Inequality Talk
People often face inequality. Whether it is based on gender, race, ethnicity, religion, class, or disability, students may feel at times stifled or stunted in their education based on feelings of inadequacy and experience of inequality. For decades prior to the Civil Rights Movement, blacks and whites remained separated with white children going to good schools and black children going to poorly funded and maintained schools. Although people in the United States have come together to integrate and provide a common playing field for everyone, blacks still experience inequality, with many facing poverty and going to underfunded schools with crowded classrooms and low quality instructors. Therefore, it is important to realize what kind of issues children face today in terms of inequality through learning principles and observing communication while implementing sound strategies. Ten golden nuggets will be utilized from week 5 and week 6 readings in order to show that inequality can stem not just from a racial or ethnic perspective, but also from an intelligence or environment perspective.
Instructors/teachers must communicate a sense of understanding and provide an even playing field for students that are underprivileged, of various races/ethnic groups, or are mentally handicapped. This should happen at least once a week in order to evaluate how the students' progress throughout the semester, especially if there are problem students. An instructor for instance, may reach a level of miscommunication or no communication if students feel they cannot trust the instructor, if the instructor uses language that offends the students, if the students do not feel smart enough or feel talked down to. Face-to-face conversations as well as online services like email, forums, and chat may help shy and sometimes stressed parents reach out to the instructor.
Body
A. The first golden nugget, "Communication Aha!: The way people talk about your ability affects how they treat you and then, how you succeed -- no matter what is "in your head." (Chapter 6 Pollock 4) provides an important lesson in terms of developing a new communication infrastructure as it relates to inequality talk. Children, students are impressionable, moldable, especially in their formative years. If a student hears from an instructor, they are stupid or they keep getting low grades without much help in terms of finding out what causes the low grades, the student affected will remain with a negative mentality. The student will feel as if they cannot do anything that no one believes in them. Students facing inequality in any sense, often feel the need to have someone there to believe in them and root for them. It gives them the necessary motivation to continue. Without which, they may not have enough self-esteem or drive to go the extra mile needed in order to succeed.
The second nugget is a strategy "Say out loud that no group is "smarter" than any other. Actively reject the myth that intelligence is distributed differently to "groups." (Chapter 6 Pollock 16) Intelligence at times disproportionate. People in better schools, well-funded schools, have more opportunities to advance and grow. Those with families that have higher income levels can dedicate most of their time to school instead of getting a part-time job or taking care of a family member. There are many circumstances that make children and students feel less intelligent, less equal to someone who seems to have it all and does not have to put forth as much effort.
That is why this golden nugget imparts a valuable effort in communication. Although it may seem as though whites in America are smarter than blacks in America and to some extent, Asians appear the smartest, this is not the case. There are many factors contributing to lack of intelligence in an individual. This does not come from genes or brain capacity, but rather from unfortunate circumstances and lack of positive reinforcement and communication. The only instance when someone truly is less intelligent in general would be when that person has a mental handicap, but even that person is still equal to everyone else in his or her own, unique way. "Practical intelligence, the ability to adapt to everyday life by drawing on existing knowledge and skills. Practical intelligence enables an individual to understand what needs to be done in a specific setting and then do it." (Shi 461)
The third golden nugget is simple, "We have no simple way to measure "intelligence" (Chapter 6 Pollack 5). Intelligence comes in a variety of forms. There is spatial intelligence, social intelligence, among others that an individual may possess. Some possess great capacity for most...
Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.
Get Started Now