TABLE 7.

Proverty in the United States, by Ethnic Group

PERCENTAGE OF PERSONS

BELOW OFFICIAL POVERTY LEVEL

Ethnic Group 1980 1991b 2000

American Indian 27,5% 31.2% NA
Eskimo 28.8 26.9
Aleut 19,5 16.8
Asian and Pasific Island 13.1 13.8 10.8
 Japanese 6.5 7.0
 Chinese 13.5 14.0
 Filipino 7.1 6.4
 Koren 11.1 13.7
 Asian Indian 9.9 9.7
 Vietnamese 35.5 25.7
15.8 14.3
 Hawaiian
13.9 15.3
 Guamanian
29.5 25.8
 Samoan
Spanish Origin 23.5 28.7 21.2
 Mexican 23.3 26.3
 Puerto Rican 36.3 31.7
 Cuban 13.2 14.6
African American 29.9 32.7 22.1
 Central city 30.1 38.1
 Urban Fringe 20.2 24.8
 Rural 36,4 52.7
White 9.4 11.3 7.5
 Central city 11.1 10.7
 Urban Fringe 6.1 5.4
 Rural 11.2 13.5
White ethnic groups (selected)
 English 11.3 NA
 German 8.1 NA
 French 10.7 NA
 Irish 9.6 NA
 Italian 7.3 NA
 Polish 7.0 NA
 The defict argument focuses on the developmental lags in cognitive development. The elements
within the argument, however, comprise an acceptable explanation for the high rates of school
failure among ethnic minorities and the nation’s poor. It stands in opposition to the philosophy of
multicultural education and the belief that teachers can accommodate cultural and individual
diversity in the classroom while maintaining high level of academic achievement and the
personal development among their students. Unfortunately, the deficit point of view is still alive
today, nurtured by outdated and ill-founded research and related literature published in the
1960s. Quotes from some of these work will illustrate the deficit philosophy.

1. More than a million children starting school each fall are disadvantaged, victims of too little to
late. The impoverishment of their lives is so severe that failure is a natural consequence. For
those caught up this most vicious of cycles, compensatory education is desperately needed to
preclude tragedy.74

2. Perhaps the most serious deficiencies occur in the area of cognitive functioning; in the processes
of thinking, in a language skills and reading …. The consequences of cognitive deficiencis in
culturally deprived children are complicated by their pattern of motivation and attitudes … such
children have a feeling of alienation induced by family climate and experience combined with a
debilitatingly low self-concept; they tend to question they own worth, to fear being challenged,
and to exhibit a desire to cling to their families; they have many feelings of guilt and shame…
These children are wary and their truts in adults is limited; they are hyperactive… quick to vent
their hostility, orally and physically. In other ways they are pathetic, unresponsive and lack
initative. It is difficult for them to form meaningful relationship. 75

3. These are socially disadvantaged children because they are denied to experinces of nrmal
children. They lack toys and challenging objects to play with; they lack conversation models and,
thus, develop a poor vocabulary.76

4. Nego scores averaging about fifteen points below the white average on IQ test must be taken
seriously as evidence of genetic differences between the two races in learning patterns. Research
suggest that such a difference would tend to work against Negroes and against the
“disadvantaged” generally when it comes to “cognitive” learning-abstrack reasoning-which forms
the basis for intelligence measurements and for the higher mental skills. Conversely, Negroes and
other “disadvantaged” children tend to do well in tasks involving rote learning-memorizing
mainly through repetition-and some other skills, and these aptitudes can be used to help raise
their scholastic achievement and job pontetial. 77

Failure, the Difference Argument

This position argues that the United States is a polycultural society with monocultural schools. It
accuses the school, rather than the child, of unreadiness. Its proponents clam than the deficit view
is based on ethnocentric research; that is, research based on Anglo middle-class norms and values.
Furthermore, they claim that the deficit view damages the learner’s self-esteem because chool
success.
 Under these conditions the IQ’s of the inner-city children improved sharply.
This occurred even on the old IQ tests with the middle-class biased items. Apparently more
important than the content of the test items was the attitude of the children toward the test
situation and the examiner…
It is noteworthy that the middle-class youngsters improved far less than the inner-city
youngsters in the haggard experiment. This is because they were already working nearer the
capacity, and the new environmental input-that is, the equalization of the test environment did not
between the two groups; rather it led to a sharp reduction of the difference.80

Typically,proponents of the deficit view propose school reforms that focus on remediation.
They suggest a cultural injection as an antidote for poverty the earlier the better and advocate
compensatory education programs.
Typically, programs based on the deficit view of reform place the burden of change on the
child. Preschool programs assume that proverty children lag behind their middle-class
counterparts in preparation for school and propose a preschool compensatory program designed to
make them learn at an even greater rate because their problem is essentially one of catching up.
Since language development is crucial for school success, some programs recommend preschool
that concentrate directly on language rather than the indirect learning readiness emphasis of head
start (such as tasting and learning about new foods).81
Reforms proposed by the difference advocates, on the other hand, focus changing the school
rather than the child to date, large-scale programs modeled on this approach are rare. But there are
some. Bicultural schools exist in several states where learning a second or third language is
expected of everyone. Reading program designed for the linguistically different begin with
primers in the vernacular, and then systematically work toward teaching contrasts between the
dialect and standard English.
Who are the disadvantaged in the United States schools? Fantini and Weinstein have written
that the disadvantaged are those for whom the curriculum is outdated,inadequated or irrelevant.
They also include anyone who is unable to attain the basic goals of physical comfort and
survival;feelings of potency, self-worth and connection with others and concern fr the common
good of humanity.82
A good example of this is a young elementary school teacher in Chicago who was appalled
to learn that some of her inner-city children did not know that beds go in a bedroom. What she did
not realize is that many of her children’s homes had beds in the kitchen, as a matter of course,
particularly in the cold of winter.
Furthermore, she confused and degrade)howover unintentionally)her children requires a denial of
family and community. They cite as evidence teachers who, operating out of the deficit position,
often make statements like, “If only we didn’t have to send the children home at night ,”or” What
can we expect of kids with parents like that” Given a choice of fitting in at home or school, most
children choose the former; thus the conflict between home and school expections must be
addressed. Because the child is powerless to change the school, it is the teacher’s responbility to
find out where the childis and build from there.
Riessman typifies the difference position, which also emerged in the 1960s. He argues
against the cultural deficit point of view in his explanation of the hiden IQ and cultural positives
of poverty children and youth.78 According to Riessman, mainstream schools put a premium on
speed and tend to equate slowness with dukkness. He claims that the assumption that slow pupils
are not bright functions as a self-fulfilling prophecy, and strengths is slowness.Recognizing that
many of these children have serious skill deficiencies and undesirable anti-intellectual attitudes,
Riessman urges teachers to build upon the cultural positives that poverty children bring to school.
He includes te following in his list of possitives:

 Cooperativeness and mutual aid that mark the extended family

 Avoidance of the strain accompanying competitiveness and individualism
 Equalitarianism, Informality, and humor
 Freedom form self-blame and parental overprotection
 Enjoyment of each other’s company and lessened sibling rivalry
 Security found in the extended family and traditional outlook
 Enjoyment of music, games, sports and cards
 The ability to express anger
 The Freedom from being world-bound
 An externally oriented rather and an introspective outlook
 A spatial rather than temporal perspective
 A problem-centered rather than an abstract- centered approach
 The use of physical and visual style in learning79

Riessman arguest disadvantaged children often do poorly on test because they lack
meaningfull, directed practice; they lack motivation, and they are typically fearful of the
examiner. In reviewing a study by Haggard, Riessman writes,
Haggard decided to control each of these factors, He gave both low-income and
middle-class children three one-hour training periodsin taking IQ tests. These periods
included careful explanitions of what was involved in each of the different types of
problems found on the IQ tests. The examinations where given in words that were
familiar to both groups. Haggard also offered special rewards for doing well, and he
trained his examiners to be responsive to the inner-city children as well as to the
middle-class youngsters, thus, greatly enhancing the rapport.
With such comments as “Jhonny! We don’t speak that way!” Jhonny is speaking the way all
the important people in his life speak.
This does not mean that we can ignore the fact that the achievement levels of students like
Kevin and Rahel are deficient. This does not mean that expectations or standards of
achievement should be lowered. The question is, how can we reverse the existing patterns in of
failure in schools and equalize the chnces of all students to achieve success?
In the attempt to find out how student learn best, it seems more helpful to see them as
representing alternatives rather thanas beings that are deficient or different. Alternatives
connote the coexsistence of worthy options and open us to the various ways are student have
learned to perceive, evaluate, believe ad behave. As Benitez state ,”Teachers must be helped to
understand that the poor and racial or ethenic minorities can and actually have been able to
learn at the same level as others when the proper environmental support was provided .”83
CONCLUSIONS
This and the preceding chapter examinted some of the individual differences that exist within
broader pools of culture. These characterisics are common to the human condition. Each
student has special interests and aptitudes, preferred ways of learning , level of skills, personal
values, various self-images, a family and peers and the pontential to become self-actualized.
Teachers cannot assume that because students are members of a certain ethnic group they
will be a certain way. We cannot, for example, assume that Carmen Hernandez know Spainshs
or that Isaac Washington, who lives near sixty-third and Halsted in Chicago is not an expert on
Beethoven. On the other hand, we knoe that cultures provide a context within which our lives
unfold. The more that is know about culture, therefore, the better we can interpret student
differences that are linked to cultural ways that differ form what is expected in school. How
Teachers can accommodate cultural and individual differences in the classroom in the focus of
chapter 8.

COMPARE AND CONTRAST

1. Learning skills and learning styles
2. Concreate and formal operations
3. Achievements and aptitudes and learning skills
4. Self-concept and motivation
5. Attitudes and beliefs
6. Ethnicity and sense of ethnic identity
7. Physical attributes and disabilities
8. The cultural deficit and cultural defference explanations of school failure
ACTIVITES AND QUESTIONS
1. Consider the following guidelines for understanding individual and cultural difference in
the classroom.

TABLE 7.2
Individual Differences That can make a Aspects of Ethinicity That Can Lead to
Cultural Conflict or “Transitional Trauma”
Difference in How Students Learn in The Classroom

Learning styles Verbal communication

Learning skills Nonverbal communication

Level of achievements and aptitudes Orientation modes

Motivation Social Values

Self-Concept Intellectual modes

Exceptionalities

Physical Characteristics

Peer relationship

Family conditions

Beliefs, attitudes, and Values

Sense of ethnic identity

Gender

Special interests

Reconsider the Armstrong and Benson vignettes and answer the following questions, using the
preceding guidelines. Share your ideas in small and large groups.

The Case of Kevin Armstrong

a. Why did Ms. Dixon perceive that Kevin was not ready for third grade?
 (List as many reasons as you can thin of.)
b. Assume that, like Ms. Dixon, you know kevin only in the school context. To what
extent do you agree with her decision?Explain.
c. From Kevin’s point of view, what are some possible explanations for his behavior?(List
as many as you can think of.)
d. What are some of the strengths or personal positives kevin brought to the classroom
that his teacher was unaware of?
e. How do you suppose Kevin’s parents feel about the school’s action concerning their
son?
f. If you were Kevin’s teacher, how would you handle the situation?

Warren Benson’s Classroom

a. What two or three student behaviors do you find more disturbing? Briefly, what are
some probable reasons for these behaviors?
b. What evidence of possible cultural conflict do you find in this classroom? How have
these students probably experienced cultural conflict in their previous schoooling?List
as many possible examples of intercultural conflict and/or misunderstandings as you
can. Be specific.
c. To what degree is it possible for you to analyze Warren Benson’s classroom without
falling into ethnic streeotypes about the teacher and the students? Do the guidelines
help?
2. Read Other people’s children: Cultural Conflict in the Classroom, by Lisa Delpit,
especially Part I. How does that author address the cultural deficit perspective
discussed in this chapter? To what extent do you agree that the cultural deficit mentality
of the 60s and 70s has reemarged in the “at risk” label used by many educators today?
3. Read Savage Inequalities by Jonathan Kozol. What insights, if any, does the book
provide regarding social and educational inequities in society today? How do the
schools in your community and state compare with the schools described by Kozol?
What cand and should be done to provide more equitable schools for all the children
and youth in our society?
4. List five individual differences that you see as being important influences in how a
students learns. Find out how you could diagnose or asses and respond to each one. Use
specific examples in a content area of your choice.