School & Society: Ch. 12 Study Questions

1. As you consider the prospects of academic success for Wind-Wolf in the reading for this chapter, how do you assess his potential as a learner in American schools? What characteristics in Wind-Wolf, in the school, and in the interaction between the student and the school need to be addressed to answer this question thoroughly? Finally, how can teachers best respond to Wind-Wolf to make his academic success as well as his cultural self-respect more likely? Support your position.

Every aspect of this situation is colored by the problem of compulsion. The institution need be under no obligation to provide a custom-fit education for each child, provided the child is under no obligation to be in attendance. As a result of requiring attendance, the institution is working overtime merely to avoid destroying cultural minority students, let alone make them into successes.

Indian culture places less value on academic success than the dominant culture. The two interests are therefore incompatible. Assimilation is denied in name but carried out in practicality.

2. We often think of "motivation" as a highly individualistic character trait. Individuals within any racial or ethnic group may be highly motivated to achieve or apparently lacking in motivation altogether. Yet some authors argue that ethnicity is important in shaping motivation to learn and other attitudes toward schooling. Evaluate this argument.

Different ethnicities should not be stereotyped as more or less motivated. I agree that motivation is very much an individual quality. However, there may be cultural passwords that unlock barriers and help develop motivation in students from varying racial backgrounds. In this respect the argument may have some merit.

3. This chapter focuses on gender as well as on race, ethnicity, and social class in considering the issue of educational and social equity as it concerns different groups of students. To what degree do you find that considering all these different variables in one treatment obscures important differences among them, and to what degree does it illuminate similarities that are profitably considered together? Defend your view.

1) The ideology of equity presented in this chapter parallels the ethnic divide with the gender divide. This is a mistake. There is a fundamental disparity between the sexes in regard to physical, emotional, and mental composition. Denying the distinction is disastrous. Society has taken up arms because they confuse diversity with inferiority.

2) It is useful to analyze these issues in company, as Education must develop a comprehensive answer to them. And all of these issues together deplore the weakness of a centralized institution in engaging the diverse needs of a multi-faceted society.