Example research essay topic: The One Best System By David Tyack - 1,436 words

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The One Best System by David Tyack Tyack claims that although a noble concept, education does not serve all the purposes it was meant to serve. (Tyack, 1974) The issue at hand, the fact that urban education tends to reaffirm existing inequalities, is not easy to explain since the ideal behind education in everyones mind is the exact opposite. We tend to think that since almost everyone in the western world has access to all levels of education and thus a chance to improve him / herself that person can accomplish something better in life than he or she already has. But the facts show that we do not all have the same opportunities and in the long run the present system of education sustains the existing order of society. Academic achievement depends largely on the socioeconomic background of the students rather than school facilities or other factors as he originally expected (Tyack, 1974). Meaning that children of lower social class would do worse at school than the ones from more affluent social and economic backgrounds. The school conditions (student-teacher relationship, proper motivation, etc) could actually improve the academic achievement of children who were of low social and economic background and were otherwise expected to perform poorly.

But how can something like this be explained? The first idea on why inequalities are sustained by education emphasizes the linguistic skills of the students. (Tyack, 1974) Children while growing up acquire a certain linguistic code depending on the social position of their family, something which later on affects their performance at school. This difference in language does not concern vocabulary or other linguistic skills it is the difference in the use of language, according to Tyack, that makes the difference. A child that grew up in a working class family is used to what is called a restricted code of language, a code that includes a lot of unstated assumptions which is more suited for everyday life rather than academic use.

On the other hand a child that grew up in a middle or upper class family is accustomed to an elaborate code with which he / she is able to discuss and express more abstract ideas and is able to suit many kinds of social settings, especially that of the academic world. Such a difference is sure to influence a childs educational chances. Another idea is that of the hidden curriculum. School serves four main tasks for society: the provision of custodial care, the distribution of people among occupational roles, the learning of dominant values and the acquisition of socially approved skills and knowledge. (Tyack, 1974) The term hidden curriculum expresses exactly the previous idea that schools dont only teach children how to read and write or foreign languages chemistry, biology and so on but behind all this there are the things which are taught behind the ordinary curriculum. So children become accustomed to discipline and knowing where their place is without having the right to question the authority that has placed them there, which is somewhat the situation they will face when they move on into the working world. Another idea is that modern education is designed in a manner suited to the needs of industrial capitalization. (Tyack, 1974) Therefore the educational system provides society with the working force it needs and since the need for workers outgrows the need for managers the majority of the population in the educational system of a country will become workers.

Of course it is no surprise that the workers will be the offspring's of the existing working class parents and not of the middle class families whose children will accordingly become managers. Besides that there are many schools in America that are poverty stricken, begging for more of the governments money, and not getting a dime. These schools that are living in poverty need a change. There needs to be more public school funding and it does need to come from the government. There is a particular city in East St. Louis, where the population is ninety-eight percent black, where nearly a third of the families live on $ 7, 500 and seventy-five percent of the population live on some type of welfare (Tyack, 1974).

Here in this city the children are living in very dangerous conditions, such as, sewage problems, lead, arsenic, mercury, and steroids in the soil, and garbage and smoke in the air. These dangerous living conditions open up the door for many diseases such as, liver tumors, abscesses, and even hair loss. This town cant even afford to keep open the city hall or the fire departments. In this city there is a pornography theater in the center of the town, but there is no theater showing movies suitable for children. The children in this town are very uneducated and some of them dont even know what grade they are in.

It takes this to bring it to the point; this city has a low education level simply because there is no money for the children to go to school. Sure they have schools, but these students dont even have a steady teacher. When they get adjusted to one teacher, that one moves on and another one comes in and teaches them totally different material. The school supplies in these school districts are very limited due to the low per-pupil spending. The children cant get a good education with little supplies and teachers that have such a negative attitude. The racial make-up of this school is mostly black children as well as other minorities.

The per-pupil spending is very low because there are very few jobs available to the public (there are thirteen buildings and only three are occupied) so this causes families to be forced not to let some of their children attend school and not to pay the taxes. On the other hand, there is this school in the Chicago area, New Trier. Here, the school has three gyms, Olympic size swimming pool, and fencing room, wrestling room, studios for dancing and also labs and up to date technology. (Tyack, 1974) In this area you will find that many of the students come from a white colored family. The subjects offered in this school vary from modern and classical languages, music, art, drama, and also six other foreign languages. In a sense, this school is more or less like a college. There are many supplies offered to the students in this school as mentioned before, the lab use and the up to date technology, as well as the extracurricular activities.

The teachers in New Trier are given reduced schedules so that they will be available to their students for counseling, and also for extra tutoring. In this school, there are about 1. 3 % black students, which makes it kind of a ritzy place. The total amount spending per pupil in this school district is $ 8, 823. Ninety-three percent of the students who graduate from New Trier attend four-year colleges- such as Brown, Harvard, Princeton, Yale, and Berkeley. (Tyack, 1974) It is easy for the parents in this school to pay their taxes to better the childrens education, but it is not fair in the situation in East St. Louis where parents cant even find jobs to provide for their children much less their education. American schools are usually funded by the local property taxes, which causes a great distribution of the class of students who attend certain schools.

This causes unequal funding to schools because there are many towns, as mentioned before, where there is no job opportunity and the majority of the public is on some kind of welfare. These are the people who need the governments help because they cant afford to allow their children to have an equal opportunity to learn in public schools. There are probably many other reasons that explain why urban education expresses and reaffirms existing inequalities, reasons that have to do with the race, gender or ethnic and religious background of students in different countries. (Tyack, 1974) But there are also many things that can be done in order to improve the system and give equal chances to all for a better and more prosperous life. It depends on all of us to abolish inequalities but unfortunately history has shown that people fight for changes only when they have nothing to lose and those who design our lives have made us believe that we have lots to lose if we try to make any change. Bibliography: 1.

Tyack, D. B. The One Best System: A History of American Urban Education. Harvard University Press, 1974.

Research essay sample on The One Best System By David Tyack