Blog Post #5 Response to chapter 3 of Spring book

The discussion we had in class today sparked my thoughts for blog post #5. The issues of race, gender, and special needs in schooling are extremely important and have caused a lot of controversy in the past. When asked the question in class, should we do away with the recognition of race on testing and other types of surveys, I started thinking about what I truly thought about the issue. I believe that we should change the way that people are viewed because of their race. The options that people are given when asked to declare their race are very limited. How does one decide what race to be identified with when they come from a mixed family? It is possible to identify with whichever race is most dominant in one's blood but that doesn't mean the others don't exist. Also, why should it matter what race we are? If we eliminated this question all together I believe it could lead to a path of equality. While at first people would still be stereotyped and discriminated against because of their race, I believe that over time things might start to change. Currently, there are many statistics floating around linking minorities to poverty and stating other facts associated with race. These figures lead many people to stereotype entire ethnicities based on the lives of a few of the members. Once race association is eliminated, people may start to forget about these statistics, and possibly in a few generations from now individuals will be linked to lifestyles instead of entire races being linked to them.

Not only is there an issue with racial equality in schooling, but gender equality is not always existent either. Women have fought for equality for a long time and have come a long way but there is still progress to be made. I think that title 9 is still important for schooling and extra-curriculars so that we never have to go back to a time when women don't have equal rights to men. Student with disabilities have also faced struggles in the school system. In my opinion, disabled students should be given opportunities to interact with all students at school. I don't necessarily agree that all students with disabilities should attend normal classes just because of the distractions that may occur, but I believe that everything should be done to make their schooling experience as normal as possible. It is important to make an attempt at equal schooling for everyone no matter their race, gender, or mental capacity.