Critical Theory and Giroux’s Perspective on Education
- 1. Week 14 Critical Theory and Giroux’s Perspective on Education In the Truth Out article, When SchoolsBecome Dead Zonesof the Imagination: A Critical Pedagogy Manifesto , Henry Girouxmentions that “un- reformers”, such as Bill Gates and Rupert Murdoch are “adopting the harsh warehousing mentality of prison wardens, the un-reformers endorseand create schools for poor students that punish rather than educate in order to channel disposablepopulations into the criminal justice systemwherethey can fuel the profits of privateprison corporations.” Essentially, students who do not well in the currentschoolsystems with its widespread uses of standardized testing, fall prey to the schoolto prison pipeline. http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/18133-when-schools-become-dead-zones-of-the-imagination- a-critical-pedagogy-manifesto Schoolto Prison Pipeline. The combination of high stakes testing, inadequate resources, and strict zero tolerance policies have led to many students being pushed out of public schools and into juvenile and criminal justicesystems. Teaching to standardized tests limits teachers’ ability to teach and encourages students to be treated as potential test scores instead of individuals with varying needs and abilities. Additionally, having students who performpoorly on standardized tests can cause schools to lose funding or face sanctions. Zero tolerance policies provide schools with a convenient way to disposeof low-scoring students. http://fairtest.org/how-testing-feeds-schooltoprison-pipeline https://www.aclu.org/what-school-prison-pipeline?redirect=racial-justice/what-school-prison-pipeline
- 2. Racial Divide This systemdisproportionately affects students of color and students with disabilities. Black students are three times more likely to be suspended than white students. An averageof 16% of black students are suspended compared to 5% of white students. The difference is especially stark for females, with black girls being suspended at a rate 12% higher than girls of any other race. Students with disabilities receive out-of-schooldetention at twice the rate of students who do not have disabilities. Again, this disproportionately affects students of color. More 25% of boys of color who havedisabilities (with the exception of Latino and Asian American students) receive out-of-school suspensions. Nearly 20% of girls with disabilities receive out-of-schoolsuspension. Arrests and referrals to law enforcement show the samepattern. Black students represent16% of studentenrollment, but accountfor 27% of students referred to law enforcement and 31% of students with school-related arrests. Meanwhile, white students account for 51% of school enrollment, but only 41% of students referred to law enforcement, and 39% of those arrested. Students with disabilities make up only of 12% of the student enrollment, but represent a quarter of students arrested and referred to law enforcement. https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/crdc-discipline-snapshot.pdf In Texas, the schoolto prison pipeline can be a little moredirect. According to the Texas Education Code, all students must attend schooluntil they turn 18. Failing to attend schoolis a class C misdemeanor crime and is punishable by a fine of up to $500. If a studentmisses class for ten or more days within a sixth month period, or 3 or more days within a four week period withoutan excuse, they can be fined. If a student fails to pay their fines, they can then be jailed. Days the students spend in jail are translated into “jail credits” which are used to pay off their fines. Predictably, this has the greatesteffect on low-incomestudents. While the law states that there mustbe written determination that the person jailed is not indigent, in practice, low-income students are still jailed. The jail time the
- 3. student serves only adds to the amount of school the student misses and causes the studentto fall further behind. For students who have mental illness, especially depression, serving jailtime can be detrimental. http://www.statutes.legis.state.tx.us/Docs/ED/htm/ED.25.htm#25.085 http://www.buzzfeed.com/kendalltaggart/texas-sends-poor-teens-to-adult-jail-for-skipping- school#.opkprM2bjW https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2019199-texas-appleseed-class-not- court.html#document/p12/a214752 https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2022112-how-texas-law-can-lead-to-teens-going-to- jail.html Refutation While, there are clearly problems with high stakes testing system, there are some who would argue that the benefits outweigh the risks. Oneof the argued benefits is that standardized testing allows people to measurehow different groups of students are performing, and thus which students are in need of more help. Additionally, the standardization, both of testing and curricula, allow students to more seamlessly transfer across schooldistricts or fromone gradeto the next. http://worklife.columbia.edu/files_worklife/public/Pros_and_Cons_of_Standardized_Testing_1.pdf Another argumentholds that standardized testing as part of a market- based reformwould best servestudents. The ideology behind which, is that market-based reforms would introducemore competition to schoolsystems and thus an incentive for better performance. The scores on standardized testing could also be used to evaluate the effectiveness of instructors. http://www.ksg.harvard.edu/urbanpoverty/Urban%20Seminars/December2000/ladd.pdf
- 4. My personalexperience with standardized testing was mostly negative. With the introduction of CRTs, criterion-referenced tests, the way teachers taught their subjectmatter drastically changed. Starting at beginning of a quarter, students were given a study guide for the CRTs. Instead of having a fair amount of say over how their classes weretaught, the instructor then had to teach directly to the CRT. Itwas made clear to the students that their success on the exams was linked to schoolfunding. The only positiveoutcome I can remember fromthe CRTs is that the Band director received more funding and was able to upgradeher equipment.