Education The Political Implications

The Political Implications on Education

Political discourse has a central impact on the development and implementation of policies in education. Historically, marginalized communities, such as the black community, were not allowed to acquire an education until the 19th century, where they were also limited in the availability of educational resources. The historical injustices perpetrated in the past have had a multigenerational impact on the black community to date and are often overlooked as core issues by policymakers. The curriculum and schooling policy developers follow a normative theory that is limited in addressing challenges in education and schooling to different marginalized communities (Verhoeven et al., 2018). Notably, residential segregation is still persistent today that translates to fewer resources being allocated to the educational needs of black communities, which are less economically endowed but have more challenges that limit their ability to deliver quality education. In this research proposal, I will evaluate the political, socioeconomic, and curriculum factors in the education system that result in black male students who are overqualified for special education still being highly identified for special education.

Despite the low household income inequality in the black community, black boys are less likely to be identified for special education than white boys. However, adjustments for factors that impact the black boys, such as family income, the identification of black boys for special education is 1.4 times and lower for white and Asians at 0.9 and 0.5 times, respectively. Conversely, the ideal white peers who have higher social status and reside in areas with more resources where education institutions are allocated more resources and development of the schooling experience have a lower rate of identification for special education (Gregory et al., 2010). The inequality in the social and economic resources available to the peers with low and high social status results in black male children having limited educational experiences compared to their ideal white peers. Consequently, these challenges lead to most male black students dropping out of school early or not advancing to a tertiary level of education.

During the formative development stage, Epstein et al. (2018) argue that school, family, and community partnerships have different tiers that play a critical educative process in a child. However, the social and economic factors in the low-income residences limit the black males’ experience of these three facets of education by different stakeholders. For example, in families with less than $30,000 annual income, the parents are forced to take multiple jobs to make ends meet (“Rising Neighborhood Income Inequality in Connecticut,” 2021). Consequently, the parent’s involvement is low due to fatigue or the limited time available to interest the child’s education. Consequently, failure in the academic below the expected threshold might result in the black male students being inappropriately identified for special education. Further, parents who did not have such guidance in education are less likely to take an interest in nurturing their child’s educational endeavor and guardianship to prevent them from being identified for special education.

In communities where the negative influences, such as crime and drug use, are low, the children are likely to benefit in a manner that translates to educational achievement. However, in marginalized communities, children whose parents have drug abuse are likely to develop similar challenges in their teenage years and gravitate towards activities other than academic achievement. Notably, the standardized curriculum of the American education system, in this regard, limits the opportunities afforded to black males by being oblivious to their off-school conditions that could have an impact on their academic performance (“Rising Neighborhood Income Inequality in Connecticut,” 2021). Despite the low performance of male students, identification for special education is a poor strategy, and more advanced social and curricular strategies will be explored in the research.