Inequality In Education

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.

In his article, “Still Separate, Still Unequal: America’s Educational Apartheid”, Jonathan Kozol points out, whether we are aware or not, how American public schools are segregated. Schools that were segregated twenty-five to thirty years ago are still segregated, and schools that had been integrated are now re-segregating. The achievement gap between black and white students, after narrowing for a few decades, started to widen once again in the early 1990s when federal courts got rid of the mandates of the Brown decision and schools were no longer required to integrate.

Of the many social policies implemented in American history to regulate the function of society, segregation was an extreme contributor to producing social inequalities, specifically racial inequalities as it was

More than 60 years later with the ruling of Brown v. Board of Education intact, and “separate but equal”

Racial inequality persists in the current U.S. education system, despite nationwide efforts to promote the acceptance of students of all racial and ethnic backgrounds. Minority students, most notably African American and Latino, receive lower qualities of education compared to the Caucasian majority and are, as a result, at an indisputable disadvantage after primary and secondary education. According to a 2014 study conducted by the U.S. Department of Education, “students of color in public schools are punished more and receive less access than white students to experienced teachers” (Abdul-Jabbar 31). Higher suspension rates and an increased frequency of corporal punishment use, allowed in 19 states as of 2014 according to Business Insider (Adwar), for minority students are two disciplinary examples of underlying racial discrimination with the current U.S. education system. Economic repercussions of racial inequality in education have been proven to include wealth gaps, higher unemployment rates, and financial instability for minorities in later life. Due to the prominence of racial segregation within schools, it remains a controversial point of debate in modern-day society, resulting in attempts such as affirmative action to establish racial equality in education. In Grutter v. Bollinger (2003), the United States Supreme Court declared affirmative action to be a justified policy in the

Since Reconstruction, many aspects of American life were segregated. “ laws known as Jim Crow laws permitted and often required segregated bathrooms, drinking fountains, parks, restaurants, and other public spaces. The Supreme Court upheld this legal practice in the case of Plessy v. Ferguson.” While, a half century later, “On May 17, 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Brown vs. Topeka Board of Education that segregated schools are ‘inherently unequal.’” And “In a related case known as Brown II the Court ordered schools to desegregate ‘with all deliberate speed.’” Southern resisted the decision of Brown II order.

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

Today, we have a diverse student population within our public schools. However, more can still be achieved for equality in our society. The struggle with racism and segregation are still very present in America; we see proof of their existence in the news almost every day. The shootings in Charleston, SC and Ferguson, MO are evidence that heinous crimes, which extend beyond education, are still committed in America based on race. However, the removal of the Confederate flag and movements to end racially-motivated crimes are signs of

A long awaited a historical NAACP court case was won in 1954 after the Supreme Court made a ground making decision in the Brown vs. Board of Education verdict. A lawsuit was brought against the Board of Education which denied back student the ability to attend schools with whites. This court case overturned the previous decision of Plessy v. Ferguerson of 1896, and helped to defeat the notion that America could be “separate but equal”. As a result segregation was banned and deemed as illegal, providing African Americans with the ability to be provided the same educational advantages as their white counter part. Yet the laws remained restricted pertaining to public entities such as restaurants.

Almost six decades have gone past since the struggles of Brown vs Board of Education. The segregation of that era still persist in today’s black American community but through a different form. The new Jim Crow is not law decreed but through institutional racism. Black students attend school where around 90 percent of students are nonwhite or minorities. Public schools around black

These heavily populated minority neighborhoods are usually served by poor public education and safety systems. Housing discrimination contributes to more costly housing for people of color, furthering the economic divide between whites and African Americans. Due to an increasing open "promotion" of inequality, the plight of African Americans ultimately undermines the premise that all Americans are entitled to equal under the law and further disadvantages people of color.

The desired integration between minority and majority groups in schools has not been fulfilled. All white schools are no longer allowed to occur since the Brown decision (Hannah, 2014). Therefore, based on racial means, the schools system would be perceived as more balanced. However, apartheid schools, or schools with virtually all non-white groups, have become prominent (Segregation Today, n.d.). Institutions filled with minority races are legal and lead to inequalities between the minority and majority groups in the country. Factors, like poverty, are greatly centered in these schools which detrimentally affect the attendees’ future, as based on findings by a Southern Poverty Law Center (Segregation Today, n.d.). This center specializes in legal advocacy of civil rights and public interest litigations,and therefore, has an immense amount of knowledge on the interbalance between races. Clearly, the Brown v. Board ruling forced integration into white schools but not the same manner for black schools. This, in turn, concentrates poverty into the non-white schools .

In Chapter 3 of Place Matters, Peter Drier, John Mollenkopf, and Todd Swanstrom talk about place-based inequalities and how it plays an important factor in our lives. In this chapter, the authors document the “impact of economic segregation and urban sprawl on four

The promise of education ensures students for a more stable and healthier lives. As a democratic society, it gives the ability to strive for a successful future and provides the institutional foundations for economic, social, cultural, and political aspects of it. Though this can certainly provoke positive and negative outcomes. Education can either be a motivation for equality among races, or it can teach people to hate one another, leading them to compete with one another. It all began in the 1900’s with the idea of industrial versus equal education for all. Before the reconstruction era and civil rights movement, African Americans were being denied and limited to education. The social structure of education primarily focused on whiteness which led black students to advocate and protest for their rights. Reformers like Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois enforced the Mendez v. Westminster School District, the Brown v. Board of Education, and the Milikin v. Bradley bills that brought major changes to African American students. Meanwhile whites kept fighting for a way to disadvantage black students by having black and white schools separated.

formed by society, minorities tend to be one of the most affected. This is noticed by the way education remains segregated, the wage inequality