Discrimination in education is the act of
discriminating against people belonging to certain categories in enjoying full
right to education
The right to education has been recognized as a human right in a number of international conventions, including the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights which recognizes a right to free, compulsory primary education for ...
. It is considered a violation of
human rights
Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hu ...
. Education discrimination can be on the basis of
ethnicity,
nationality
Nationality is a legal identification of a person in international law, establishing the person as a subject, a ''national'', of a sovereign state. It affords the state jurisdiction over the person and affords the person the protection of the ...
, age, gender, race, economic condition,
disability
Disability is the experience of any condition that makes it more difficult for a person to do certain activities or have equitable access within a given society. Disabilities may be cognitive, developmental, intellectual, mental, physical, ...
and
religion
Religion is usually defined as a social- cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relates humanity to supernatural, ...
.
The
Convention against Discrimination in Education adopted by
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...
on 14 December 1960 aims to combat discrimination and
racial segregation
Racial segregation is the systematic separation of people into race (human classification), racial or other Ethnicity, ethnic groups in daily life. Racial segregation can amount to the international crime of apartheid and a crimes against hum ...
in
education
Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty ...
. As of December 2020, 106 states were members of the convention.
Education discrimination in different countries
Australia
Australia has had a history of
racial discrimination
Racial discrimination is any discrimination against any individual on the basis of their skin color, race or ethnic origin.Individuals can discriminate by refusing to do business with, socialize with, or share resources with people of a certain g ...
against
Indigenous Australian
Indigenous Australians or Australian First Nations are people with familial heritage from, and membership in, the ethnic groups that lived in Australia before British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups: the Aboriginal peoples ...
s in many areas, including education. In 1966, Australia signed the Convention against Discrimination in Education. Each state now has comprehensive anti-discrimination laws that prohibit such discrimination. In 1992, Australia enacted the
''Disability Discrimination Act 1992'' (Cwth) to outlaw
discrimination against students with disabilities.
China
Although all people are entitled to nine years of compulsory education in China, there are reports showing that minorities including people with
disabilities are discriminated against in basic education.
An example of such discrimination that is reflected in the 2013 Human Rights Watch report is of children with
attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and intellectual disability who were denied enrollment in nearby schools due to their disabilities. Their parents then had to travel long distances from home to find a place for their disabled children for basic education.
There are also policies for geographical allocation of available sits in higher education system which led to
regional discrimination in the Higher Education Entrance Examination. In China every person has a place of origin in connection to his/her birthplace, and moving or resettlement to provinces/zones other than the ones of origin are subject to receive permits from the authorities. The students subject to regional discrimination are those who managed to have a better record in the relevant exams but are denied studying at top universities due to their place of origin.
Cuba
Cuba has a diverse and multicultural society and there is potentially an available arena for various forms of racial discrimination to grow. Some believe the Cuban educational system suffers from racial discrimination, especially against
Afro-Cubans
Afro-Cubans or Black Cubans are Cubans of West African ancestry. The term ''Afro-Cuban'' can also refer to historical or cultural elements in Cuba thought to emanate from this community and the combining of native African and other cultural el ...
, but the existence of counterparts who believe otherwise can not be neglected.
In the 1960s and 1970s, when the
sexual minority
A sexual minority is a group whose sexual identity, orientation or practices differ from the majority of the surrounding society. Primarily used to refer to lesbian, gay, bisexual, or non-heterosexual individuals, it can also refer to transge ...
groups were sentenced to stay in rehabilitation camps, they automatically lost the opportunity for higher education and were bound to "re-education" by the state. In 2010,
Fidel Castro acknowledged such discrimination during his rule, regretting that he did not pay enough attention to the "great injustice" suffered.
Islamic Republic of Iran
After the
Islamic revolution, the new government focused on the
Islamization
Islamization, Islamicization, or Islamification ( ar, أسلمة, translit=aslamāh), refers to the process through which a society shifts towards the religion of Islam and becomes largely Muslim. Societal Islamization has historically occur ...
of the country's educational system.
Ruhollah Khomeini was in strong favor of single-sex schools and expressed it in his speech at the anniversary of the birth of
Fatimah bint Muhammad
Fāṭima bint Muḥammad ( ar, فَاطِمَة ٱبْنَت مُحَمَّد}, 605/15–632 CE), commonly known as Fāṭima al-Zahrāʾ (), was the daughter of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and his wife Khadija. Fatima's husband was Ali, t ...
, which soon became policy in the country. The political figure stated:The current constitution of Iran states in Article 4 that: "All civil, penal, financial, economic, administrative, cultural, military, political, and other laws and regulations must be based on Islamic criteria. This principle applies absolutely and generally to all articles of the Constitution as well as to all other laws and regulations" The cultural and religious embodiments of
Androcentrism
Androcentrism (Ancient Greek, ἀνήρ, "man, male") is the practice, conscious or otherwise, of placing a masculine point of view at the center of one's world view, culture, and history, thereby culturally marginalizing femininity. The related a ...
can be seen throughout the countries infrastructure and policies. For instance, Iran still considers ''household and childcare as women's primary responsibility," as shown through the difference in school criteria between the two sexes. In addition, Bahá'í students have been systematically expelled from Iranian universities on grounds of religion.
United States
The United States is not a signatory to the
Convention against Discrimination in Education. The United States has always had institutional discrimination, with very high discrimination rates. Discrimination in education is not only performed by one individual but by big organizations as well. Discrimination can also take place by a teacher which might have higher standards for one students than the other. Segregating schools is a way in which low income students may be isolated from higher income students, which causes them to have a much less efficient education. In 2004 many schools had a very disproportionate number of minority students specific schools, in a Seattle neighborhood where the population was 95% Caucasian the schools population was 99% black and Hispanic. (Kozol, 22)
In San Diego CA, Rosa Parks school has 86% black and Hispanic students and only 2% white, and in Los Angeles CA there is a school that bears the name of Dr. King and it has 99% black and Hispanic students. (Kozol, 24)
In the 1970s when the number of students attending New York's schools were still substantially non-equal white, the number of doctors was around 400. As the number of white students started to decline so did the number of doctors available to attend to the needs of students. By 1993 the number of doctors had been cut to 23 and most of them were part-time doctors, children in the Bronx where all these doctors had been removed from were 20 more times more likely than those children living in the city to develop asthma. Another example of discrimination that occurs still today is also seen based on how each student is categorized with a price tag on them a soon as they started attending school: The students living in a low income community with low income families are valued at a lower priced then students that attend rich a schools and live in a higher class community. What this labeling means is that if you are born in a low income community you might receive for example $8,000 a year but if you are born in a rich community and attend a school at a rich community you might be receiving $16,000 a year for school education. "In 1998, New York's Board of Education spent about $8,000 yearly on the education of a third grade child in a New York City public school". (Kozol, 45)
If you were to lift that same child and put them in a typical white suburb of New York he/she would be worth about $12,000, if you were to pick that child up once again and put him/her in one of the wealthiest white suburbs of New York their price tag goes up to $18,000. (Kozol, 45)
This labeling of students and how much they will be receiving towards school education is an example of discriminations and the way in which the poor stay poor and the rich keep getting chances to get richer. Teachers at schools also get discriminated against, the wages they get paid in a low income school is far less than those working in wealthy neighborhoods, the conditions in which schools are maintained is also discriminatory because students can't learn the materials and score high on tests if they don't have the proper teachers, proper materials, proper nutrition and adequate class rooms. All of these examples mentioned beforehand are explained with much more detailed information in the book ''
The Shame of the Nation
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
'' by Jonathan Kozol.
There is discrimination in education among schools that are in areas of lower income (generally students of color). This level of discrimination amongst marginalized groups can increase the "learning gap." This in turn already forces these specific people behind in their future endeavors. In ''The Shame of the Nation'' the author provides us with examples of students who come from lower income residences attend school with required work related workshops, instead of AP classes. Kozol provides an example of a student named Mireya, a black student, who wanted to be a doctor or a social worker, but was required to take a sewing class as well "Life Skill" class (Kozol, 178). In addition Mireya had plans to attend college, Kozol asked the teacher why she was not able to skip these subject and take classes that would help her pursue her college goals, Kozol was faced with the teachers response "It isn't a question of what students want. It's what the school may have available (Kozol, 179). Mireya was face with a confrontation of another student that made a claim "You're ghetto-so you sew!" (Kozol, 180). From this example students of color who are also low income, attend school that appear to be programmed to get them to the workforce (job), as opposed to other privileged schools who are able to provide their students with AP classes, getting them ready for college.
Teacher bias in grading
In several countries, teachers were shown to systematically give students different grades for an identical work, based on categories like
ethnicity or
gender
Gender is the range of characteristics pertaining to femininity and masculinity and differentiating between them. Depending on the context, this may include sex-based social structures (i.e. gender roles) and gender identity. Most cultures ...
.
According to the Education Longitudinal Study, "teacher expectations
remore predictive of college success than most major factors, including student motivation and student effort".
Grading bias can be detected by comparing the outcome of exams where the teacher knows the student's characteristics with blind exams where the student is anonymous. This method may underestimate the bias since, for written exams, the
handwriting style might still convey information about the student.
Other studies apply the same method to cohorts spanning multiple years, to measure each teacher's individual biases.
Alternatively, teacher's grading bias can be measured experimentally, by giving teachers a fabricated assignment were only the name (and thus gender and ethnicity) of the student differs.
Sexism
Multiple studies in various disciplines and countries found that teachers systematically give higher grades to girls and women.
This bias is present at every level of education, in
elementary school (United States
),
middle school
A middle school (also known as intermediate school, junior high school, junior secondary school, or lower secondary school) is an educational stage which exists in some countries, providing education between primary school and secondary school. ...
(France, Norway, United Kingdom, United States
) and
high school
A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...
(Czech Republic
).
Grading discrimination is also present in university admission exams: in the United States, the counselors who evaluate students for
college admission
University admission or college admission is the process through which students enter tertiary education at universities and colleges. Systems vary widely from country to country, and sometimes from institution to institution.
In many countries, ...
favor women over men.
In France, it was shown that in the admission exam for elite school
École Normale Supérieure
École may refer to:
* an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée)
* École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France
* École, S ...
, juries were biased against men in male-dominated disciplines (such as mathematics, physics or philosophy) and biased against women in female-dominated ones (such as biology or literature).
Similar results were obtained for teacher's accreditation exams at the end of university. Female teachers tend to have a stronger pro-female bias than male teachers.
Using individual teacher effects,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...
's
Camille Terrier showed that teachers' bias affects male students' motivation and impairs their future progress.
It can also significantly affect the students' career decisions.
There is some evidence that students are aware of the unfair grading. For example, middle school boys tend to expect lower grades from female teachers.
[
]
Racism
According to a study from
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
, students from the Turkish
ethnic minority are given lower grades than native Germans.
See also
*
Bias in education
Bias in curricula refers to real or perceived bias in the educational textbooks.
Bias in school textbooks
The content of school textbooks is often the issue of debate, as their target audience is young people, and the term "whitewashing" is the ...
*
Convention against Discrimination in Education - a UNESCO initiative
*
Freedom of education
*
Inclusion (education)
Inclusion in education refers to all students being able to access and gain equal opportunities to education and learning. It arose in the context of special education with an individualized education program or 504 plan, and is built on t ...
*
Psychological impact of discrimination on health
*
Right to education
The right to education has been recognized as a human right in a number of international conventions, including the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights which recognizes a right to free, compulsory primary education for ...
*
Racial segregation
Racial segregation is the systematic separation of people into race (human classification), racial or other Ethnicity, ethnic groups in daily life. Racial segregation can amount to the international crime of apartheid and a crimes against hum ...
*
Sex differences in education
Sex differences in education are a type of sex discrimination in the education system affecting both men and women during and after their educational experiences.Pearson, Jennifer. "Gender, Education and." Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology ...
- sex-based discrimination in education and its effects
*
Malala Yousafzai
Malala Yousafzai ( ur, , , pronunciation: ; born 12 July 1997), is a Pakistani female education activist and the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize laureate. Awarded when she was 17, she is the world's youngest Nobel Prize laureate, and the second P ...
References
{{Discrimination, state=uncollapsed
Discrimination
Education issues