Social Education Redline

In this paper, I will explore the aspects regarding racial inequality pertaining to education in the United States of America. It has come to my attention, based on my observations, that race is a definitive factor that plays a role in establishing socioeconomic status. In relation to socioeconomic status, variables correlating with race that I will be focusing on, is the educational and wealth aspects. An individual’s level of education is pivotal to establishing stable, consistent wealth and vice-versa; the access for quality education is inconsistent primarily among minority races/ethnicities. According to historical records ranging from the year 1980 to 2000, between Whites, Hispanics, African-Americans, and Native Americans, the educational attainment gap is widening (Kelly 2005). Education is seen to be a source of respect and key to gaining a higher income, which transfers over to greater wealth. Acknowledging the slow expansion of the educational attainment disparities, I argue that the society’s perceptions and actions addressing race perpetuates and produces social inequalities by limiting opportunities despite “equal” resources, privileges, and rights through social policies that have contributed towards the quality of America’s education system.

As the United States developed and grew, upward mobility was central to the American dream. It was the unstated promise that no matter where you started, you had the chance to grow and proceed beyond your initial starting point. In the years following the Civil War, the promise began to fade. People of all races strived to gain the representation, acknowledgement and place in this society. To their great devastation, this hope quickly dwindled. Social rules were set out by the white folk, and nobody could rise above their social standing unless they were seen fit to be part of the white race. The social group to be impacted the most by this “social rule” was the African Americans. Black folk and those who were sympathetic to the idea of

Access to resources has been historically constrained in the U.S. on the basis of ethnicity, race and most recently class. This differential access to resources is a result of overt structural forces that create barriers to employment, housing, education and neighborhood investment. The political policy of “redlining” is a great example of how public policy can affect access to resources. This policy selectively avoided giving mortgages to individuals living in predominantly Black

The goal of social mobility has not been relevant until recently. For example, in the mid-twentieth century, democratic equality was sought after due to the need for equal opportunity in schooling, no matter the socioeconomic background, race, gender, or handicap a child may have been impaired by. Education soon became increasingly available to all social classes,

Wilson (2011) research proves that the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), contributed to the early decay of inner city neighborhoods by withholding mortgage capital and making it difficult for these areas to retain or attract families who were able to purchase their own homes. As the federal government created this program it excluded certain inner city neighborhoods. This exclusion created “redlining” which assessed primarily on racial composition. People who wanted to get out of public housing and purchase a home in a redlined neighborhood were denied proper mortgages, even if they had sufficient funds. Wilson (2011) says that such restrictions such redlining restricted many opportunities for building or even maintaining quality housing in the inner city, which in many ways set the stage for urban blight that many Americans now associate with black neighborhoods. Policies like this one were created to make blacks stay in the inner city

Education and economic justice were two forms of systemic inequalities that make inequality difficult to talk about. Education is a requirement if someone wishes to have a better life, but not everyone has access to quality education. In the U.S there has always been a battle, people of color have fought to be able to access quality education, (Philips, 2016: 130) they are constantly attending inferior and ineffective school where there are many distractions for students to be fully successful in the classrooms. Often these schools where children of color attend lack quality facilities, educational resources, and qualified teachers. Someone can’t help to notice that in general such unqualified schools are mostly in color people’s neighborhoods.

Different areas of the private sector took control of the racial segregation. Areas such as real estate, banks, labor, and toxic waste locations have participated in some way to continue the segregation and inferiority of people of color. “African Americans and other communities of color are often victims of land-use decision making that mirrors the power arrangements of the dominant society” (Bullard [1994]2004:269). The land-use decisions are used by the real estate industry. The real estate industry along with the bank industry have worked together in order to make it almost impossible for people of color to acquire their own homes. When individuals of color do obtain their own homes the real estate industry corrals them all into one zone. Then the banks charge homeowners in these zones high interest rates on the mortgages needed to maintain their home ownership. “Zoning is probably the most widely applied mechanism to regulate urban land use in the United States” (Bullard [1994]2004:269). When people of color are corralled into a neighborhood the quality of the neighborhood is diminished. The

Labaree states, that the purpose of all three has played a major role for a certain time in the history of education in the United States. Sometimes, one of these purposes supports and other times oppose each other. However, courtesy of these three, social mobility has a good chance to serve schooling’s goals, and satisfy all stakeholders as well. It has all the features and elements, which

Now days walking down the streets of Atlanta, we see the new neighborhoods consisting of condos, Starbucks, yoga classes and Chipotle. Gentrification is a growing problem in urban areas as the influx of the riches have caused the displacement of lower class families due to higher economic demands and local politics. According to Diane K. Levy, Jennifer Comey and Sandra Padilla (2005), “We define gentrification as the process whereby higher-income households move into low income neighborhoods, escalating the area’s property values to the point that displacement occurs. In addition to changes in economic class, gentrification often involves a change in a neighborhood’s racial and ethnic composition…” (p.1). Though gentrification has lasting affects on the economic status of cities, there are also repercussions that not only effect working individuals but also the students that attend school in these gentrified areas. When areas are gentrified, schools are rezoned thus leading to long lasting consequences that students must face. Some believe that gentrification is beneficial to a growing economy in a growing city, but the realities of the its lasting effects on education are often left under the radar. The issues that lie within the education system as it pertains to gentrification include day segregation and unequal opportunities between affluent and low-income areas.

Redlining is the practice of denying services, either directly or through selectively raising prices, to residents of certain areas based on the racial or ethnic makeups of those areas (Wikipedia). Redlining refers to the actual act of drawing red lines on maps to denote where banks were not going to invest in because they are a liability to the bank. This leads into the term being used to describe the discrimination against other people normally due to race or sex. Redlining is a disgusting idea that reminds us of the old days of inequality and it is saddening that people discriminate against others because they have a different skin tone.

Segregation and certain policies can also lead to a lack of resources. The segregation that remains in cities today started as a result of a formal practice called Redlining, which started back in 1943 with the National Housing Act. Lower class families of color were not able to receive mortgages to buy into the ‘nicer’ areas, which led a low chance to accumulate wealth, and to receive

A conversation ingrained in my memory involved two adolescent boys from San Antonio Independent School District (SAISD). When asked about their future ambitions, one student casually responded that he would “go to prison like his father.” The other expressed a desire to rise above his inner city milieu, but had little sense his abilities or of his options. In stark contrast, students from Alamo Heights, an affluent neighboring district, held ambitions to become doctors, lawyers, and politicians, and demonstrated an understanding of the prerequisites for their desired career path. The graduation rate of Alamo Heights stood at 98% while SAISD’s graduation rate lingered around 60%. The contrast between these two districts grows more disturbing when considered through the lens of racial equality. While SAISD’s population is 98% minority, the Anglo population in Alamo Heights totals slightly over 55%. Yet, 74% of Alamo Heights graduates achieve a four-year college diploma, while only 4% percent of SAISD alumni attain a bachelor’s degree. An opportunity gap results from this discrepancy, ultimately proving detrimental to social mobility.

Many inner cities within the United States are comprised of people living in poverty and many of these people are people of color. One of the largest and poorest neighborhoods in the United States is the South Bronx. The South Bronx is extensively racially segregated and the plights that the residents face are horrendous (Kozol, 1995, p. 3). It is conservative belief that the people of color that inhabit the deteriorating inner cities of the US remain in such dire conditions is attributable to their own individual choices, lifestyle, and culture. This belief that the persistence of racial inequalities is attributable to individual lifestyle cannot explain the continuance of inequality once these individuals acquire the education and skills

Auerbach (1992) suggests that there exists a "literacy myth" in which economic mobility is touted as the result of literacy acquisition when, in reality, race and gender play a greater role in shaping an individual's economic prospects. Without the availability of jobs that pay a living wage, literacy education loses its value and appeal. Literacy alone cannot overcome the effects of class and race on access to educational and employment opportunities (D'Amico 1999).

The federal government played a role in establishing and maintaining residential segregation in metropolitan areas. For example, Rothstein states that after the New Deal and World War II, federally funded public housing was explicitly and racially segregated (5). The projects were designated for either whites or blacks, later becoming increasingly black. Neighborhoods that were historically segregated still continue today with the very same characteristics – racially and economically homogeneity. Children who grow up in and attend schools in these neighborhoods encounter what Sherman refers to as “youth disconnection”. In essence, youth disconnection is the lack of exposure to important influences that help with human development. Sherman takes into account statistics about disconnected youth which include being twice as likely to live in poverty, three times as likely to leave high school without a diploma, half as likely to obtain a bachelor’s degree, and etc (“How Disadvantages Caused by Residential Segregation End Up Costing Billions”). How can students thrive in environments that are historically segregated and disadvantaged? Access to a better education along with other influences beneficial to development should to be decided based upon the location in which a student