“Forty years ago, the United States was the undisputed world leaders in education”, says Linda Hammond, a professor of education at Stanford University. However, over the recent years, the United States has fallen to lower levels of the tier due to inequality. There is evidence to suggest that inequality within our education systems exists in the areas of economic status, resources and gender. Did you know that one of the major factors that plays a role in Americas education system is the economic status of students and their districts? For many low poverty rated neighborhoods, governmental funding is hardly enough to sufficiently support an entire schools academic needs. Because majority of schools in the US are funded through the property tax of its neighborhood or district, schools in poor neighborhoods receive poor funding. Since funding is distributed depending on the surrounding areas property tax, schools in rich neighborhoods receive the greatest deal of economic support. The economic gap within the system can affect a students’ learning experience and create a bad image of education. Also, poor students encounter more problems on a daily bases than wealthy students which makes focusing on school that much harder. When growing up, my economic status wasn’t anywhere near the best. I had to worry about things like: how was I going to get my clothes washed, how were we going to pay the light bill or how was I going to eat if I didn’t make it to school. School was
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.
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
With the many diverse characteristics of the Unites States, perhaps the most troubling is the rising gap in the distribution of wealth. As the wealth gap in the United States rises exponentially, the gap in the quality of public schooling rises with it. For a country that prides itself in prestigious outlets of education, the system of public schooling seems to be miserably failing. Public education, a system that some fight to destroy while others fight to preserve, is perhaps the only source of academic opportunity for many individuals living in this country. The fact that someone can live in a certain area and receive a higher quality of public education than someone else living in a different area in the same country—even in the same state—is a problem that should not trouble a ‘progressive’ democratic society. Unfortunately, areas of lower socioeconomic status receive much less funding than areas of higher socioeconomic status, where property taxes account for 45% of funding in public school districts. Naturally, the impoverished residents of poor neighborhoods pay a harsh price in this situation, sending their children to an underfunded school with little to no resources, where sometimes teachers must supply the classroom from their own pocket. As Rogerson and Fernandez note, “a system that allows the accidents of geography and birth to determine the quality of education received by an individual is inimical to the idea of equal opportunity in the marketplace”
As a tutor, I have seen the workings Stockton public schools, and compared to what I learned at their age, these students are lacking a proper education. For example, my third grade student, who is learning to multiply, is battling with addition. Meanwhile, my first grade student strains to read simple phonics. It is unfair to see children forced to receive a minimal education because of where they live in and their parents’ financial status. Therefore, my dream is to enhance the curriculum in public school systems within cities that face socioeconomic adversity. I aspire to equate the educational benefits between private and public school systems. Money should never impede a person’s path to education, and it’s unjust that it plays as a contributing
America’s education system is a fine exemplar, as the growth of inequality has greatly affected its learning environments and the students themselves. According to Greg J. Duncan and Richard J. Murnane, the difference between math and reading scores between low- and high-income families have been growing tremendously compared to several decades ago (“Growing Income Inequality Threatens American Education”). A main cause of this is the stress low-income families suffer, as they continue to struggle with food, housing, and learning supplies. Higher-income children have no such concerns and only focus on their education, creating misconceptions of low-income students, such as being lazy and unintelligent. Higher tuitions and student supplies also aid social inequality, as they discourage lower and middle-class individuals from learning due to exorbitant cost, which has more than tripled over the past 50 years for both private and public colleges (“Tuition and Fees and Room and Board over Time”). Inequality has so much free reign over America that low-income individuals have less than a 10% chance to escape their current social position, and their children have even less than that (“Mobility, Measured”). As a result, social inequality forces America’s citizens to remain socially and economically stagnant, devoid of any opportunity to change in
Education is the factor in our society, or any society for that matter, that allows people to strive for their chances of equality, or better yet, greatness in a convoluted world belonging to both marginalization and wealth. However, at the same time, many people are being forced to miss out on their chances for an education and the opportunities that come with it. If we improve the opportunities for education, we also stand to diminish troublesome income disparities. Such a course of action is something that depends on the school districts and the resources that are available to them. If one takes a look back at the history of education in our country, they could undoubtedly see challenges to education access and how far the United States has come since then in providing said access. The positive development has seen increased education access for demographic groups ranging across four specific categories: ethnics, race, gender and one 's place in the class system.
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.
Although equality is an integral part the Constitution, it is not readily upheld. Specifically, education is a fundamental right which is far too often neglected, and therefore, a leading cause of poverty and inequality in the world today. The ACLU says, “The Constitution requires that all kids be given equal educational opportunity no matter what their race, ethnic background, religion, or sex, or whether they are rich or poor, citizen or noncitizen” (“Your Right). Without an education, one can not be expected to succeed. However, the positions that people are born into are hard to escape. These may include race, gender, and economic status. Because of this difficulty, many people get stuck in poverty and never become
This paper will seek to discuss the significance of educational inequality and how it affects those who live in the United States. According to the textbook, education is a social institution through which a society’s children are taught basic academic knowledge, learning skills, and cultural norms (Strayer). The result of this worldwide educational inequality is a social concern for many countries; including the United States (Strayer). This paper will provide insight on the disadvantages of educational inequality through the achievement gap, location, and one’s race.
Educational Inequality affects us all. Regardless if you have children or not it affects your life. Why educational inequality is such an important issue in today’s society? This informative essay is directed towards parents and teachers. Most parents want a great education for their children. A lot of parents have lots of time and energy vested in their children’s education, from teaching their kids there ABC’s to multiplying fractions. It’s a fact that if a child feels left out and discriminated against they are much less likely to excel in school. The child will focus on everything else but school. Parents and children need to know the truth about discrimination in our schools. We must educate ourselves and do our part in making sure every child gets a quality education.
Imagine a world of weak minded, illiterate people. Imagine world of closed-minded, careless people. Imagine a world where people are content with the educational system today. Educational inequality is still Americans most urgent civil right issue, because it’s difficult to survive without a high school diploma. Educational inequality is the unfair distribution of academic resources such as; school funding, experienced and/or qualified teachers, books, and new resources to socially deprived communities. These communities are disadvantaged and oppressed and have been for decades, and no one is acting upon the issue. Think back to grade school, recall how teachers spoke about the future how it goes from: school, graduation, to get a career
A common saying in our society is that education is the great equalizer. However, in modern American society, it is just as common to find areas with unequally funded schools and are known for being hearths for perpetual poverty cycles. If education is supposed to place willing students on an equal playing field with success as the goal, why is it not equally funded across the country? Inequalities in educational funds tend to detrimentally impact the lives of students from low-income families. Aiding those students’ to earn less than students from well-funded institutions in wealthy areas. Leading them to be more likely to take on low-income jobs in unspecialized labor for the majority of their life. The effects of such inequity can be seen through economic, social, and futuristic Perspective.
According to Nielsen (2013), in the United States, the government has been working hard in the due process of providing education to the children in the country. Despite the efforts that have been initiated by the United States education department, there is a problem of equity in education access around the nation. There are a good number of students who do not have the same opportunities as others when it comes to the education sector. For instance, in most cases, the quality of education that a student will get depends with their social class in the community. Those with a weak living condition are less likely to have the same quality of education as those who belong to the wealthy families. Therefore, the importance of equity, issues with sameness and the strategies suggested by Natalie (2013) and the report by the equity and excellence commission will form the basis of discussion for this paper.
Inequality in education is a current global issue and is closely related to economic inequality, which is rising within many nations. In 1948, countries signed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which promoted the idea that education is a fundamental human right (M. A., M. D., & A. B). Education is a key factor that influences social and developmental outcomes in countries and communities, and because of this reducing education inequality is an extremely important sustainable development goal by 2030 (M. A., M. D., & A. B).
Educational inequality in the classroom is the unequal distribution of academic resources, including but not limited to; school funding, qualified and experienced teachers, books, and technologies to socially excluded communities. The nations education problem today is not that schools have come less effective in imparting basic skills to students from low-income families because the skills of low-income students have kept pace neither with the skills children in higher-income families, nor with the skills demanded by many jobs paying middle-class wages. America’s growing income inequality has greatly complicated the task of providing high-quality schooling to low-income children, not least because of the changing residential patterns of high-and low-income families. Many studies have shown that growing income inequality has led increase in the residential insolation of families at both ends of the income spectrum. High-income families became increasingly likely to live in neighborhoods with other high-income families while low-income families became even more isolated and this increased residential segregation by income occurred just as race-based residential segregation was declining. Because children usually attend schools in the neighborhoods where they live, the gap between the average parental incomes in the schools attended by high-and low-income children has increased. Research has proven that low-income students tends to drop out of school after enduring a while to