Unequal Democracy By Larry Bartle

With landmark Supreme Court decisions in regards to education such as Brown v Board of Education, which made segregation within schools illegal, one would be inclined to believe that modern schools are void of any inequality. However, at a deeper glance, it is apparent that there is a glaring inequality within public school systems at the national, statewide, and even district-wide level. Such an inequality has drastic results as the education one receives has a high correlation to the college they will attend, and the job they will work. It is in society's best interest that public school systems be improved to equally supplement students with the tools necessary to succeed. While the public school system aims to reduce the inequality within it, they have proven ineffective in guaranteeing children of all races and economic classes an equal education.

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.

“Unintended Educational and Social Consequences of the No Child Left Behind Act” Journal of Gender, Race and Justice, no. 2, Winter 2009, pp. 311. EBSCOhost. In this peer-reviewed academic journal article, Liz Hollingworth, an associate professor in the College of Education at the University of Iowa, explores the history of school reform in the United States, and the unintended consequences of No Child Left Behind (NCLB). Hollingworth states that the great promise of NCLB is that schools will focus on the education of low-achieving students, reducing the gap in student academic achievement between White students and African-American, Hispanic, and Native American student populations. Hollingworth states that an unintended consequence of NCLB was that teachers and school administrators had to shift curriculum focus in an effort to raise test scores, but in some cases, they had to also abandoned thoughtful, research-based classroom practices in exchange for test preparation. NCLB also affected teachers, highly qualified teachers left high-poverty schools, with low performance rates especially those schools where teacher salaries are tied to student academic performance. Hollingworth concludes her article by stating “we need to be wary of policy innovations that amount to simply rearranging the deck chairs on the

In Larry Bartels’ book, Unequal Democracy, he offers several dominant reasons for the increasingly growing economic inequality. One of these reasons for growing inequality is due to partisan politics. According to Bartels’, the economy fairs better under a Democratic President yet the Republicans continue to win election. This is due to the fact that voters are myopic, the electoral timing of income growth and that voters are influenced by the amount of campaign money spent. Voters are myopic because they choose to examine only the final year of the administrations term when going to the polls rather than examining the administrations entire term as a whole. Typically, the administration does well in their final term and this leads to

“The socioeconomic achievement gap in education refers to the inequality in academic achievement between groups of students. The achievement gap shows up in grades, standardized test scores, course selection, dropout rates, and college-completion rates, among other success measures” (Ansell, 2017). Typically, when discussing the achievement gap, educators are comparing the academic progress of African-American students or Hispanic students to the progress of white students. More-often-than-not the white students will have more educational achievements than their non-white colleagues (Ansell, 2017). The most widely accepted theory as to why students with higher socioeconomic status (SES) do better academically is high parental involvement, access to economic resources and access to highly qualified teachers (Huang, 2015. Pg.6). Students of low socioeconomic status often live in poverty. This means that the student may not have sufficient school supplies or even someone at home to help him with his homework. There are numerous children in the United States’ school systems that are failing due to the achievement gap. These students are at a disadvantage because the school systems and teachers do not notice or even care about their home life and how it comes into play in their education. It is important for our nation to not only understand the achievement gap but take steps toward correcting it.

The overarching theme of this book is that political elite continue to get rich while the middle class gets poor. Hacker manages, somehow, to remain relatively unbiassed about our government issues despite being a progressive reformer. Hacker and Pierson theory is that inequality is, largely a political issue and can only be corrected by the American voters. The problem, of course, is that voters are to much divided to create a political change that is need improve America’s political issues. Political politicians severely favor big business interests and the wealthy elite to reform the political system, which attest to the old slogan of lifting oneself up by one's own bootstraps. The problems of political inequality, are real but the more we as American voters understand the political issues, the better America’s middleclass has for overcoming them, and this book provides a great deal of insight on the current obstacles to creating a progressive change in our current political

The ESEA Act of 1965 was enacted to offer equal educational opportunities to children from low income students with the help of Title 1 being the largest source of funding. With the help of Title 1 the schools would be able to provide supplemental services to these children. In Contrast, The NCLB Act requires states to use standardized test to test students in reading, math and science to see if academic progress is made and the students are proficient in grade level of these subjects. The NCLB Act also focused on eliminating socioeconomic and racial differences providing quality education to all students of America regardless of ethnic, socioeconomic and racial background. Whereas the ESEA Act only focused on low income family students, the NCLB Act included low- income students, students with disabilities, major racial and ethnic groups and English language learners by providing test results to show improvement and that each student reach the appropriate grade level performance. (Thomas & Brady, 2005, p. 51-56). Furthermore, A blueprint for Reform: The Reauthorization of the ESEA differed by focusing on “moving from a punishment based system to a system that rewarded students and teachers for excellent teaching and student growth” (Woolfork, 2014, p.X). In Comparison, all of these educational policies have the same goal which is to improve the educational experience of students in all areas and populations. These policies help with the effectiveness of teaching learning

Income inequality has been a rising problem in the United States for the past few decades. One of the main issues surrounding this years is election, especially for the Democratic candidates is income inequality and how to address it. Public opinion on income inequality and the government’s role in changing it can easily shape how the election turns out this year which can make great differences to the lives of American’s for years to come.

The last century in American history has yielded educational reforms, federal legislations, school improvement plans and interventions, which consistently influence best practices in school systems. After the report, A Nation at Risk (1983), the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) of 1965 was reauthorized in 2001 as the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act (U.S. Department of Education, 2001). This reauthorization was a call to attain educational equality for all American students and to lessen the achievement gaps between and among ethnicity groups, children of poverty, and disabled populations (U.S. Department of Education, 2001). Additionally, because of this increased scrutiny of student performance, other classification categories emerged such as gender.

The phrase, “We the people”, holds a lot of meaning to American citizens. As the first three words of the United States Constitution, it signifies a core value intended to act as a unifying factor in America’s democratic society: popular sovereignty. This is the idea of a majority rules, or to put more simply, the one with the most votes wins. The U.S. system of government relies upon the fact that the American people are capable of coming together to make informed decisions about matters that will ultimately better the lives of everyone. Despite this, however, there are certain instances in which a minority group will impose on or have more influence than the majority group. This phenomenon occurs all the time in politics, as politicians tend to regard the predilections of small groups of citizens as opposed to the general populace.

Department of Education, “documents that schools serving low-income students are being shortchanged because school districts across the country are inequitably distributing their state and local funds”. (Education, 2011). Students that come from low income families are not given the equal chance to get the education that students from high income families get. If students are not given the tools they need to be educated, then they will have a poor chance of succeeding in the world.

The sad reality of it all is that gross funding inequities continue to persist in the U.S and no one seems to be working steadily to rid this problem. When putting funding into education equity should be focused on rather than equality. According to the National Report card there are core fairness principles that must be followed to maintain equal opportunity. The 3rd principle states that the level of funding in a district should increase relative to the level of concentrated student poverty rate. Therefore state finance systems should provide more funding to districts serving larger share of students in poverty (Is School Funding Fair? 7). Examining the school district of Philadelphia one could see that this principle is not being followed. The No Child Left Behind Act was created in 2001 to ensure that no later than 12 years after 2001 (2013) all students will meet the states standards. The act

Through the study of human history it is evident authoritative and monarch governments prevailed as legitimate authorities but with careful considerations these political systems were seen as inaccurate by many. New political systems, functions and responsibilities soon began to surface. Democracy was among these new political systems and argues for the influence of citizens in politics and the protection of rights (Dahl, 1998, p. 44). Democracy can be found through many political systems around the world particularly in first world countries such as Canada and the United States of America. Fortunately the notions of democracy can also be found in some developing countries such as India. ¬¬¬Although democratic views and notions are found throughout Indian politics and its associated practices India does not prove to be completely democratic in relation to Robert Dahl’s criteria of democracy highlighted in his book, On Democracy. Robert Dahl, a political scientist and professor, sets up 5 criteria of democracy that includes effective participation, voting equality, enlightened understanding, inclusion and control of agenda (Dahl, 1998, p. 36-7). He argues that a sense of true democracy is founded when all 5 criteria of democracy are fulfilled (Dahl, 1998, p. 36). Unfortunately India is unable to accommodate the criteria of voting equality and effective participation due to its

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.

In a democratic society, economic inequality is present. Economic inequality refers to the variation in wealth and income among citizens of a population. (Bartels, p. 143). Citizens come from various economic backgrounds, and because of this, there is an unequal distribution of wealth and income present. For instance, in the United States, economic inequality is vastly increasing. Some citizens may be of higher class compared to others, which can be determined by income, occupation, education or wealth. (Bartels, p. 144). In regard to policy preferences and economic status, there is a significant relationship. For example, in the policy-making process, politicians respond differently to those of different income groups. First, elected officials have more of an incentive to listen to the interests of wealthy individuals. Generally, citizens who are a part of the higher class tend to be well educated about political affairs, and politicians care solely about the “perceptions of better-informed” constituents (Bartels, p. 155). Representatives tend to respond to those who are of the wealthier class and listen to the opinions of “politically aware” citizens regarding policy preferences. Generally, affluent constituents are able to make decisions that would be beneficial to the country as a whole. Another reason why the link between upper class individuals and elected officials is strong is due to their strong enthusiasm in political affairs (Bartels, p. 182). Subsequently,