Conflicts over Education to Come in 2022

Conflicts over Education to Come in 2022

At school board meetings across the United States in 2021, parents physically¹ fought each other. Others shouted and threatened school board members.

These disagreements even entered state politics, like the 2021 Virginia governor's race. The issues included how race, racism² and transgendered student rights are taught.

Most of the media attention last year also centered on critical race theory. For some, critical race theory, or CRT, is a way of understanding how race has shaped American society and public policy. For others, CRT creates division and conflict between white people and minorities. The theory, however, is not being taught to public school students in the country.

Kate Phillippo is a professor at Loyola University in Chicago. Joseph Ferrare teaches at the University of Washington.

These two researchers said these conflicts are likely to continue into the new year. And they shared their observations on the website The Conversation.

Online education

In 2022, conflicts over online education are likely to increase with the spread of the Omicron variant³ and the required vaccination⁴ for all students.

The issue is whether parents should have control over how public money is spent on educating their children. This could lead to risks of moving money away from public schools to others like religious, private, and charter schools.

By last autumn, schools in the U.S. largely returned to in-person classes.

However, demand for home-schooling⁵ and online schooling has risen. Parents have discovered that those choices offer more control over the use of time, what their children learn, and safety from the coronavirus.

In Washington State, the number of students choosing online education has greatly increased at for-profit schools that receive public money. One company, Washington Virtual Academies, saw a student body increase of about 85 percent from 2020 to 2021. Schools across the country saw a similar movement. And school choice supporters argued that parental⁶ demand for online education would continue.

Ferrare and several others studied the effects of online education compared to in-person classes among students. They found that students who switch to online schools experience considerable learning losses in reading and math during each of the three years after switching. That evidence has forced policymakers to consider greater control over online schools.

Affirmative action

Some American universities consider the race of a student along with other qualities like economic status for college admission.

In 2022, legal cases involving affirmative action will likely create more disagreement on education in America. Affirmative action is a practice or policy of helping⁷ individuals belonging to groups known to have been discriminated⁸ against previously⁹.

This year, the case of Students for Fair Admissions vs. Harvard University will reach the U.S. Supreme¹⁰ Court. The group argued that Harvard held Asian Americans to a higher standard to give preference to black and Hispanic students with lower grades.

Harvard says it uses race as one of many things it considers in admissions decisions. It believes considering race can help create a mixed community "where students from all walks of life" can learn with and from each other.

Teachers unions

In 2022, teachers' unions may continue to exercise their power even with ongoing¹¹ efforts by parents and other groups to limit it. A union is an organization that represents the interests of teachers.

Last year, teachers' unions effectively negotiated increased health safety measures against the spread of COVID-19 in cities including New York and Los Angeles.

In January, a dispute over the COVID-19 safety measures kept 350,000 students from in-person classes in Chicago for five days. The teachers returned after school officials agreed to expand COVID-19 testing and establish rules for when to close schools during outbreaks.

These wins signal the ability of teachers' unions to negotiate on issues like working conditions and pay. With shortages of qualified¹² teachers, unions' negotiation¹³ power may intensify¹⁴.

Gifted programs

American school systems usually have gifted education programs for students that show a high level of success. Many programs began as efforts to keep white families from leaving racially diverse public schools in urban areas. They were created to compete with high-performing private schools.

Such programs have been under much criticism in recent years. Critics say they worsen racial divisions and inequality in the country's education system.

An Associated Press study of recent federal data found that nationwide, 8.1 percent of white and 12.7 percent of Asian American children in public schools are considered gifted. But only 4.5 percent of Hispanic and 3.5 percent of Black students are identified as gifted.

In 2022, gifted education may become a national debate. So far, it has been centered in New York City, but it may spread.

In early October, the outgoing mayor of New York, Bill de Blasio announced plans to end the gifted programs in the country's largest school system. However, Eric Adams, the new mayor said he plans to keep gifted programs in place.

In California, policymakers plan to group students of different mathematical abilities in the same classroom. Only in their last year of school will students be able to choose an advanced mathematics class.

Other efforts are also launched in Boston, Massachusetts and Seattle, Washington to end the gifted education programs.

Words in This Story

board – n. group of people who have been chosen to learn information about something or to give advice

transgendered – adj. of or relating to people who feel that their true nature does not match their sex at birth

opportunity – n. an amount of time or a situation in which something can be done

variant – n. something that is different in some way from others of the same kind

switch – v. to make a change from one thing to another : to start doing or using something that is different

admission – n. the act or process of accepting someone as a student at a school

affirmative action – n. the practice of improving the educational and job opportunities of members of groups that have not been treated fairly in the past because of their race, sex, or something else

union – n. an organization of workers formed to protect the rights and interests of its members

diverse – adj. made up of people or things that are different from each other

1 physically   

adj.物质上，体格上，身体上，按自然规律

参考例句：

• He was out of sorts physically,as well as disordered mentally.他浑身不舒服，心绪也很乱。
• Every time I think about it I feel physically sick.一想起那件事我就感到极恶心。

2 racism   

n.民族主义；种族歧视(意识)

参考例句：

• He said that racism is endemic in this country.他说种族主义在该国很普遍。
• Racism causes political instability and violence.种族主义道致政治动荡和暴力事件。

3 variant   

adj.不同的，变异的；n.变体，异体

参考例句：

• We give professional suggestions according to variant tanning stages for each customer.我们针对每位顾客不同的日晒阶段，提供强度适合的晒黑建议。
• In a variant of this approach,the tests are data- driven.这个方法的一个变种，是数据驱动的测试。

4 vaccination   

n.接种疫苗，种痘

参考例句：

• Vaccination is a preventive against smallpox.种痘是预防天花的方法。
• Doctors suggest getting a tetanus vaccination every ten years.医生建议每十年注射一次破伤风疫苗。

5 schooling   

n.教育；正规学校教育

参考例句：

• A child's access to schooling varies greatly from area to area.孩子获得学校教育的机会因地区不同而大相径庭。
• Backward children need a special kind of schooling.天赋差的孩子需要特殊的教育。

6 parental   

adj.父母的；父的；母的

参考例句：

• He encourages parental involvement in the running of school.他鼓励学生家长参与学校的管理。
• Children always revolt against parental disciplines.孩子们总是反抗父母的管束。

7 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

8 discriminated   

分别，辨别，区分( discriminate的过去式和过去分词 )； 歧视，有差别地对待

参考例句：

• His great size discriminated him from his followers. 他的宽广身材使他不同于他的部下。
• Should be a person that has second liver virus discriminated against? 一个患有乙肝病毒的人是不是就应该被人歧视？

9 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。

10 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

11 ongoing   

adj.进行中的，前进的

参考例句：

• The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
• The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。

12 qualified   

adj.合格的，有资格的，胜任的，有限制的

参考例句：

• He is qualified as a complete man of letters.他有资格当真正的文学家。
• We must note that we still lack qualified specialists.我们必须看到我们还缺乏有资质的专家。

13 negotiation   

n.谈判，协商

参考例句：

• They closed the deal in sugar after a week of negotiation.经过一星期的谈判，他们的食糖生意成交了。
• The negotiation dragged on until July.谈判一直拖到7月份。

14 intensify   

vt.加强；变强；加剧

参考例句：

• We must intensify our educational work among our own troops.我们必须加强自己部队的教育工作。
• They were ordered to intensify their patrols to protect our air space.他们奉命加强巡逻，保卫我国的领空。