Education Inequality

Throughout decades, education inequality is still one of the most deliberate and controversial issues in the United States. Thus far, the privilege or right to receive education has not attained the level of equality throughout the nation. Poor districts obtain less educational funds while rich districts obtain more, which create an immense gap between the quality of schools in poor and rich areas. In other words, the education gap is the root of inequality in America. Inequality in education is linked to the major problems in the society. The need for studies to be done to find ways of overcoming these inequalities is very inevitable. The means of mitigating these inequalities are important for the entire world. This is something of great interest due to the fact that children need quality education which is a pillar for a guaranteed future. Generally speaking, the distinctions among races, genders, and classes in the society have caused the educational inequality in America.

From a young age, my parents instilled in me the belief that education is the pathway to opportunity. By obtaining an education, I could acquire knowledge, develop skills, and pursue a rewarding career. However, as I grew older, I soon recognized that factors outside of my control could decide if I graduated high school and attended college. Three sources, which examine the topic of educational inequality are “A Public Education Primer- Basic (And Sometimes Surprising Facts About the U.S. Education System),” “Money, Race and Success: How Your School District Compares,” and “A Dozen Economic Facts About K-12 Education.” Therefore, funding disparities, educational resource availability, and college accessibility suggest the role educational inequality plays throughout students’ lives.

Throughout the semester we have talked about the concept of community. Communities are more than just neighborhoods and cities. Communities are the social environment people grow up in interact throughout their everyday life. Communities have norms and procedures that transcend normal thinking. In the USA alone, there are multiple communities in multiple States and regions. In INT, we have talked about socio economic communities, racial communities, and even gender base communities. However, the problem in America, is that these communities are divided so heavily. So as we move forward with our education, a question arises. What do we do now? Do we allow communities to say so segregated, or do we try to change them? For society to survive and flourish, it needs a healthy community and happy citizens. Equality is key. Segregation and inequality directly go against this notion. I propose, for a stronger community and better living conditions, we as a society need to unite. Race, socio economics, and gender should not define a person's place in society. If America wants a true community that is prosperous for all, equality should be our main focus.

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 education system in the United States has expanded over the years to prepare individuals for the demanding labor market that constitutes our society. It has shifted from the development of mere intellectual scholars to the development of intellectual scholars competitive enough for a work force that now requires a degree for entrance. As this system of education has expanded throughout the country, so has the reproduction of inequality. To explain the manner in which this system has been structured to achieve a gap of inequity among society’s affluent and disadvantaged members, conflict theorist Karl Marx claims that, “School institutions are intentionally designed to integrate individuals into an unjust society” (Brand lecture, January

It should be on revelation that African Americans like other minority groups are already receiving an unjust education compared to their white counterparts. Being an African American in today’s education system can already be considered a disadvantage, and from multiple sources such as; Brookings.edu article over “Unequal Opportunity: Race And Education” and Pew Research Center.org article over “On Views of Race and Inequality, Blacks and Whites are Worlds Apart”, all the data can be traced back to African Americans falling behind on the achievement scale and the educational gap only continuing to rise, and this is without the negligence of Ebonics being factored in.

When one thinks of the word “inequality”, some things that come to mind are racial inequality, gender inequality, economic inequality, marriage inequality, or social inequality. These inequalities have evolved into movements and revolutions, making strides for future generations to live in a nation that supports them. However, when it comes to making strides for our future generations to be successful, the same statement cannot be made. This is due to the fact that our nation and government aren’t concerned with the welfare and success of our present generation. One inequality that hasn’t delivered a sense of urgency to be tackled by our nation, and specifically our city of New York, is Education Inequality. Horace Mann, “The Father of American

For the first century of the United States, Congress had a restricted but active position in education, which expanded after the Civil War in 1865. At that time, the federal government mandated new union states to offer free public schools and established an early form of the Department of Education. From the late 1930s to the early 1990s, the Supreme Court's opposition to congressional power decreased, clearing the way for a greater federal role in education. The federal role in education increased as Congress provided funding for the construction of schools, teacher salaries, and school lunch programs. However, this assistance was geared toward wealthier school districts, which negatively impacted poorer, urban schools (Martin, 2012).

Throughout the world, there have been continuous attempts to reform education at all levels. With different causes that are deeply rooted in history, society, and culture, this inequality is difficult to eradicate. Although difficult, education is vital to society’s movement forward. It promotes “citizenship, identity, equality of opportunity and social inclusion, social cohesion as well as economic growth and employment” and for these reasons, equality should be promoted (Shrivastava,67).

What grade would America receive for our education system? America would probably get a D because we cannot provide everyone with the same quality education as other public schools, private, and charter schools. Education is important in all countries especially in America, but there is so much educational inequality that everyone does not get an equal opportunity at a good education. This can be due to the location and income of families that can determine how successful they are going to be in school. The government has attempted to increase graduation rates by implementing new laws and standards that have actually in time proven to be unsuccessful. This essay is going to highlight the educational inequality in America,

In the modern world, education is the crucial key to the economic success. It can help a poor country become a developed country, or make a developed country become a more advanced one. A successful education system is a system, which makes sure that every student can have access to knowledge equally. Although the United States is one of the wealthiest countries in the world, there seem to be many inequalities in the American education system. In this essay, the education inequalities will be classified into four areas: race, economic background, gender, and standardized educational testing.

The United States had gone through so many changes over the years and with each change we could say that we have become a better nation. Along the way to becoming a better nation, we have gone through highs and lows; however there seems to be a constant low that is now taking a toll on our children. The low may also end up having an effect on our future and that low is inequality in education among minority races and low income students. Low income students should be concerned with inequality in education in the United States because this means that their chances of continuing their education to obtain a better paying job in the future is significantly harder to do then students in higher income brackets.

In recent years, the term intersectionality has taken the foregrounds in understanding how differences such as age, gender, race, sexuality, disability, and religion, etc., interweave and intersect upon individual lives in modern society (Beck 1992). Intersectionality has become a demonstration as to understand, employ, and analyze with difference in which difference itself becomes a feature of otherness. Intersectionality is important to understand and realize because it is a dynamic that changes through different spaces and for different people; which works on a micro and macro level. In this paper, the goal is to explore the different views of inequality for individual’s education in the United States and show how intersectionality plays a vital role in understanding those differences that perpetuate education inequality, stratification, and social reproduction.

Fiscal policy is the public policy domain that I am most interested in. But education policy is a strong secondary interest of mine, and recently, with the school closings in Detroit and Philadelphia and persistent problems in public education, I find urban policy to be extremely important. Additionally, as a conservative, seeing the increasing income inequality, in terms of solutions, I would like to analyze the deep root of the problem in lieu of a solution that I believe only scratches the surface such as increasing taxes on top earners. I do not think this will solve this issue because there is a disparity between the top 1% of earners and the top 1% of wealth owners and there is no real wealth tax. Wealth is what creates inequality in opportunity. Strengthening equal opportunity through K-12 education is where I would start looking answers.

I have a profound interest in educational policy research. Last year, I wrote a detailed academic research paper about modern American school segregation, the current achievement gap, and the effects of these unequal systems. Using my research paper and the educational policy I analyzed, I also created a documentary about the topic. It was a finalist at Maryland’s History Day, and won first place at Regional History Day. From this eight-month process, I gained a variety of understanding and opinions about American school inequality that I hold today. I am also an extremely active participant in a debate team, where I have dedicated this full year to researching, debating, and analyzing American educational policy. This has given me a variety