Rhetorical Analysis

After reading the first portion of three inspiring books, Finnish Lessons 2.0, 50 Myths and Lies That Threaten American Schools and Jules on Schools, I noticed a common theme. I noticed that each book emphasizes the importance of providing equal academic opportunities for every student no matter their background. The first book 50 Myths and Lies That Threaten American Schools written by Berliner and Glass, explains the disconnect of educational opportunities for all students of diverse socioeconomic backgrounds in the United States. Our society has been more concerned with bettering themselves instead of funding public education. Schools are becoming segregated, children of wealth are separated into private or charter schools and children living in poverty or children with special needs separated into public schools, “This continuing trend does little to improve educational opportunities for the middle and low-income students ‘left behind’ in public schools.

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

The United States’ school system is based on competition, and competition promotes disparity. Because some schools have more resources to compete, public schools differ in their abilities to adequately educate students.

The article details why many schools in America have money problems. Schools in low socio-economic areas spend less on students, however, students in these areas tend to have the greatest needs and require additional resources to aid with learning. School enrollment in more affluent areas receive more money and the needed resources and supplements to assist with learning. One example given in the article included a school in Chicago with 22 teachers and 145 students. This is a 6.5 student to teacher ratio. Additionally, each student in the school has an Individual learning plan and teachers with years of experience that earn more than $90,00 annually. The disparity in funding provided to schools throughout America may seem unfair, but

In 2012, America’s education system was ranked slightly below average in a PISA global test, and since then, not a lot has changed. Today, America still ranks behind the world’s most developed countries in math, science and reading. The government needs to find an effective approach to improving this system so that American students can compete with other students from advanced countries in this competitive world. Yet, there is inequality in our education system and there is a gap dividing our students based on where they reside geographically, as well as their financial and racial backgrounds. On top of that, schools in these disadvantaged areas are getting hit the hardest with overcrowding which puts more strain on school infrastructure.

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

I chose to compare Stamford School District to Westport School District. I chose Westport School District because I attended a performance of the Christmas Carol at the Westport playhouse and I took notice of the well behaved children from one of Westport schools. After, comparing Stamford to Westport I was surprised to see the huge gap in the median income. I would guess that in Stamford , there is a huge number of families living below the median income.

The idea of public education in the United States existed even before the American Revolution and the subsequent founding of the United States of America as an independent nation. As the nation grew, each of the states eventually passed legislation mandating free public education for students, with every state in the union operating free elementary schools by 1870 (Monroe, 1911). Almost from the onset, these schools were harbors of inequality, as most were aimed at educating wealthy, white males. Even after the landmark Supreme Court case of Brown vs. Board of Education in 1954, which sought to integrate American public schools, many of the nation’s schools still exhibit rampant inequity. According to Rothstein (2014), African-American students are still greatly isolated and wide achievement gaps still exist when compared to white students. Similar problems remain apparent for other demographic groups, including Hispanics, Native Americans, female students in certain academic fields, and LGBTQ students.

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

People say that opportunity is still equal, but public school funding says otherwise: schools in

Kozol explores and calls attention to the gross socio-economic inequities exhibited in public education. He discovers his findings through interviews, research, and examination. Among the influx of inequities, Kozol analyzes rationales that contribute to the inequalities of the American education. Two rationales that the author suggests that lead to segregation of schools is the No Child Left Behind Act from the Bush administration and the immense amount of standardized testing that they place on students. These implications harm the lower socio-economic side of society. At the end of the book, the author makes a purpose to inform the readers that the segregation is not the necessarily the schools’ fault but rather the blame should be

For years people worked to desegregate schools so that every child no matter what color their skin was would get the same education. However, it seems like today that schools have “resegregated” and schools are as just unequal as they were back in 1954. According to our reading 54% of black students compared to 87% of white students performed at or above the basic level on the 2003 eighth-grade reading exam. People need to take into account racial composition, as well as poverty, location in a central city, suburban, or non-metropolitan setting, and the demographic composition of local residents. The reading also discusses what types of schools that the different racial groups are attending. It is reported that minority students attend worse schools, then non-Hispanic whites do. More then 60 % of black and Hispanic students attend high-poverty schools while only 18% of white students and 30% of Asian students attend high-poverty schools. After all the fighting and work and the amount of things we have overcome you would think that we would fix a problem such school segregation.

In the Highcrest Elementary School 2010 yearbook, we were asked what we wanted to be when we grew up. Under my name, it says, “A High School Teacher.” I’ve written countless scholarship essays about how I wanted to be a teacher because I wanted to help others, and teaching was the way I wanted to go about doing so. Now in college, I’m working towards degrees in Chemistry and Secondary Education, and studying the interactions between molecules and learning about the ongoing inequality in schools in funding. Students in America are not obtaining an adequate education because of the disparity in funding between the rich and poor areas of each state. In the editorials, Connecticut to Appeal Decision in Schools Funding Case, and Fairness of Pennsylvania school funding deserves hearing, both address the fact that the state needs to fix the problem at hand, but the state is faced with the dilemma of figuring out who can solve it.

Education is meant to be great equalizer. Every child in the united states, regardless of race, gender, or citizenship status, has the right to attend free public school up until twelfth grade. During 1800s through 1900s, educational opportunities in United States have not been equal. Enslaved Africans and their children were forbidden to learn how to read or write. Chinese immigrants were banned from public schools. African American, Asian American, and Mexican American children were relegated to separate and unequal schools. Inequality in opportunities for education is found not only with reference to individuals and social classes but also in terms of regions and territorial regions such as urban and rural areas. Most institutions of higher learning and good schools are concentrated in urban areas. In addition, the rural areas, in many ways, are falling behind because they are not connected to the urban and coastal areas. Many of the ones that are backward do not have access to better education. In today’s after a century, mostly everything has changed. There are no longer any all-white universities in the Unites States. The best colleges and universities now seek out diverse students, and many offers scholarships to students who can contribute to campus diversity. “Educational inequality is the unequal distribution of academic resources, including but not limited to; school funding, qualified and experienced teachers, books, and technologies to socially excluded