in ("Asians are smart", "People from Nigeria are fast runners", "Black people are all gangstas"), or the lack of how race/ethnicity impacts in education, is what I want to be reading in your replies.
So out with it What are your ideas about how race/ethnicity affects education?
Are there obvious bias towards some students compared to others because of their race? In Australia, if you are Aboriginal/Torres Strait Islander, you receive special consideration in exams, support groups are available, a chaplain is assigned to you in case you require someone to talk to during and out of school hours, and special camps and events are held for you.
Things I have noticed/my immediate ideas
I believe that racism is quite strong, but it means less than it used to. Whereas if you were black you couldn't attend schools, couldn't ride in the same bus as "whites" etc a long time ago, Generation X is growing up in a society where all nations are supposed to be equal. That'll make a huge difference in the future.
In Australia people tend to pick on race as opposed to skin colour. If you're Aboriginal you're immediately classified as a slow learner, a drunk and a good-for-nothing (those stereotypes are the ones I have grew up with, whether I heard them from elders, or I read about them, or the gaps and silences that became obvious when the topic of Aboriginals was brought up), if you're Asian, you're smart. If you're Indian, you'll be a taxi driver (in Brisbane, anyway). These are the stereotypes that come to mind when I think "racism".
I'd notice that at uni. When someone of colour speaks up, especially if that person has a heavy accent, the other students will stop listening. You only stand a chance if you are of lighter skin colour and your English is impeccable.
I have heard about schools separating races to avoid conflict, but to my knowledge it is frowned upon in Australian schools below tertiary level. Certainly in some cases there are certain university tutorials that are "race specific" to allow for the travelling students to make friends with the people of their own culture and so they can talk amongst themselves in their own languages etc.
I've noticed that Asians stick together, and only occasionally do I see a solitary, or a pair of Asians interacting openly with a group of students of other races. Asians also tend to loudly talk in their own language all the time, even in lectures and tutorials which further alienates them from the other students.
Other races, such as African, try really hard to fit in and hide their obvious differences, so they are more widely accepted.
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Awaiting your ideas
- Jai
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