Analysis: How America's Public Schools Keep Students In Poverty

With landmark Supreme Court decisions in regards to education such as Brown v Board of Education, which made segregation within schools illegal, one would be inclined to believe that modern schools are void of any inequality. However, at a deeper glance, it is apparent that there is a glaring inequality within public school systems at the national, statewide, and even district-wide level. Such an inequality has drastic results as the education one receives has a high correlation to the college they will attend, and the job they will work. It is in society's best interest that public school systems be improved to equally supplement students with the tools necessary to succeed. While the public school system aims to reduce the inequality within it, they have proven ineffective in guaranteeing children of all races and economic classes an equal education.

Almost all the family incomes are over $100,000...The incomes in this school represent less than 1 percent of the families in the United States,” (256) compared to working-class families who earn incomes “at or below $12,000” (256). Anyon presents these examples to compare the backgrounds of each school and uses this as logos to persuasively reason her claim that quality of education is offered to people who can afford it. Public schools that working-class and middle-class families can afford do not offer the same education private schools that upper-class and capitalist families can afford. Wealthy children who are privileged get an advantage early on in their education career because they are able to afford better quality teachers and lessons. This varied quality of education found in curriculums is what creates the unequal divide between educated individuals in different social classes. An audience of scholars and teachers would be persuaded by this claim because Anyon’s data transparently shows the uneven distribution of resources and opportunity found in the social class schools.

The United States is a country based on equal opportunity; every citizen is to be given the same chance as another to succeed. This includes the government providing the opportunity of equal education to all children. All children are provided schools to attend. However, the quality of one school compared to another is undoubtedly unfair. Former teacher John Kozol, when being transferred to a new school, said, "The shock from going from one of the poorest schools to one of the wealthiest cannot be overstated (Kozol 2)." The education gap between higher and lower-income schools is obvious: therefore, the United States is making the effort to provide an equal education with questionable results.

The world we live in tends to put filters on what we see, it has always been that way. We will never know the whole story to our society and what is really going on. That is why we have to think for ourselves and not give in with what one person says or thinks. Therefore we need to stand for what we want, our beliefs, and our rights. In Kandice Sumner’s Ted Talk “How America’s Public Schools Keep Kids In Poverty” (November 2016) she argues that kids of color don’t get the same education or resources needed like the white kids do; that it’s not an equal system. Therefore her students don’t learn well. I agree with her completely because in order to have a good education money is needed for the students resources; money and education

Everyone has heard the saying “the rich get richer and the poor get poorer” but few people think of schools when they here this phrase. The way our educational system is set up today benefits students in high income areas more than it helps students in low income schools. People in the United States like to think that anyone can achieve greatness if they try hard enough but getting an education is important and being in a well-funded school never hurts. In this country there is a profound lack of funding to our schools and there is an inequality when it comes distributing the funds and it only serves to help some and disadvantage others.

There have been steps to fix this clear inequality of education in the United States, such as the institution of affirmative action. Unfortunately, this has not been enough because, though it gives minority students to gain acceptance, it does not make up the fact that they learned in an under-resourced environment and may lack the appropriate knowledge and skills to be successful in a university setting. It would take $100-200 billion to fix the public school system, yet we see that these funds are often used for other things, such as the building of a new stadium in Cleveland (“Children in America’s Schools”). It has not been a priority for many politicians, as we have seen in Chicago. There has been many closures of schools

In article “Growing income inequality threatens American education”, authors Duncan & Murnane (2014) speaks about the widening of gaps for educational opportunities between children of low- and high- income. By improving the educational outcomes, it will help to overcome the difficult challenges. The increase of social and economic inequality by globalization and technology has exhausted families and neighborhoods from reforming schools. When reforming schools we must focus on opportunities of more money, more choices, more accountability and new organizational structures. There needs to be a look upon the consistency and quality of experience and instruction given to the students (p.13-14). The government could provide a government-funded program that focuses mainly on children who are from a low-income family. If the government reforms the school system, it would allow the students more opportunities to expand their experience of attaining

We can’t look at the inequality given to our students without looking at the expenses used per child in certain areas of the country not too long ago. While desegregation of our schools had taken place before this time due to many of the schools zoning laws we find that there are still many schools facing challenges because of this issue. People choose to move to good neighborhoods for the right price and if you have a family to think about you are also looking into the school rating. If you have the privilege to be able to choose where you want to live and you have the availability to make it happen, you can find yourself in a wonderful neighborhood with a wonderful education system. But what about those who are fighting to make ends meet and can only afford so many housing opportunities and an unfortunate reality is that these neighborhoods are

The United States has a reputation for being free to all with promises of equal opportunity. America is not as equal as people think. In regards to income and wealth distribution, the U.S. has fallen behind a number of countries, such as Iran and Turkey ,and despite the freedom granted, America has become a place where inequality thrives and lower class people have little opportunity to move to the next financial class. This inequality finds its source within America’s education system, specifically alongside the disparity of opportunities and resources imposed on students in elementary school

Department of Education, “documents that schools serving low-income students are being shortchanged because school districts across the country are inequitably distributing their state and local funds”. (Education, 2011). Students that come from low income families are not given the equal chance to get the education that students from high income families get. If students are not given the tools they need to be educated, then they will have a poor chance of succeeding in the world.

When you compare two schools located in areas of different economic standing, you see a huge difference in graduation rate that correlates to difference in resources. This divide is widening the education gap and thus also the achievement gap. This is leading children in poverty to be stuck in poverty and rich children to be unaware of what poor children are going through in their own country. If we don’t make effort to allocate resources effectively, then children in poverty and children that are rich will be confined to feed the divide in our country. This will lead both to be in a bubble of ignorance, which will continue to create deeper tensions between the rich and poor. Jonathan Kozol explains that “most adolescents

One place where inequality can be clearly seen is in our school systems. Virtually all educators believe that a school affects its students’ intellectual and social development, and that “good” schools have more favorable effects on their students than “poor” schools do. But not all educators agree on what constitutes a “good” school. It seems that all educators would agree that a thriving school has access to more resources than struggling schools, and

As a student who attended public schools in low-income and high-income school areas, I become very acquainted with the opportunity and the stark of an inequitable system. My utter disappointment in the public education systems has me in hot pursuit of closing the opportunity gap. My experience as an educator from 2011-2015 in the fastest improving state of Tennessee, left me with a high sense of possibility regarding the solvability of the problem of inequity.

Thus, The Education Gap between the rich and the poor can be solved with more funding to community schools in poor neighborhoods by the government because low-funding is the primal reason for students being so far behind compared to their higher social class peers.

The problem that has been going on in society for many years now is that children with wealthy backgrounds receive a better education than low income students due to the fact that wealthy people tend to send their children to private institutions that have a different curriculum than public schools. This problem has limited American equity because “Only 28% of high school graduates from high-poverty schools enrolled in four-year universities, compared to 52% of graduates from low-poverty schools” (Chen, pg 3). This is a very important problem because the education system isn’t helping students “dig their way out of the poverty into which they were born” (Chen, pg 3). The inequality of the educational system affects students