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When the majority wins: What proof do we have that school and education are bias?

Equality among races, gender, culture and religion has been one of the universal and unspoken virtues of educational institutions across the globe, especially in the United States. However, there are still reported cases of violation of human rights, especially of educational pursuit in many academic institutions primarily due to bias. Looking at the school systems we have today, the larger picture does not really depict the inequality among students.

To begin with, it is important to note that bias in education may point to either real and /or perceived bias in the system. Real biases are generally universal, perceived across different races, gender, culture and religion as existent and unequal. Perceived bias, however, may be limited to one or a few groups. One of the most notable biases is the gender bias, which does not only occur in the United States, but more in Eastern countries. Gender bias used to be limited to the reservation of more liberated forms of education to men and restriction of participation of women. As human rights legislations expanded its scope to the participation of women in formal educational activities, the school systems have opened new areas for them to join in. However, until the present time, some classes have been reserved for men alone, or are not openly advertised for women to take. Another form of gender bias is gender insensitivity. This bias is commonly committed in verbal and written communication. Many school systems are still using titles such as "chairman", and pronouns "he", "his" and "him" to denote an indefinite noun. These simple things show that school systems have not been properly oriented on gender sensitivity.

Another form of bias in educational systems takes part across religions. There used to be institutions that do not admit students belonging to a "minority" group, but as educational acts have been passed, these schools have opened their doors and expanded their curriculums. It remains, however, that up to this date bias can be felt against certain religions, by the theory that educational systems present to the students. Not until five or six years ago have the Board of Education in California has corrected certain misinterpretations in the study of Hinduism, Islam and Judaism in textbooks. Bias was felt by Hindus were much more than the Muslims and Jews, because several of the corrections and changes that they proposed were immediately counteracted by an American professor. Another bias in the development of school textbooks is "whitewashing", or the process of removing taboo or damaging evidence in history, in order to censor it and avoid getting across "inappropriate" content that may demoralize the minds of its target audience, who in this case, are young people. Many articles about war, especially about the Holocaust and the Winter Soldier Investigation of the Vietnam War, which appear controversial, were stripped down so that the text will not degrade in its patriotic standpoint. On the other hand, sometimes bias in textbooks based on religion also impede in proliferation of broader knowledge. For instance, Christian institutions have regulated (and sometimes attempted to block) the scientific teaching of Darwin's Theory of Evolution of the Species, as it apparently contradicts religious dogma.

The three major areas of bias in United States educational systems are on the process of being acted upon by the government through the Board of Education of each federal state. Biases on gender and religion are far more encompassing than just the bias on race, which has been more or less resolved in the majority of states. However, there are still institutions where bias against Asian and African-American people are felt, and there is struggle to keep up with American students because they get more opportunities that their racial counterparts.

Educational Equity Assistance Centers