Inequalities In Education Research Paper

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.

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)

     Will Durant, a businessman and the founder of General Motors, once said, “Education is the transmission of civilization.” Unfortunately, education is still one of the most deliberated 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 funding while rich districts obtain more, creating an immense gap between the quality of schools in poor and rich areas.

The gap between the nation’s best and worst public schools continues to grow. Our country is based on freedom and equality for all, yet in practice and in the spectrum of education this is rarely the case. We do not even have to step further than our own city and its public school system, which many media outlets have labeled “dysfunctional” and “in shambles.” At the same time, Montgomery County, located just northwest of the District in suburban Maryland, stands as one of the top school systems in the country. Within each of these systems, there are schools that excel and there are schools that consistently measure below average. Money alone can not erase this gap. While

There are diverse and contradictory views on school funding inequalities and school performance. Various research and reports have shown in great detail beyond this paper’s scope that inequalities in school funding does cause different outcomes for school children (Jackson, Johnson, & Persico, (2015. Unequal funding leads to unequal education: from the start, schools have different resources and means to educate our children (Kozol, (1991). Other reports suggest that different funding will lead to different social outcomes later on in life (Hyman, (2013); Biddle & Berliner, (2002). The fact is that schools in poorer neighborhoods all over the united states, funding are limited and they have poorer schools (Kozol, 1991). Schools in richer areas and especially in suburban white neighborhoods receive higher funding and they have better schools (Kozol, 1991). Some argue that school funding is not the problem and throwing money at the problem would not be the solution. This is somewhat contradictory because most well-funded schools are predominantly white. The schools are well lit, classrooms are spacious, student-to-teacher ratio is smaller, labs are well equipped, hot lunches are plenty, and teachers are experienced and well paid (Kozol (1991); Jackson, Johnson, & Persico, (2015).

Inequalities in Australian Schooling: Sociocultural Factors in terms of Cultural Capital, Habitus and Social Reproduction

Poverty within neighborhoods throughout the United States has increased immensely throughout the past 50 years. In 2011, nearly 46.2 million Americans were living in poverty compared to the 353,000 Americans who lived in poverty in 1959. (Dosomething 1) Poverty is hardly just defined as a lack of financial resources, it is defined as a condition that results in an absence of the freedom to choose arising from a lack of the capability to function effectively in society. (Poverty and Education 1)  For a person to be impoverished or to be living in a state of poverty is to live where they do not have the economic means to provide a healthy lifestyle for themselves and their family.  A majority of public school students across the country are considered “low-income”, according to a new study by the Southern Education Foundation.  Areas of concentrated impoverishment are often characterised by crime, unemployment, and lack of resources.  Children represent 24 percent of the population, but they comprise 34 percent of all people in poverty.  The shift to a majority-poor student population implies that a growing range of students who attend public schools are less likely to possess support at home, are less often exposed to enriching activities outside of school, and are more likely to drop out and never attend higher education.  Children living in poverty have a higher number of absenteeism or leave school altogether because they are likely to have to work or care for family

Diversity of education, diversity of wealth, and diversity of race are all hallmarks of San Antonio. Although diversity is typically considered beneficial to a community or city, in San Antonio, it is a detriment. The racial and economic divisions of San Antonio have implications beyond a lack of cultural diversity. In fact, it is detrimental to the education of the Hispanic and Latino communities, as the clear economic divisions heavily influence housing and districting, which is the determinant of public education. The housing disparities among the districts in San Antonio only leads to the perpetuation of poverty in Hispanic communities, as the current

Urban school districts have the odds stacked against them. Often times the families attending urban schools live in poverty. Poverty creates many social-emotional, mental, physical, economic and educational issues. People regularly blame the students or their families as a reason why students in urban settings are receiving unequal education when compared to their suburban counterparts. What is not considered is “educational outcomes for students of color are much more a function of their unequal access to key educational resources, including skilled teachers and quality curriculum, than they are a function of race” (Darling-Hammond, 2007, p. 320). This shows that although poverty is an important issue to tackle, focusing on better preparing teachers and staff to deal with the special circumstances in urban situations is a higher priority when thinking about

The high rise in homeless is partly due to the recent recession. Consequently, the recession left many household members without jobs and unable to pay for living expenses such as rent or a mortgage. Districts are aware of the crisis and are aware of the responsibility to fill the academic gap within the low-income population. All three districts have high numbers of economically disadvantaged students. According to the 2014 reports, Monson had 319 out of 1,160 students from a low-income household, Brockton had 13,722 out of 17,011, and Norwood had 997 out of 3,471 students. When looking at the achievement gap, it was no surprise that Norwood once again meets all the targets for filling in the gap. In the area of ELA, Norwood’s low-income students meet the gap 6.4 points above the target, 3.8 points above the math target, and 7.2 points above the science target. Brockton was below the achievement gap in all areas. In ELA, low-income students were points below the target, -5.0 in math, and -3.8 in science. Monson’s low-income students were able to fill the gap in ELA and math with points above the targets. Students, who are low-income in Monson, had a 5 percent score proficient on the MCAS, 55 percent scored needs improvement, and 40 percent failed. Compared to Norwood’s low-income 5 graders whom had a 6 percent

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.

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 public school system maintains inequality through tracking of students and standardized tests. Barkan pg. 292 talks about white middle class being likely to be tracked up which in return results to them learning more, while poor students of color are more likely to be tracked down resulting in them learning less.

Unequal education funding has always been something that concerns me; however, now that I am in the education system, I get to witness it first hand. I did my student teaching in Auburn City Schools, Lee County Schools, and Opelika City Schools. The difference in these three systems is astounding.