A study of cultural biases in the Youngstown City school's language arts programs of the first graders in the "Contact Zone"

Abstract

The purpose of this study is two-fold: first, it openly discusses our national and local heritage of racism as potential impediments - as opposed to either genetics or cultural impositions, which are internal to the affected individual or group - to the pedagogy of the English language for students of African descent. Secondly, and most importantly, this thesis concerns the strategies utilized by the Youngstown City School system to overcome any obstacles - including traditional cultural biases of society - in its Language Arts programs for first graders. One of the tools used by the district is the Houghton Mifflin language arts textbooks for the first grade, which were examined for any cultural or racial biases in their story lines and characterizations of human beings. The district's other tools are state and federal programs, which were reviewed for content and function. Fortunately, after several decades of deterioration in academic achievement and low standardized tests scores, YCS systems seems to be at least headed in the right direction with its Language Arts program, which is the only scholastic area YCS students surpassed on mandatory federal and state standards.