07B:154 Education, Race and Ethnicity Mondays 4:30-6:30 PM Spring 2007
Noga Admon
noga-admon@uiowa.edu
Lindquist N493
Office hours: by appointment
The goal of this course is to examine race and ethnicity in American education and their relationships with education in American society, addressing dimensions of social inequality and class. Major topics in the course include, among others, immigration, educational and socioeconomic inequality, family structure, and social policy initiatives.
For the class to work effectively, all of the reading must be done on time. You should read everything carefully and critically. For the course to work, you need to read and think seriously about what you’ve read.
Your grade will be based on three short (3-5 pages) written assignments (15% each), a term paper (40%), an oral presentation of your paper (15%), and your overall participation (15%).
In the papers, you should demonstrate that you understand the major issues at stake in the particular area. Your paper should be significantly more than simply a summary of the reading. The papers should be critical and analytical, searching for points of contention or agreement among different authors, identifying crucial theoretical and empirical points, and discussing the broader implications.
We will reserve time for you to present your paper to the class. The papers should be critical and analytical, searching for points of contention or agreement among different authors, identifying crucial theoretical and empirical points, and discussing the broader implications. A one‑page proposal of your research paper is due on 2/26.
1/22 Course organization and orientation
1/29 Concepts of race and ethnicity
Hirschman, Charles. 2004. "The Origins and Demise of the Concept of Race." Population and Development Review 30: 385-415.
Snipp, C. Matthew. 2004. "In Search of Indians." Contexts 3: 71-72.
Statement of the American Sociological Association on the Importance of Collecting Data and Doing Social Scientific Research on Race. Available online through Eric.
2/5 Race, ethnicity, culture, and class
Steinberg, Stephen 2001. The Ethnic Myth: Race, Ethnicity, and Class in America. Beacon Press.
(Don't read epilogue!)
2/12 The demographics of American education
Pollard, Kelvin M. And William P. O’Hare. 1999. "America's Minorities: The Demographics of Diversity." Population Bulletin 54 (3).
Riche, Martha Farnsworth. 2000. "America's Diversity and Growth: Signposts for the 21st Century." Population Bulletin 55 (2).
Note - You can download these and many other reports free from the Population Reference Bureau at www.prb.org. Many of these would provide good material for both your short papers and your longer research paper.
2/19 Educational and social inequalities
Farkas, George. 2003. "Racial Disparities and Discrimination in Education: What Do We Know, How Do We Know It, and What Do We Need To Know" Teachers College Record 105: 1119-1146.
Fischer, Mary J. And Douglas Massey. 2004. "The Ecology of Racial Discrimination." City and Community 3: 221-241.
Mickelson, Roslyn Arlin. 2003. "When Are Racial Disparities in Education the Result of Racial Discrimination? A Social Science Perspective." Teachers College Record 105: 1052-1086.
· Assignment 1 due
2/26 Desegregation and white flight
Wells, Amy Stuart and Robert L. Crain. 1999. Stepping Over the Color Line: African-American Students in White Suburban Schools. New Haven: Yale University Press.
· Term paper proposal due
3/5 Affirmative action and equal employment opportunity
Harper, Shannon and
Barbara Reskin. 2005. "Affirmative Action at School and on the Job."
Annual Review of Sociology 31:357-379.
3/12 No class
3/19 The student experience
Lareau, Annette and Horvat, Erin M. (1999). “Moments of Social Inclusion and Exclusion Race, Class, and Cultural Capital in Family-School Relationships.” Sociology of Education 72 (1): 37-53.
Perry, Imani. 1988. “A Black Student's Reflection on Public and Private Schools”. Harvard Educational Review 58 (3): 332-336.
Delpit, Lisa. 1988. “The Silenced Dialogue: Power and Pedagogy in Educating Other People’s Children”. Harvard Educational Review 58 (3): 332-336.
Fordham, Signithia and Ogbu, John U. (1986). “Black students' school success: Coping with the ‘burden of ‘acting white’’”. The Urban Review 18 (3), 176-206.
· Assignment 2 due
3/26 Schools, curriculum, and stratification
Jordan, W.J., Lara J. And James M. Mcpartland. 1996. "Exploring the Causes of Early Dropout among Race-Ethnic and Gender Groups." Youth and Society 28: 62-94.
Olneck, Michael R. 2000. "Can Multicultural Education Change What Counts as Cultural Capital." American Educational Research Journal.
Pescosolido, Bernice A., Elizabeth Grauerholtz, and Melissa A. Milkie. 1996. "Culture and Conflict: The Portrayal of Blacks in U.S. Children's Picture Books Through the Mid- and Late-Twentieth Century." American Sociological Review 62: 443-464.
4/2 Immigration
Alba, Richard and Victor Nee. 2003. Remaking the American Mainstream: Assimilation and Contemporary Immigration. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
4/9 Immigration
Rumbaut, Ruben G. And Alejandro Portes (eds.). 2001. Ethnicities: Children of Immigrants in America. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
4/16 Race, ethnicity, culture and class
Steinberg, Stephen 2001. The Ethnic Myth: Race, Ethnicity, and Class in America. Beacon Press.
(READ epilogue)
Massey, Douglas S. 1990. American Apartheid: Segregation and the Making of the Underclass. AJS 96 (2): 329-357.
· Assignment 3 due
4/23 Student papers - oral presentations
4/30 Student papers - oral presentations
· Final paper due