Achievement Gap Essay -- Sociology, Gender Roles, Racial Relations

The achievement gap is defined as the disparity between the performance groups of students, especially groups defined by gender, race/ethnicity, ability and socio-economic status. The achievement gap can be observed through a variety of measures including standardized test scores, grade point averages, drop out rates, college enrollment and completion rates. The Black-White achievement gap is a critical issue in modern society’s education system. Although data surrounding the issue clearly indicates that the racial performance gap exists in areas of standardized tests, graduation rates, dropout rates, and enrollment in continuing education, the causative reasons for the gap are ambiguous—therefore presenting a significant challenge in regard to the most effective way to close the gap. The gap appears before children enter kindergarten and it persists into adulthood (Jencks 1998). Since 1970, the gap has decreased about 40 percent, but has steadily grown since. Theories suggest the Black-White achievement gap is created by a multitude of social, cultural, and economic factors as well as educational opportunities and/or learning experiences. Factors such as biased testing, discrimination by teachers, test anxiety among black students, disparities between blacks and whites in income or family structure, and genetic and cultural differences between blacks and whites have all been evaluated as explanations for the Black-White achievement gap (Farkas 2004). The research that follows will elaborate on these factors as they affect the decline in academic performance of black males—particularly the literacy achievement of black males. Within the Black-White achievement gap resides a subgroup whose academic performance is distressingly ... ...disparities between the two ethnic communities that can be traced back to the legacy of slavery and other forms of oppression that blacks have suffered.† Supporters of this view felt that educational achievement correlates more strongly with economic status than with any other single variable. Since the majority of the black community lags behind whites in income and wealth, the educational inequalities are caused by the economic inequalities. They believe that once the inequalities disappear, the educational disparities will as well. Many argue that this is not a viable argument. They point to other minority groups such as Asians, some of whom are financially worse off than blacks, and they excel in school . They felt that because the civil rights legislation removed all roadblocks back in the 60’s and 70’s something else must be contributing to the large gap.

Philosophical Views Comparison Essay

The ancient Greek philosophers Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. Socrates believed in human learning and reasoning. He enforced humans to understand their limits to reason with themselves about their actions. Aristotle was born in third century B. C.. He believed in Purity of Soul achieved by our daily actions and habits. Plato’s main work is written in the form of dialogues with Socrates. However, his work with laws or rules does not involve Socrates or has a very small part of him given in them. Let us study different spheres of their work below. Methods of Acquiring Knowledge : Aristotle – His ways of acquiring knowledge involves both induction and deduction. Aristotle believed in the provision to reason alone with oneself. He gave much more emphasis and value to the knowledge gained by senses. He believed in knowledge gained by experiences as they put us in a dilemma to think about our situations and actions. Socrates – He has divided his education theory in five basic parts – I. Theory of Value – What is worth learning? What are the goals? II. Theory of Knowledge – What is the real meaning of Knowledge? How is it different from beliefs? III. Theory of Human Nature – What is a Human Being? How is it different from other species? What are his limits? IV. Theory of Learning – What is the meaning of learning? How are skills and knowledge acquired? V. Theory of Transmission – Who is to be taught? What is the curriculum going to be? Plato – He worked on a basic structure formation for acquiring knowledge. The first way is to acquire knowledge through senses and experiences. Then, the second is to reason the knowledge acquired by experiences. Then to acquire ‘true knowledge’ by reasoning to oneself in an ethical way. Aristotle, being a student of Plato gave much more value to the education gained though senses and experiences. While Socrates developed a learning theory to understand the basic structure of education and its importance. Important of Thinking – Aristotle believed in rationalizing our thoughts in an ethical way to learn to follow ethics in our daily lives in our habits. He pursed thinking and reasoning to acquire real knowledge based upon the metaphysical truths and laws. Socrates emphasized on understanding human behavior on the basis of their actions. He explained in his theories that we do not tend to do evil, if we are aware of its evil nature. He worked on understanding and directing his studies to help us reason our behavior with logical reasoning. Plato gave his theories in the form of dialogues explain the importance of logical thinking and reasoning to oneself. He gave various situations in his dialogues to explain how to logic and reason to ourselves alone to understand the higher truths. Existence – Aristotle believe in existence in terms of its essentiality. He believe of being a ’qua being’ or ’wisdom’ or ’theology. His Metaphysical conclusion over existence is for any identity to exist is directly related to its essentiality (Cohen, S. Marc. , 1978a. 31: 387-405). Socrates taught that this real subject world is neither to generate or decay. It is to be in existent as it has been. Plato defined existence in two different forms. One is what we can see in the form of its appearance, and the other form is what we cant see. Key Ideas of Aristotle – 1. Perfection is not an act, but a habit. According to Aristotle, we adopt our habits by doing the same act over and over again. If we are practicing bad habits, we will bring them in our life as habits and vica-versa. He said that it is important to practice what is right to create a habit of doing right in our lives. 2. Importance of Education. He was aware of changes that be brought by us in our lives by education. Hence, he used to tell others to spend time reading and learning about life and its rules. 3. Education Creates Wisdom in personality – Aristotle said that a layman hearing a concept for the first time would create an opinion of his own reasons with the concept itself, while an educated person would listen and work the concept in his mind first to understand its deeper meaning. Education makes a person wise enough to think more than to argue more over a concept or topic. 4. Thoughts Create Things – Even if we are not aware of the fact that our negative habits are also manifesting something in our lives, they do as we are thinking them over and over. Key Ideas of Socrates – 1. No one desires Evil as a primary desire. Socrates believed that evil is a force that becomes a desire due to several reasons. Its is important for a human being to renationalize his thoughts and desires to move towards good deeds only. 2. No one does wrong willingly – Socrates gave this idea describing that when people are involved in evil, they are not aware of it. They take their steps believing it is a part of life. At times, they are even proud of what they do even when it is evil. 3. All virtue is knowledge – Socrates was aware of the divine weight of education as well. Education is like a cure for the soul from suffering evil desires. He promoted education in people to understand the ‘right’ and ‘wrong’, as they are given in the universe, not to form their own beliefs. 4. Virtue is all that is required for true happiness – He believed in the purity of soul and education is the only way to keep our soul flawlessly pure. He taught that it is not necessary to discuss your thoughts with other people only. The real capability is to rationalize our own thoughts to conclude the righteous. Education can help the best in this rational practice. It is can purify our thoughts and give us the real and pure ideas to live. Key Ideas of Plato – 1. The Weak fights for Equality – Plato states in his philosophies that strong does not fight for his level in the society. He just asks for what he wants and achieves it, while a weak uses the Law to fight for equality. 2. No one willing does wrong – Plato focuses on the theory of saving our characters from the controllers of the society. 3. Education – He has also given deep philosophical notes over importance of education. He states that education is the way to be logical and rational in our actions. We will find similarities in their very basic philosophical beliefs, for example, Education is the most emphasized area of their philosophical teaching. Each of them has written about importance of education in one’s life and how it leads to pure happiness of soul. However, we will also find certain clear differences among their work. Plato was focused for laws and rules about society. While Aristotle devoted his life to understand human and to guide them towards righteous actions purification of soul. Socrates has given remarkable theories in understanding core human nature and reasons for their actions. References – Bostock, D. , 1994. Aristotle: Metaphysics Books ? and ?. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Cohen, S. Marc. , 1978a. â€Å"Essentialism in Aristotle. † Review of Metaphysics 31: 387-405.

Similarities Between Victor And The Monster - 1176 Words

Gavin Cox Mrs. Schroder English 4 11-23-16 Similarities between Victor and his Monster In the book, Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, the author illustrates similarities between both Victor and the Monster he creates. She draws parallels between the two regarding their feelings on family, nature, on exacting revenge, and how they both become isolated from society. Both are able to demonstrate extreme intelligence. As the novel progresses, Victor and the Monster become more similar to each other. Their relationship turns to one in which each is consumed with getting revenge on the other at all costs. Throughout the entire book, it becomes obvious that family is important to both Victor and the Monster. Victor greatly values his family and†¦show more content†¦He lives in both forests and in the freezing cold of the glacier at Montanvert. He finds safety and comfort when in the presence of nature. Victor and the Monster are extremely intelligent. Victor was a master in the sciences and in alchemy, which allowed him to be able to create a living human being out of disposed body parts. He delighted in studying under M. Krempe, a professor of natural philosophy, and M. Waldman, a professor of chemistry. He was gifted in being able to use his eloquence to convince people to do things. This was demonstrated when he was able to persuade the men on Walton’s ship not to perform a mutiny, but rather to be proud at successfully being able to break through the ice instead of giving up and turning around. The Monster proves his intelligence when he learns to speak French and learns human sensitivity just by observing the De Lacey family. He is then able to read notes that Victor wrote which were shoved in Victor’s jacket pocket, as well as the Paradise Lost book that he found. He discovers fire and its ability to both cook and to burn. The Monster is smart enough to be a ble to hide from society and to also evade Victor when Victor is hunting him down for revenge. The Monster is eloquent, like Victor, and is able to convince Victor for a short time that making a female monster would be a compassionate thing to do. Victor and the Monster are both isolated from society. Both were abandoned early by aShow MoreRelatedSimilarities and Differences of Paradise Lost and Frankenstein.1282 Words   |  6 PagesBetween the two novels, Paradise Lost and Frankenstein, there are many striking similarities. What makes these two books so wonderful to read is the author s ability to write about the ultimate struggle; the struggle between God and Satan, or Good and Evil. The characters in Paradise Lost and in Frankenstein seem to be very similar to one another. God and Victor Frankenstein have many similarities. One of their similarities is that they are both creators of new life. 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