Race and ethnicity

The rise of talented people within many modern societies has often been rejected on the basis of their racial and ethnic differences. For human geographers, ‘race’ is not a category which picks out distinct groupings of human beings who display different patterns of human characteristics of behaviour. “The belief that human beings can be readily divided into a series of discrete races is now widely regarded as fallacious” (Johnston, Gregory, Pratt and Watts, 2000, p.669). Race is defined by an individual’s skin pigmentation whereas ‘ethnicity’ is a distinct group by which

31 individuals identify themselves with. The problem for researchers is how to measure differences between ethnic groups and the implications of this categorization. In education, the concern for ethnic categorization is the implication of discrimination, especially as achievement does not often account for significant cultural variations between the groups. When ethnic variations in

educational achievement do occur that are not simply a function of social differences between ethnic groups, then this inequality could reflect ethnic discrimination.

Research on ethnic discrimination in education first began in the USA during the Civil Rights era in the early 1960s. The 1964 Civil Rights Act in the USA (section 402), required the United States Commissioner of Education to conduct a survey and make a report “concerning the lack of availability of equal educational opportunities for individuals by reason of race, color, religion or national origin in public educational institutions at all levels in the United States” (Coleman, et al.,1966, pp.iii). James Coleman, a sociologist, was appointed director of the research and results were published two years later in 1966. Information was collected from more than half a million pupils across the USA and sixty thousand teachers. This extensive research investigation provided a general survey of schooling in the USA. In carrying out the survey, attention was paid to six racial and ethnic groups: African Americans (referred to as ‘Negroes’ in this report), American Indians, Oriental Americans, Puerto Ricans, Mexican Americans, and Whites. The final report contained 737 pages and was titled ‘The Equality of Educational Opportunity’ often referred to as ‘The Coleman Report’.

The Coleman Report starts by documenting the achievement gap between minority (non-white) and majority (white) children. School facilities were, unexpectantly, found to be substantially the same in all schools, minority and majority, across the USA and did not exert a significant influence on educational inequalities (Blumenthal, 1967). Coleman, et al., (1966, p.325) found

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“that schools bring little influence to bear on a child’s achievement that is independent of his background and general social context”. For “equality of educational opportunity through the schools must imply a strong effect of schools that is independent of the child’s immediate social environment, and that strong independent effect is not present in American schools (Coleman, et al., 1966, p.325)”. Hence, a student’s social class and home environment was far more important than the school for understanding student outcomes (Borman and Dowling, 2010). Coleman, et al., (1966) found that two processes, that of poverty and racial segregation, influenced educational inequalities of African American students (Blumenthal, 1967).

Lower achievement rates are linked with poverty and poverty exists within minority groups.

Coleman, et al., (1966) found that minority children entered school at a lower achievement level than whites and fell further behind as their schooling progressed when attending highly segregated schools. In 1966, a vast majority of African Americans were poorer than most working class Americans and the African American middle-class was all but non-existent

(Blumenthal, 1967). Students from poorer households must work harder to overcome the influences of their home environment, which may include parents with low school achievements that in turn lack ambition for their children.

Jencks, et al., (1972) research found in the USA, the average white child scores about 15 points higher on standardized tests than the average black child, implying the differences attributed to genes, environment or both. Further research by Jencks, et al., (1972) into the disparity between test scores found that the differences were largely environmental. The average black child was achieving lower rates than the average white child due to the high poverty in black households.

When poverty existed in a household this had an impact on the educational achievement of school

33 age children living in that household. Sadly, Jencks et al., (1972) found that blacks and whites with equal test scores still have very unequal occupational statuses and incomes.

In the United Kingdom, the Swann Report of 1985 researched the relationship between ethnicity and educational achievement. Results showed that only 5 per cent of West Indian school-leavers

obtained one or more passes at ‘A’ level in 1981-2, compared to 13 percent of the white population.

West Indian pupils came disproportionately from poorer backgrounds which were found to partly influence this educational inequality. (Giddens, 1993)

Coleman, et al., (1966) reported that a majority of children were in schools segregated into races of black and white, where 65% of all blacks and 80% of all whites attended schools filled 90% by their own race. Therefore, in almost 80 per cent of schools attended by white students, black students accounted for only 10 per cent or less of their numbers (Giddens, 1993). Coleman, et al., (1966) noted that among minority groups, black children were by far the most segregated. As children often attend the neighbouring school, schools filled with a majority of black students reflect a community housed with black residents. Racial segregation had led to lower educational

achievement in black and minority ethnic groups in the USA. When African American students were in classrooms where most of the students were white, the test average of the African American students was higher, regardless of social class. More importantly the survey data showed that white students who first attended integrated schools early in their school careers were likely to value their association with African American students (Coleman, et al., 1966, Table 3.3.4 and 3.3.5 p. 333).

School segregation and residential segregation had excluded ‘whites’ from observing and

understanding the problems and lifestyles of other ethnic groups in the USA and effectively removed contact between ‘whites’ and ‘blacks’. This ‘societal lack of ethnic mixing’ is a major influence in racial and ethnic discrimination between ethnic groups.

34 To summarise this section on race and ethnicity, the processes that led to educational inequality between ethnic groups in the USA were not found to be a result of school resources but were partly caused by the effects of poverty (low socio-economic status or low social class) and racial/ethnic segregation. When students of poverty and colour are placed in classrooms with fellow students of the same backgrounds, they all lack examples of ambition and achievement. Together their progress becomes almost impossible but as Coleman’s USA data suggests racial mixing within the classroom and school environment was essential to improving African American education and subsequent occupational statuses, regardless of social class.