Social Structured Inequality

Social stratification is an important concept in sociology and has many definitions which revolve around it being ‘a socially constructed concept’ which is based on ‘structured inequality’; ‘the inequality may be in the form of income and wealth, an individual’s biological or ethnic make-up, or may be as a result of age or disability’ (Scottish Further Education Unit, 2006). In addition, the inequalities exist ‘among persons and between social groups with respect to the access, acquisition and distribution of scarce and valued resources’ (Giddens et al 2003; Lenski 1966; Sanderson 1999; Slomczynski and Shabad 2000) resulting in a somewhat ‘rigid subdivision of a society into a hierarchy of layers’ (Business Dictionary.Com, 2011). The effects
of social stratification are experienced by people and organizations on a daily basis so that the formal education system is not immune to its associated inequalities. As a result, the factors of social stratification, which are generally identified as power, class, status and education among others, has many implications for the teaching/learning environment and individuals in schools. For the purpose of this academic assignment, I will attempt to show how the factors of social stratification can affect teacher performance in primary schools in Trinidad and Tobago as well as strategies I would use to reduce negative effects of social stratification in my classroom. In our country, we have a contemporary or plural society where different religions, cultures and so on come together to form one society. As a result of this diversity, we have many distinct groups and organizations, some more powerful than others. In the classroom, power, as a factor of stratification, plays a critical role and affects teacher performance even in the primary school level of education. One definition of power synonymous with Max Weber’s definition states that power means one's capacity to impose one's will, regardless of whether this activity is supported or rejected. Like Weber pluralist writers posit that the amount of power in any society is seen to be relatively fixed ("constant") so that any social group which intends to acquire power must do this at the expense of another group hence the phrase "zero-sum" totality of power. Power is similar to autonomy which is ‘independence and an individual’s ability to alter the environment when necessary’ (Eggen & Kauchak, 2007). In the classroom teachers hold more power than their students as they generally set rules and apply consequences as well as regulate classroom activities. However, if a class consists of deviant students who disobey the teacher, the power that the teacher holds will be transferred to the students who may hold the teacher ransom to their demands for less teaching time or leniency with regard to school uniform. As a result, if a teacher perceives that a class is deviant she may expect a power struggle and undermining of her authority which may result in her being lenient with the class from the start. Therefore she will have low academic expectations of the students because of ‘lost power’ leading to mediocrity. Similarly, if students in a class come from affluent homes or powerful families this may impress a teacher, so that she may give these students special privileges and attend to them more so as to impress their parents and families. For example, if the attorney general’s daughter was placed in my class, this may motivate me to be more productive and caring so that the child is happy and her powerful father will be impressed. A teacher may also think that by impressing the powerful parents or families this will make her by association ‘powerful’ and thus lead to special privileges in the school or society. Social class as a term has many connotations however Simkhovitch definition which is reflective of a Marxian perspective states that a social class is ‘an organized body of individuals whose economic interests coincide’ (Munich, 1923).
One will agree that social stratification is largely determined by factors which are economically related such as class since a person’s economic position will determine his education, occupation, associates and sometimes his position in society. Generally, there are three main classes in society known as the upper class (wealthy), middle class (average incomes) and lower class (poor) and sometimes there are representatives of each group within a class although this is highly unlikely as rich parents tend to send their children to private or prestige schools as opposed to mainstream schools. This is because they want to minimize their children socializing with children from poor homes who are viewed as inferior with brash behaviours and language. For example, it is a fact that schools like San Fernando TML and St Gabriel’s Girls RC only admits students whose parents have a high social standing and are wealthy. Therefore teachers in these ‘prestige’ schools, which are generously funded by parental donations, will have more access to educational resources and technologies and will expect a certain caliber of students which will encourage them to provide a high level of education for their students. In contrast students from schools like Princes
Town AC and Moruga RC have a reputation of being from lower class homes with various problems resulting from absent parents, poverty, drug abuse and violence which they bring to the classroom. Teachers in these schools therefore adopt an ‘uninvolved’ attitude where they go to class and teach in a monotonous way sometimes ignoring children’s difficulties in understanding concepts and even misbehavior then they wait for the dismissal bell. They are therefore doing their job for a salary and at a basic level not caring about the students they teach or how effective they are as teachers. One teacher’s words explained this attitude when she stated that ‘you cannot teach all the children in your class, some of them will fall through the cracks’. Class also affects a person’s lifestyle so that children whose parents belong to the lower ‘working’ class may be perceived by the teacher as having little chance for academic success and upward mobility as they are expected to grow up to be just like their parents. As a result, the teacher may not motivate the children to study hard and even place them at the back of the class if they are not among the ‘bright’ ones who come from middle class or upper class homes with more educational resources and prospects. The opposite may also be true where children from poorer homes are seen by teachers are being more focused on their schoolwork as they do not have the luxuries and distractions that their more ‘fortunate’ peers have. This can encourage teachers to spend more time with these students by sourcing books and other resources for them and even providing free tuition for which the parents are eternally grateful. In addition, the lower class parents may value education more as it is recognised as an avenue for upward mobility for their children which may lead to greater parental involvement in school thus enhancing teachers’ performances since their efforts are supported in the home. Status is another dominant factor of social stratification and is ‘a social estimation of honour’ (Weber, 1924) which may or may not be linked to property and economic means. Hence social superiority, equality or inferiority may arise among individuals as a result of their statuses. ” (Chan and Goldthorpe 2007) arising out of repeated social interactions. In our education system, secondary school teachers are viewed as having a higher status than primary school teachers who also feel that they are superior to kindergarten teachers. This status quo is mainly attributed to the inequalities in remuneration for teachers at the different school levels inspite of the fact that teachers at all levels generally possess the same qualifications such as having a Bachelor in Education degree. This disparity in income and status may lead to primary school teachers feeling oppressed and demotivated resulting in substandard teaching practices. It is very unfortunate and unfair to the teachers at the lower levels as all teachers contribute to a child’s education and play a critical role in proving the foundation for further studies. Another look at status shows that one’s status may be ascribed or achieved. For example, the Queen of England has an ascribed status of being royalty because of the family she was born into whilst a person who grows up to be an engineer has an achieved status which was earned during his lifetime and is based on merit, skills and abilities. Thus one’s status may be inherited and it may change over his lifetime. Teachers’ social status may affect their performance for example if they have a high social status in their school, they may have an input in the school’s policies leading to them being more proactive than reactive. In order to maintain their achieved status in the eyes of their school’s stakeholders they may be driven to provide meaningful teaching experiences for students in the classroom. They may also further their studies in an attempt to upgrade their qualifications. As a result, their students as well as their colleagues and the school will benefit from their efforts. All of this may be possible because their status which is determined by a set of behaviours and has associated expectations for the individual. Similarly, students’ status may affect the way teachers perform in the classroom. Many times teachers label students based on their status and treat them differently. For example, a child born into a wealthy with a disability is viewed as having a low social status and may be discriminated against because of stereotyping. According to the Scottish Further Education Unit (2006) ‘stereotypes are attitudes that have no real basis in reality and yet persist in society’ whilst ‘stereotyping takes away the individuality and character of people and reduces them to false social constructs’. Although these children have the ability and desire to learn, there are many teachers, school officials and students who believe that these students are inferior and hold them back from teaching/learning. This snobbish attitude is prevalent in most primary schools inspite of the many initiatives by the Ministry of Education to include differently-abled students into mainstream schools and promote equality as is reflected in the Philosophy statement in the 1993 Keller Report. In addition, since differently-abled students are not viewed as ‘normal’ they are given a ‘disabled status’ and teachers in the classroom may ignore them as they think that these students do not have what it takes to be successful academically. Hence the teacher may teach the class at one level ignoring the need for differentiated instruction and accommodations to the physical environment and planned curriculum. From my experience, many forms of stereotyping of differently-abled students arise from lack of information about students’ condition and their abilities which undermines the humanity of these students who are sometimes also gifted. Ryan (1991) states that ‘race and ethnicity determine(s) the status of the individual’s place in the stratification system’ and both factors have implications for the teaching/learning environment. Anderson & Taylor (2006) indicate that ‘a race is a social construction based loosely on physical criteria, whereas an ethnic group is a culturally distinct group’. In Trinidad there has been a shift in the social stratification system from the days of slavery and indentureship resulting in upward mobility for both African black slaves and East Indian labourers. This has lead to ‘the rise of the Blacks to power (People’s National Movement)’ (Ryan, 1991) and the education of Indian girls. At the same time, stereotypes of some races and ethnic groups persist and sometimes results in discrimination and inequality. For example, teachers who assume that African children are lazy and non-performing will not have high expectations for these children which will be reflected in their teaching methods and attitudes. As a result, teachers may become negligent when it comes to these students by not preparing them adequately for the National Tests or calling them names. These negative teacher attitudes towards African students may lead to students experiencing the ‘self-fulfilling prophecy’ where they begin to believe the labels and start acting that way. A teacher’s race or ethnicity may also affect how they teach in the primary school. For example, as an East Indian girl I was taught to empower myself through education whilst my Islamic religious beliefs that one should seek knowledge from the cradle to the grave further promoted the idea that education was important. Also, I learnt through my religious books that ‘all people are equal in the eyes of God except the one who is most pious’ so that I do not differentiate my teaching practices because of the ethnic makeup of my students or their race. This therefore affects my teaching philosophy which includes my belief ‘education is a means of empowerment and all children have the capacity to learn’. Other teachers though cannot see beyond the media propagated race stereotypes or are ethnocentric, that is, believe that their ethnic, religious or political group is superior to all others tend to deliver the curriculum using substandard and outdated teaching practices such as the ‘chalk and talk’ method since they do not believe that students of a particular race or ethnicity are deserve a high quality of education. According to the Institute of Development Studies ‘gender' refers to the socially constructed roles of and relations between men and women, while 'Sex' refers to biological characteristics which define humans as female or male. Since gender is the preferred term in the twenty-first century and a factor of social stratification, it has many implications for teacher performance. Whilst teachers may attempt to be equitable with boys and girls, this hardly ever is the case. One reason for unequal treatment is students’ behaviour. Research has shown that girls mature physically, emotionally and cognitively faster than boys by more than two years. As a result, female students tend to conform and are treated better than the male students who are marginalized because they are rambunctious and viewed as impertinent. Another reason for different treatment is the fact that there are more female than male in primary school and the female teachers who tend to like girls because of their ability to express themselves and adopt leadership positions in the classroom. In conclusion, although the extent to which the factors of social stratification impact on teacher performance may differ from what I have illustrated, the point remains that these factors do affect how teachers treat their students and deliver the planned curriculum. Teachers’ perceptions, dispositions, expectations and teaching philosophies clearly influence their performance and the teaching/learning outcomes which if positively regulated can eliminate the negative effects of social stratification in the classroom.

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