Isolation In Schools Research Articles

THE IMPACT OF RACIALLY INCLUSIVE SCHOOLING ON ADULT INCARCERATION RATES AMONG U.S. COHORTS OF AFRICAN AMERICANS AND WHITES SINCE 1930*

Despite the substantial body of research on the psychological and social effects of racial segregation in schools on African Americans, few studies have considered the possibility that more racially inclusive schools might reduce the risk of extremely negative adult life experiences such as incarceration. Yet such a connection is made plausible by research linking black racial isolation in schools to variables that are often associated with incarceration rates, including concentrated poverty, and low educational and occupational aspirations and attainment. In this paper, we apply methods first developed by labor economists to assess the impact of racial inclusiveness in schools on individual incarceration rates for 5‐year cohorts of African Americans and whites born since 1930. We find strong support for the conclusion that blacks educated in states where a higher proportion of their classmates were white experienced significantly lower incarceration rates as adults. Moreover, our analysis suggests that the effects of racial inclusiveness on black incarceration rates have grown stronger over time. These longitudinal effects are consistent with the argument that the educational climate of predominantly black schools has deteriorated in more recent decades.

Social isolation in 4‐year‐olds

This paper is concerned with the heterogeneity and home correlates of social isolation in school. Three data sets, each involving 40–42 4‐year‐olds, were studied at home and preschool. Three observational measures of social isolation were used—time alone, time unoccupied and frequency of interaction. These social isolation variables showed few linear relations to measures of temperamental characteristics, other child characteristics or measures of mother‐child interaction. However, categorizing the children into four groups on their status of alone and unoccupied, or into eight groups on all three social isolation variables, yielded categories showing meaningful patterns of interactions in school and meaningful relations to home variables. The dangers of considering any categorization system as absolute are emphasized.

Community Involvement in Aboriginal Schools

The following paper is based on experiences gained in schools in North East Arnhem Land. While it is likely that the situations as described are applicable to other areas, the authors do not claim that there will always be direct comparisons. Too often the wider Australian community regards Aboriginals as one people with one set of common needs whereas even limited experience soon reveals a great diversity amongst these people in terms of language, customs and environment and consequently a great diversity of needs and necessary solutions.In schools throughout Australia the desirability of and need for community involvement become more apparent every day. To quote the Karmel report Schools in Australia,“After almost one hundred years of public schooling a reappraisal of the relationship of the school to the wider society is taking place in Australia, as it is in most industrialized nations. The isolation of schools is being questioned as is also the idea that education should be confined to formal institutions and concentrated heavily upon those who have not yet entered employment.”We have now reached the stage where the desirability of community involvement in education can be taken by most as a self evident truth and we can look”back in wonder at the times when such an idea was radical or not even considered.In Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory the opportunities for involving the community in the school are probably greater than in the wider Australian society. For example, the families are easy to contact, they are generally open to suggestion and they do not have preconceived notions as to the “proper” way in which a school should be run. However, too often we have taken community involvement to mean the fund raising activities of Parents’ Committees and left the real problems of initiating genuine involvement well alone. (The activities of the School Council at Hermannsburg are a notable exception; there may be others).