My Personal Growth

The achievement gap is considered the "Greatest Civil Right's Issue of Our Time". As a minority student myself, I have always questioned the underlying factors of the achievement gap. Fortunately, I have not been a victim of some of the detrimental effects of the gap, but from attending a racially diverse high school, I have been acquainted with students who have suffered from it. The research that I have found through this blog project has helped me develop a better understanding of the stigma of racial inferiority. The disparity between the races has given me added motivation to succeed in life and in return, reach out to other minorities as well to push them in the right direction, so that they too can prevail through the discrimination and the doubts.

As I reflect over my growth as in individual, I must admit that I initially felt particularly swayed on the issue because I believed minorities were not given a fair chance to become successful. This feeling came from my school days before college, where I witnessed teachers treating kids differently in their teaching styles, as well as their tone of voice in classrooms, solely because of the student's race. It seemed as if teachers labeled some of the minority kids at my high school with a stereotype, before they even had the chance to prove themselves. These pre-existing feelings put students at a disadvantage from day one. Studies have found that incidences like this take place in schools throughout the country. I have also known teachers who did not commit to their responsibility as much as they could, or should have. If a minority child was failing, I expected teachers to dedicate extra time to that student so that he or she develops a better understanding of the material, but that was not always the outcome; this caused me to begin holding them accountable as part of the reasoning for why the achievement gap still persists today.

           

After weeks of working on this project, I have not entirely changed my original beliefs. Instead, I have evolved the way that I see different aspects of the achievement gap and in doing so, I have formulated my own opinion of the steps we should take to improve the current statistics between the races. Education is key to survival in this economy and since the children of today will soon be leaders of this country, a considerable amount of additional attention needs to be placed into its operation. The future of this country depends on it.

The utmost emphasis should be allocated to the parents of minority students. It is critical that minority parents start taking more responsibility in the academic lifestyle of their child because they are the student’s most influential role models. Looking back at my own childhood, I acknowledge the time and effort that my family put into my education. Furthermore, I respect the way they remained involved because their approval gave me an added incentive to work for. I know that not all students are graced with a family such as mine, so by making national efforts to expand the responsibilities of the parents or parent, the chance of a minority student succeeding increases significantly. Forming a reliable support system at home prepares the child in more ways than one. If minority parents begin to set higher expectations and become more active in their child’s schoolwork, then the child can only continue to develop into a better student. For example, a study shows found that in comparison to the parents of white students, the parents of black students have a higher tolerance for lower grades. The differentiation in the level of parental engagement between the races is completely unacceptable and it is one of the main reasons why the achievement gap is as wide as it is today.

There is no exact way to fully remove the plague of the achievement gap in education. Even though there has been a standstill in the gap between the academic achievements of minority students and black students, we must make the necessary attempts to improve its current statistics. As a nation, we have a great deal to overcome in education, so we must work together to fix the problem at hand. Everyone, including the government, school board officials, teachers, and most importantly, parents, must keep fighting to give our students the level of education that they deserve. America is known to be the “best”, so the scores of the students from current and future generations must reflect this assumption. Minority students have come a long way since the initial implement of the school system and must keep working to achieve their full potential. Even with the added support of adults, minority students must have to self-will to succeed. If I could tell minority students one thing, I would say, “Walk confidently and never settle. Always think highly of yourself, because the world takes you at your own estimate.”