An investigation into the attitudes of school personnel toward ‘gifted’ children in two inner-city secondary school in Kingston, Jamaica.
By Paul Andrew Bourne, M.Sc. (pending); B.Sc.; Dip. Edu.
INTRODUCTION
The education system is a mode of psychosocial and cultural socialization for all societies (Haralambos and Holborn, 2000). It is through this medium that many children are exposed to the requirements of an organic society. Societies function on the basis of solidarity; the purpose through which the educational institutions is to fashion. Despite the primacy of the family in the socialization process, the school is an important agent in value and role transmission. Therefore, the school’s personnel are a vital ingredient in the socio-psychological development of students. The Jamaican society faces further social decay if teachers and other school personnel continue to fuel the social stratification that came from the colonial system. The colonial system used class, race and gender to structure many Caribbean societies (Greene, 1993). The education system is one such institution in the establishment of inequalities. It is through informal education that particular groups of persons are discriminated against because belief is handed down through ‘culturalization’. Inequalities do exist even in inner-city schools among students and teachers. The children of the affluent and the ‘gifted’ are isolated, praised and reverenced by school personnel in the education system. The issue of class, race and gender provide answers to discriminatory attitude of educational administrators against low performers.
The UNFPA (2005) recognizes that there are plethoras of inequalities meted out against particular groups within our societies; and so, one of its mandates in the Millennium Development Goal for 2015 is ‘gender equality and equity’ (p.1). This space is not limited to reproductive issues and ‘rights’ but within it scope is subsumed discriminatory practices against children and the underclass. The issue of gender (Greene, 1993) and educational discrimination was the bedrock upon which Caribbean societies were fashioned in particular Jamaica by the colonial demagogues (LaGuerre, 1993). This was through women being felt to nurture children at home while the man venture in academic pursuits and other endeavours. Education, therefore, was a tool for the privilege within the social space of the masses. Because education was used as the vehicle for social mobility, a miniscule number of poor were able to access the ‘quality’ facilities dependent on their enormous abilities compared to less academically incline elite children. The social bias for academically gifted child is embedded within the socialization and the construct of the education system.
Theoretical framework
According to Greene (1993) the “Issues of race and class are central to identifying the patterns of social, economic and political relations and to understanding the prospects for development in the Caribbean” (p.2). Within this social theorizing lies an in-depth avenue for the understanding of the establishment of the education system and the preference for particular characteristics therein. The discriminatory practices of school personnel against particular pupils in their care are simply not accidental but are embedded in race, class and gender stratification of Caribbean societies. Greene’s work alludes to this fundamental social construct of Caribbean nations. It was Smith (1960), a Jamaican anthropologist, who forwards a theorizing on the plurality of our societies. Smith’s theory is in the social space of roles of culture in the functioning of a divided society. Caribbean societies function in two major classifications; one, the ‘haves’ and the ‘have nots’ and this primarily govern the allocation of resources. This explains the preference of educators to expend addition human and other resources in already ‘gifted’ pupils while the academic challenged is substantially felt on their own.
Intertwined in the inequality and the discriminatory stance of numerous school personnel against ‘ghetto’ students who are academically challenged is ‘gender’ discrimination in particularly leveled against boys. Bourne (2004) forwards a perspective in a quantitative study on Jamaican advanced level candidates that “the country’s educational system was fashioned from the British system; as such, Grammar schools (i.e. Traditional High Schools) were designed to supply pupils for further studies in addition to supplying ‘high quality’ employees for the pubic and private sector” (p. 7). The societies’ biases do not cease to operate only within traditional high schools but is extended to non-grammar schools. Because educational system is structure based on excellence (i.e. high grades in non-practical subjects), many inner-city students are discriminated against; and the academically inclined among the discriminate is assist in great measures.
According to Bourne, Hargreaves in Haralambos and Holborn (2000, p.231) states, “many schools fail to produce a sense of dignity of working-class. If pupils fail to achieve individual success in competitive exams they will tend to rebel and fail to develop a sense of belonging within the school” (Bourne, 2004, p.13). It is within this environ that the discipline and academically inclined students become educators’ preference for much assistance while the ‘trouble’ makers (indiscipline and less achieved pupil) felt to destroy themselves with knowing the silence of the school administrators. Within this social space of ‘high’ academic performance, the ‘gifted’ students are highly favoured as they foster and propel the personal biases and socialization of the teachers. Lindgren (1976) concurs with Bourne (2004) that particular observable attainment in ‘gifted’ pupils is praised by the education system. He posits that fast learners (i.e. ‘gifted’) are assets without intervention and so it is difficult to comprehend why they need any special assistance or attention from the instructor as against the low performers, which is predominantly the case in inner-city and other secondary educational institutions.
The works of Rosenthal et al. (1968) and other scholars provide a clear understanding of the influence of teachers’ attitude in the performance of students. Students are social entities, therefore, when they are lauded, encouraged and praised with particular reinforcement (Baron et al., 2005, 2006); they are highly likely to performance at a higher degree. The reverse holds true of those who are felt to operate independent of social affection by their teachers. The expressed interest of the educator in the space of the ‘gifted’ pupil is a positive motivator that leads social advancement of the already ‘talented’ child. The researcher being a teacher for over two decades concurs with the social preference of teachers for ‘gifted’ pupils. The relationship sometimes seems infectious, a position that befall many of my colleagues.
Freeman (1993) provides a justifiable reason why the previous experience should not be fostered by educators. Freeman supply an understanding of the intellectual development of students by arguing that the process of academic development is not confined to the simple acquisition of skills; and “perception is learnt from experience and it affects reasoning” (Bourne, 2004, p.20). Formal education should not be seen as the only route for developing competence, and that many forces are influencing the knowledge level of students. If the skills and talents needed by society are predominantly limited to the elite, then, which ever way the elite is selected, there will inevitably be talented individuals whose potential will be undiscovered by the society. The elitists are not confined to the economic bourgeoisie but include “gifted” children (i.e. academic pundits).
Bourne (2004) forwards the perspective that the primary responsibility of instruction is to bring about the maximum degree of achievement in learning, ensuring maximum performance and high self-actualization. In order to achieve this in schools, Bourne believes that competent teachers are necessary who understand their multispatial role in educating pupils. Competence, here, is wider than an in-depth grasp an academic knowledge base but the recognition that learning may be latent (i.e. from Skinner’s theorizing); this signifies why by providing the most suitable environment for learning for the ‘gifted’ child is a process of fostering social stratification.
Rationale
Studies have shown that education is a means of class stratification. Greene (1993) and LaGuerre among other academic clear show the function of class, race and gender in the establishment of Caribbean societies. They forward theorizing that highlight the importance of education the social settings of our society. The society through education offer an opportunity of social mobility for particular groups that were not initial endowed with certain resources. Particular groups of people are labelled and distinguish by our social space. This differentiation may be discriminatory or accepting by the elites. 'Gifted' children form part of the exclude group by all societies. The label results in a stance or perception of them all the general public. This perception explains certain biases either in their favour or against them by persons who must interface with them on a regular basis.
With the educator's function and in particular the school personnel, any negative perception of the 'gifted' child result in a retardation of the development. As the educator's responsibility is to impart knowledge in an unbiased manner to all children, and so any stance socio-psychological against the 'gifted' child may result in underachievement. The issue becomes even more complex in inner city zones in which children have little support from external agents. Children thrive on various stimuli for cognitive and psychosocial development and high achievers are no different. Hence, school personnel's attitude toward 'gifted' students plays a paramount role in their development.
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