Education Inequality And Punished Opportunities

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.

Education is an integral part of society, School helps children learn social norms as well as teach them to be successful adults. The school systems in United States, however are failing their students. In the world as a whole, the United States is quickly falling behind other countries in important math and reading scores. The United States ranked thirtieth in math on a global scale and twentieth in literacy. This is even more true in more urban, lower socio-economic areas in the United States. In West Trenton Central High School was only 83% proficiency in literacy and only 49% of the students were proficient in math. These school have lower test scores and high dropout rates. Many of these students come from minority backgrounds and are often form low income families. There are many issues surrounding these urban schools. There is a severe lack of proper funding in these districts, and much of the money they do receive is sanctioned for non-crucial things. Schools also need a certain level of individualization with their students, and in many urban classes, this simply does not happen. While there are many factors affecting the low performance of urban schools, the lack of proper funding and distribution of funds, the cultural divide between teachers and students in urban districts, along with the lack of individualization in urban classrooms are crucial factors to explain the poor performance in these districts. Through a process of teacher lead budget committees and

Resources that schools receive are different depending on the area the school is in. Students in low-income neighborhoods do not have the same opportunities as the students in higher income neighborhood. These underprivileged schools are overcrowded and does not have the means necessary to better the student’s education.

America’s school system and student population remains segregated, by race and class. The inequalities that exist in schools today result from more than just poorly managed schools; they reflect the racial and socioeconomic inequities of society as a whole. Most of the problems of schools boil down to either racism in and outside the school or financial disparity between wealthy and poor school districts. Because schools receive funding through local property taxes, low-income communities start at an economic disadvantage. Less funding means fewer resources, lower quality instruction and curricula, and little to no community involvement. Even when low-income schools manage to find adequate funding, the money doesn’t solve all the school’s

If the education system relies most of their funding from taxes, where do they end up getting the rest of the money. The government and administration grant more money to wealthier areas than low -income areas. Wealthier communities are granted more money because they have a higher percentage of funding coming from property taxes. This leaves the low-income students at a disadvantage. People living in low income areas mainly rent and don’t own their own property. As a result of not having a house or owning property, they have little property taxes. If low -income students are not given enough money for funding a school, the students are suffering. With the lack of money causes students to miss out on college prep classes such as AP classes and Honors classes. These classes are pivotal to the students that want to pursue higher education and a road to success. For example students in the low-income areas are given a poor education. They are not given the resources, or quality teachers in order to achieve success. According to George Miller House Education and the Workforce committee, many students are not educationally ready to graduate and attend higher education (Minority 1). This is another reason why low income students should be provided the same classes as a middle class or a wealthier community. In a study, 2 million students in 7,300 schools had no access to all calculus classes, a staple in many high – achieving high schools (Minority 2). Low-income

“Education is a major driver of development and is a strong instrument for reducing poverty, improving health, gender equality, peace, and stability” (The World Bank) - so why is it that students are often deprived from an extensive education? In Illinois, education funding has been an ongoing problem. Funding for schools is based on the property taxes where the schools are located, causing those who live in lower socioeconomic areas to receive less educational funding. This is unfair because children who live in lower socioeconomic areas are not able to receive the same opportunities and benefits that are acquired when a quality education is obtained. This is why educational funding in Illinois should be distributed evenly so that every

In public schools across the United States, educators work to provide students with the knowledge necessary to function in modern society and to continue an academic career. Quantitative minimum standards exist to evaluate preparedness, which ultimately provides evidence of disparity across race and economic class. In search of the solution, journalists, politicians, and educators look for the source, but too many factors play equally affecting roles. Articles and research generally group the abundant causes of disparity into a singular category: unequal opportunity. Additionally, the important differences between equality and equity should be defined; the end goal may be equality in education, but bringing struggling education systems up to modern standards is not salvageable without equity. Journalists Alana Semuels and Abe Feuerstein look to financial distribution for a possible solution to a multifaceted problem. Semuels evaluates the levels of sources of educational funding and argues against district responsibility as the sole contributor of financial support; similarly, Feuerstein seeks for better distribution of power between local, state, and federal powers in education funding. However, Feuerstein’s argument depends heavily on opinionated analysis of broad issues rather than the more convincing argument of Semuels that incorporates data and quotes from experienced education politicians, lawyers, and advocates.

The resources available to an urban, lower income school are to be equal to those available to a suburban, higher income school. Two schools in New York, one from a wealthy school district and one from a poor district, were given computers. The State provided the same number of computers to each school, therefore claiming to evenly supporting each school. However, the school with the poorer children had a larger number of students; the nicer school had twice the number of computers in proportion to the number of their students (Kozol 84). It seems that the biggest factor keeping the children of lower income homes behind is the school funding available. The poorer school district does not have the money to spend on the things a wealthier district may, but there is no real evidence that spending money makes much difference in the outcome of a child's education. In many cases, family and background have a greater influence on how well a child does in school (Kozol 176-77). Richard Kahlenberg, a member of the Century Foundation, says, "Research findings and common sense tell us that the people who make up a school—the students, parents, and teachers—matter more (Lewis 648)

Like Friedman explains, funding for education is determined by property taxes meaning the most expensive homes are taxed the most, which ultimately contributes to funding for education. Districts like Wapato, Toppenish and Granger suffer from this because of the lack of funding. In The World is Flat Friedman states “Without any question the wealthiest school districts attracted the best teachers, principals, and curriculum planners, along with the most demanding parents and PTAs, while the poorest districts attracted the weakest teachers and principals and parents who had to work three jobs just to survive.” This definitely can relate to what we see in our valley. For instance if we compare West Valley High School to Toppenish High School, from personal experience, the evidence is clear that students are more prepared for college coming out of a school like West Valley. In the New York Time’s book Class Matters it says that “Students like these remain in college because they can hardly imagine doing otherwise. Their parents, understanding the importance of a bachelor’s degree, spent hours reading to them, researching schools, and making it clear to them that they simply must graduate from college.” In other words, educated parents stress the importance of a college education and take action from the early school years of their child. On the other hand, a

“ Historically, low-income students as a group have performed less well than high-income students on most measures of academic success” (Reardon, 2013). Typically low-income families come from low-income parts of the state making a school that does not have as much funding as a higher economic schools does lack in resources for their students. The school then has lower paid teachers and administrators, with lower quality supplies. This results in a school which typically has faculty who do not perform as well as the well-funded schools. “The law fails to address the pressing problems of unequal educational resources across schools serving wealthy and poor children” (Hammond, 2007). Students from low and high income families will not be able to achieve the same education because their education simply is not the same.

School inequality remains a challenge despite efforts of civil right groups and minority movement. Congress and legislation are lenient to guarantee an equilibrium and meet the minorities’ needs. Racial inequality remains an issue for low-income and minority students. More black and Latino students dropped out rate are higher.

The education system in America is stained by racial and structural inequalities that cause those in lower income areas to not receive the necessary resources that enable a student to thrive. These benefits are as simple as certified teachers (Turner), maintained classrooms, and even accredited school districts. The common denominator in the lack of basic expectations is the type of funding public schools receive. The federal government gives “about 10 percent of the money schools have to spend” (Turner), while the state and mainly local dollars have to provide the rest. When the majority of a school’s funding is produced using the local region’s property taxes,

inequality in public schools is a huge problem, if you are someone of renown in the community, a wealthy family or athlete you get better attention than regular or poor kids. Even talented artists or musicians are not treated as well in public education. That doesn’t get community dollars like football games do. People can change this by showing up at schools meetings, having there voices heard, stricter restrictions on teachers to pay attention to those falling behind instead of those who are progressing. those progressing need to phase up to another teacher. change the format of schools from grades to phases to encourage progress at every level without limitation. Someone may graduate at level 26 and be a whole year into college classes

In today’s society it seems that in order to get a quality education that will prepare you for your future you must be one of the fortunate children born close to a well-funded school district. The schools that are academically acceptable are schools that have more money than the schools that are not. One might conclude that because of this, schools that are not academically acceptable are failing due to the fact that they do not have the right resources necessary to pass end of the year tests. There are numerous reasons put forth from researchers who want to look into why our public schools are failing. In my opinion, the single most significant problem with American public schools is the inadequate funding to impoverished schools, poor schools tend to have lower test scores than well-funded schools; the education in America can not be considered fair under these conditions.

Education has become increasingly important over the past few centuries. In today’s day and age higher education, means more power and money. However, just like everything else in this world of ours, there’s the good and the bad. The fight for everyone's right to receive an equal education has been going on since the 1860’s. Till this day that fight still remains.