Deck 12: Diversity and Equity Today: Defining the Challenge

Question 1

Consider the constructs of race, ethnicity, gender, social class, and social/cultural capital in thinking about 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 together obscures important differences among them, and to what degree does it illuminate similarities that are profitably considered together?

Answer 1

No answer

Question 2

What does "equal educational opportunity" mean? Does "equal educational opportunity" mean the same thing for all students, regardless of gender, ethnicity, socioeconomic class, ability, etc.? Explain your position with examples and reasoned argument.

Answer 2

No answer

Question 3

Read the AAA's Statement on "race" and reflect on its implications. What kinds of adjustments would people in the United States, both White and minority, have to make in order to truly acknowledge these conclusions? How do you believe this would impact our conceptualizations of teaching and learning?

Answer 3

No answer

Question 4

The authors contend that social, economic, and political outcomes in this country generally favor men over women, White people over people of color, and upper- and middle-class people over the urban poor and the working class. If this is true, what are the implications for teaching, learning, and schooling? Support your position with evidence and reasoned argument.

Question 5

In theory, democratic ideals of freedom

A) call for an identical existence for each citizen.
B) promise to equalize outcomes for all citizens.
C) seek to align with values of economic freedom.
D) All of these answers are correct.

Question 6

Differentiated curricula

A) have been eliminated as a result of the passage of NCLB.
B) were a major component of the American meritocratic system.
C) guarantee that only the best and the brightest can go to college.
D) None of these answers is correct.

Question 7

The Coleman study and other cultural deprivation studies reestablished the idea that

A) economic conditions are the source of inferiority of some individuals and groups.
B) the meritocratic structure of schools is inherently unfair.
C) all individuals can benefit from the same education irrespective of their backgrounds.
D) some individuals and groups are inherently unequal.

Question 8

The 1960s debate over the meritocracy issue confirmed that

A) the American meritocratic economic structure is fair.
B) some students fail in school because they do not receive the same attention as others.
C) education must be customized to suit individual needs to be effective.
D) children who succeed in the meritocratic system do so because of social advantages.

Question 9

Which of the following was a major flaw in the Coleman study concerning the lack of availability of equal educational opportunity for individuals by reason of race, color, religion, or national origin?

A) It focused on equity and not on equality.
B) It used a statistical method that underestimated the positive impact of schooling on student achievement.
C) It used a sample size that was too small and then extrapolated the conclusions for the entire country.
D) It measured teachers' quality based on educational qualification and not on their experience.

Question 10

Social theorists who characterize the U.S. economic structure as meritocratic would be likely to disagree with which of the following?

A) Race and gender tend to be as influential as talent and hard work in determining who succeeds in society.
B) While social inequality will always exist, the free market system allows all people an equal chance to get ahead on the basis of talent and hard work.
C) The school system operates without regard to race, gender, or SES.
D) All of these answers are correct.

Question 11

Gender discrimination against females in schools and society

A) has been virtually eliminated since the early days of the 20th century.
B) is complicated and intensified by economic class discrimination.
C) is too deeply ingrained in our cultural history to be counteracted.
D) does not impact the life chances of girls and women.

Question 12

Which of the following best characterizes the meaning of "meritocracy"?

A) Those with talent and those who work hard will get ahead.
B) Government by the wealthy thrives.
C) Democracies should provide equal educational opportunity.
D) All of these answers are correct.

Question 13

Which of the following contributes to the maintenance of a meritocratic social order?

A) That acquiring the education for which one is best suited is "equal educational opportunity"
B) A belief that educational success will prevent someone from being marginalized
C) Having a tracking or ability grouping system in place
D) All of these answers are correct.

Question 14

Which of the following was a conclusion of the cultural deprivation studies conducted by Jencks and his colleagues?

A) There is substantial inequality of inputs in public schools.
B) Unequal achievement is caused by deficiencies in schools, not in children.
C) Schooling has only a small effect on income.
D) Family background predicts future income, especially for the rich and the poor.

Question 15

Which of the following events served to underline the notion that widespread social inequality and inequities existed in the United States?

A) The Vietnam War
B) Brown v. Board of Education ruling
C) The civil rights movement by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
D) All of these answers are correct.

Question 16

Which of the following statements is true of standardized tests, such as the SAT and the ACT, that are used as predictors of first-year success in college?

A) They measure intelligence.
B) They are a good indicator of native learning ability.
C) They are unbiased and based on the principles of equity rather than equality.
D) They measure patterns of thought that are representative of the dominant culture.

Question 17

Commissioned to examine the apparent lack of availability of equal educational opportunity for individuals by reason of race, color, religion, or national origin, the Coleman Report found that

A) African American and White students often attended the same schools.
B) differences in school resources had little or no impact on standardized test performance.
C) Brown v. Board of Education ruling effectively eliminated the achievement gap between minority children and White children.
D) None of these answers is correct.

Question 18

The studies by Coleman, Moynihan, Mosteller, and Jencks are referred to as "cultural deprivation studies" because

A) they purposely deprived a population of children of cultural stimuli to see what effect it would have on their learning.
B) they all subscribed to the belief that the primary cause of school failure among low-income minority children and youth was a deficient home life and insufficient cultural experiences.
C) these studies seemed to be deprived of the cultural framework of analysis that would have given them greater insight into school failure and success.
D) they rejected home and culture as reasons for students' school success or failure.

Question 19

Advocates of a meritocratic arrangement for society claim that differentiated curricula are fair because

A) mixed "ability grouping" has been shown to be effective.
B) they allow each student to work to the best of his or her ability.
C) schools should not be in the business of preparing students for jobs.
D) All of these answers are correct.

Question 20

Which of the following was an impact of cultural deprivation studies?

A) They turned the focus of the education system from equality to equity.
B) They invalidated the dominant ideology of modern liberalism.
C) They provided impetus to the movement against an unfair education system.
D) They reinforced a meritocratic arrangement of society and schooling.

Question 21

The difficulty encountered by African American students on standardized tests can be attributed to

A) isolation from the cultural norm.
B) economic deprivation.
C) differing values and icons.
D) All of these answers are correct.

Question 22

"Cultural deprivation" theories have significantly contributed to

A) directing attention away from the role of structured social inequalities in producing differences among students.
B) focusing curricular development on multicultural education.
C) increasing curricular attention to a variety of teaching and learning styles in teacher education programs.
D) All of these answers are correct.

Question 23

In thinking about the concepts of "race" and "ethnicity," it is important to consider the fact that

A) both are socially constructed terms.
B) race is biologically determined.
C) both terms mean the same thing and can be used interchangeably.
D) both terms are clearly defined in the Oxford English Dictionary.

Question 24

The AAA Statement on "Race" states that

A) human populations are not biologically distinct groups.
B) shared genetic material across physical differences indicates humans are a single species.
C) race is a social construct.
D) All of these answers are correct.

Question 25

Linda K. Christian-Smith's research on teen romance novels suggests that

A) teachers are eager to substitute such modern literature for traditional literature.
B) allowing girls to read romance novels has no effect on reading comprehension scores.
C) the sex-typed roles of such novels hinder independence and academic aspirations in adolescent girls.
D) All of these answers are correct.

Question 26

Economic class is an effective predictor of school success because

A) middle- and upper-class households usually provide a variety of material and cultural resources that are rewarded in the school environment.
B) lower-SES children usually come from homes in which parents do not care much about school success.
C) higher-SES students usually are known to have parents whose IQs are high, and the children tend to inherit high IQs.
D) lower-SES children tend not to have high IQs.

Question 27

The authors find the use of the demographic term "race" to be problematic because

A) some people are not really sure what race they are.
B) it supports the myth that it is a valid biological term.
C) the meaning of "race" varies in different cultures.
D) All of these answers are correct.

Question 28

In the context of socioeconomic class and education, which of the following statements is true of poor children?

A) Their cultural patterns are less likely to be understood by their teachers.
B) They are more likely to be expected to work harder than upper-class children.
C) They are less likely to receive differential treatment from their teachers.
D) Their parents are more likely to become involved in the process of their education.

Question 29

While income differences can be found among different ethnic groups in the United States,

A) the differences in family wealth across ethnic groups are much greater.
B) these differences are balanced by roughly equal family wealth across groups.
C) there is no evidence that income inequities exist.
D) All of these answers are correct.

Question 30

That high-SES eighth-graders who are Black perform better in mathematics than low-SES White or Asian students suggests that

A) high-SES Black students probably come from good genetic stock.
B) low-SES White and Asian students probably have difficult home lives.
C) school performance may have less to do with race or ethnicity than with economic class.
D) lower-SES people, regardless of race, tend to have low IQs.

Question 31

The authors suggest that socioeconomic disparities between the races

A) are temporary conditions that can be alleviated with equal educational opportunities for all.
B) are related to other social conditions and unlikely to be alleviated by education alone.
C) will never be alleviated because these disparities are due to cultural deficits.
D) None of these answers is correct.

Question 32

The increasing incidence of single-parent families in the United States

A) is for the most part a phenomenon of African American communities.
B) has about equally damaging economic effects on all ethnic groups.
C) has economically hurt Black families more severely than White families.
D) All of these answers are correct.

Question 33

Asian Americans are sometimes referred to as the "model minority" because

A) more Asians than other minority groups have broken into the fields of acting and fashion modeling.
B) Asian Americans have modeled themselves after Europeans in their lifestyles in the United States.
C) unlike other minority groups in the United States, Asian Americans have developed a model for setting up commercially viable neighborhoods patterned after the "Chinatowns" of San Francisco and New York.
D) Asian Americans are thought to have found widespread success in the economic and educational systems of the United States.

Question 34

Social mobility in the United States is

A) evidenced by the fact that virtually all Americans are now middle class.
B) on the increase as concerns of social stability lessen.
C) more of an ideal as rigidity in class structure is maintained in the interest of social stability.
D) no longer a concern because of the drastic reduction in poverty rates.

Question 35

According to Toch, the links between family economic status and school labeling are significant because

A) social class may be a more effective determinant of future opportunities than either race or gender.
B) disadvantaged students are three times less likely to be in the academic track than affluent students.
C) disadvantaged students are three times more likely to be in the vocational track than affluent students.
D) All of these answers are correct.