Inequality in Education (Essay Sample)

Inequalities within the Educational System and Federal Policies Author Affiliation Course Instructor Due Date Inequalities within the Educational System and Federal Policies Introduction Sociology studies humans and their interactions with interact with society. It can analyze a large group of people or focus on an individual. However, to prove certain behaviors and conditions, sociologists use theories, which are scientific explanations of phenomena after careful observation using scientific methods. Feminism and symbolic interaction are examples of approaches that explain phenomena in the world. Feminism theory studies gender equality, primarily focusing on male control of financial occupation and finances. It assumes that women are marginalized, and society is patriarchal. Notably, Feminism illuminates societal forces that cause inequality, oppression, and injustice, thus creating a channel to pursue justice and equality. Symbolic Interactionism theory views how relationships and experiences within our relationships and community portray different symbols and meanings. Ideally, it shows how the environment influences human behaviors through symbols and meanings. This paper illuminates the issue of inequality in education and federal policies using Feminism and symbolic interactionism theories. Inequality within the Education System and Federal Polices Feminism and Symbolic interactionism theories provide social forces at the micro-level and macro level and how they contribute to inequality in the education system and federal policies. The Symbolic Interactionism theory provides social interactions at the micro-level and how they reinforce inequality in education. Symbolic interactionism focuses on how people internalize meanings in the interactions related to their daily life experiences (Taekema & Riesthuis, 2021). Symbolic interactionism theory allows us to understand interactions that influence inequality and the implications individuals internalize during interactions. Ideally, the socialization of students results from the curriculum, teaching subjects, unofficial side of schools, unofficial voices, and the official side. The theory argues that interactions between teachers and studies and the meaning students take from those interactions influence their outcomes. Studies on Symbolic interactionism focus on class interactions, playgrounds, and school venues. Understanding these interactions helps us understand school interactions and their impact on the larger society. School interaction reinforces gender roles, affects student performance, and also inequality of educational attainment between boys and girls (Barker et al., 2020). Specifically, the authors conducted a literature analysis focusing primarily on school interactions between teachers and students and between students. Barker et al. (2020) found that playground activities reinforced gender roles, as girls were seen to play cooperative games while the boys played competitive games. They also found that teachers were likely to concentrate on students they perceived to be innovative. This scenario suggests inequality as students are likely to have unequal access to education due to teachers' perceptions. The study also found that teachers unconsciously were likely to call and praise boys more than girls (Barker et al., 2020). Since Symbolic Interactionism theory tells that the meaning a person takes from interactions influences their behaviors, notably, the act of praise creates meaning. It will affect the student's actions positively or negatively. Similarly, a lack of recognition for girls also makes meaning, thus influencing girls' actions. Feminism theory focuses on macro-level social forces and how they contribute to inequality in education and federal policies. The theory suggests that the education system reinforces patriarchy and inequality by offering that hidden curriculum (unwritten rules and lessons learned in the education system) supports gender roles. Feminists on inequality believe that education transmits patriarchal norms and values and legitimizes patriarchy as it teaches women and girls to accept their societal roles (Boseovska, 2022). Feminists agree on the functions of education. They also argue that education promotes patriarchy by teaching history that upholds white supremacy, European capitalism heteropatriarchy, which legitimizes the nuclear family as natural and legitimate, and a culture of heterosexual men dominating women and sexual minorities. They also argue that white teachers have contributed to inequality by oppressing nonwhite students (Boseovska, 2022). The study found that white students viewed nonwhite teachers as favorable. This partially explains how white teachers treat nonwhite students. In line with this, Symbolic Interactionism theory explains that nonwhite students are likely to perform poorly because of their internalized meaning from their interactions with teachers. Although there are different views on feminists, liberal, radical, and black, they agree that the education system still shows subject preference in schools, eventually leading to unequal education. Feminists note that girls are still underrepresented in certain subjects and are likely to take on specific topics, such as literature related to their gender roles. They also note that teachers are also perpetuating this problem by failing to provide support for girls to take the subjects. Additionally, while equal educational policy has ensured equal education without discrimination based on sex or gender, the government needs to give more attention to girls to catch up with the boys. Notably, most of the courses girls take in schools lead to a poor career in the job market, reflecting unequal education (Boseovska, 2022). Ideally, feminists advocate for a better policy that supports girl choice in subjects that promotes equality. Ideally, Symbolic Interactionism theory argues that school interactions impact girls' behaviors when choosing topics. For example, lack of teachers' attention toward girls and lack of motivation...