Is Schooling Equitable?

Depending on who you ask, there could be a lot of different answers to this particular question. Every teacher, school district, and student will have a different opinion based on their personal schooling experience. In my personal opinion, I do not think schooling is equitable. I have personally witnessed several instances where students are marginalized based off of things such as race, age, sex, etc. I think one of the reasons this happens is because teachers are not called out by students, because most students do not know any better. If teachers are not called out and made aware that they are doing something wrong, nothing will ever change. I also think that many teachers are afraid to make changes within their classrooms. In an article written by Carrie Spector, it states "we're afraid to say it has to be examined and improved." This stood out to me because I found it to be entirely true. Teachers do not want to go out of their comfort zone in their classroom. If educators are afraid to educate themselves and step out of their comfort zones, much needed changes will not occur within classrooms. As a future educator, I hope to have an equitable classroom where students feel safe and are not afraid to ask for anything they need. Having an equitable classroom will help in many ways. Not only will students feel more comfortable with you and their peers, but because they feel comfortable, their education and grades will skyrocket. Kids that do not feel comfortable and like they are getting the help they need, will struggle academically. 




Comments

  1. Aaliyah GomezOctober 12, 2022 at 5:59 PM

    Hey Mckinley! I read your blog and I really agree with what you have to say. I especially agree with how teachers should be called out about how they treat students even if they didn't mean it they should be informed that they are saying something that is hurting the kids feeling or making the kids feel like they are not valued in the class. Students shouldn't be afraid to speak in the classroom and shouldn't be afraid of not feeling like their opinion matters. I agree with you that i also want to be a teacher that make students feel safe in the classroom and want to be able to express themselves and be themselves without anyone judging them. I think you gave so much thought into this post and wanting them to be good teacher and wanting them to feel safe in the classroom.

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  2. Brianna SimonettiOctober 12, 2022 at 8:27 PM

    Hey McKinley! I agree that every teacher, student, and school will have a different opinion on whether or not schools are equitable because people develop their own beliefs based on their backgrounds and what they already know. Hearing you describe your schooling experience made me reflect on mine and I have also personally witnessed students being marginalized or labeled by both students and teachers. I think you bring up a really good point when you said nothing will ever change if teachers don’t become aware of when they’re doing something wrong. Teachers should be knowledgeable and work hard to make the classroom equitable even if it means stepping out of their comfort zones because if students don’t feel safe and encouraged in the classroom, they will lose interest in their education or feel less confident in their abilities.

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  3. AthenOctober 14, 2022 at 9:34 AM

    Hello McKinley. I agree that depending on the school you go to or visit to get opinions from will all have different answers. I feel private schools may be more equitable than public schools because there is structure in private schools and funding from the parents of students going there. Teachers in public schools tend to have there own opinions on there subjects and will not take anyone else's say even if the teacher is wrong. In a way you can compare some teachers to teenagers who think they know everything and do not need to be taught. I do not know what the person is called that types everything that is said in a court room, but we should do that for a little time in the classrooms and have the teachers review what they are saying and see if they can change the way they are saying somethings. The reason I think this can work for at least some teachers is because like you said students do not call teachers out on what they say because they do not know how, or if they can, so using this system gives teachers a chance to reflect on what they say without someone calling them out and embarrassing them.

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  4. Isabella FergusonOctober 14, 2022 at 6:08 PM

    Hello McKinley,
    Interesting perspective! I also acknowledge that schooling is not equitable. I can confirm your statement about teachers not being called out by students is true from my experiences. In my opinion though, it is more the reason that teachers will send students to the office or consider them to be a trouble maker for speaking on this subject. They'll say it is a behavioral issue and that the student shouldn't be telling the teacher how to teach their own classroom. I agree that teachers need to take some time and step out of their comfort zone in order to understand how to teach all their students as a whole. It is extremely important to create a space where everyone feels included, comfortable, safe, and free. Like you mentioned, this could help students succeed when they don't feel excluded from anyone else. It gives them the opportunity to ask questions and participate.

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  5. CamiOctober 14, 2022 at 8:22 PM

    Hello McKinley, I enjoyed reading your blog over this question. To start off, I agree that some teachers do need to educate themselves more regularly on certain issues in order for their classroom to become more equitable. However, it should not be the students’ job to what you say, "call them out," especially when thinking about elementary students. I believe that a better argument can be made against school as a whole. For example, we need to start asking ourselves why these teachers are in this position in the first place, if they are not equitable enough to be teachers for the students. These situations could have come from poor school or even district management from schools in low-income area. Even with the teacher shortage that all places are having to deal with, and schools having to hire teachers that have never even been trained for these situations. Furthermore, going back to the students’ area of the argument, I do agree with you that they should be allowed to have a voice. I have personally seen students shouting for a voice and some teachers not giving them that space to voice their feelings. However, I think the depends on the teacher situation as well, and we must always ask ourselves why the teacher may have not given the students a voice and if the situation was valid or not. Overall, I think you had some great ideas on your blog, it just felt a little one sided and I think just needed more perspective of multiple sides.

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