A Comparative Analysis of the Effects of Private, Public and Home Schooling on African American Females and Males and their Racial Counterparts

Abstract

For many years, the debate on public and private schools, in terms of how children exposed to the different educational environments could be affected differently by each, continued to grow. The rise in home schooling has come from many different arenas. Parents having the time, wanting to have a direct influence on how their children are taught, the rise in violence in many schools, and the decline in teacher and curriculum quality are some of the many factors that have contributed to this change. Using the Sexual Difference and Functional Theories, this essay analyzes the effects of each of the three school systems. The Functional Theory explains the effects on the thoughts and actual process because it is a sociological theory that focuses on all the parts of an organization working together towards a common goal. Sexual Difference theorists problematize the connection of morphological men and women to culturally coded roles of masculinity and femininity. Morphology replaces biological deterministic readings of the body with a psychosexual version of social constructivism. Thus, this paper hypothesizes that African American women and men are more successful in their school work when taught in the private school environment. It also hypothesizes that women are more likely to be successful and overcome obstacles when placed in the public school system or home schooling environment. Comparative, qualitative, and quantitative data were derived from many sources by using the document analysis technique, personal interviews, and observational method. The research findings seem to suggest that at least one of the hypotheses is valid.