Effects Of Inequality In Education

In today’s society, many people believe that there is equality. However, if one looks past the surface, inequality is widespread. Even with laws and initiatives in place, inequality is still a growing problem. The education system of America is full of inequality. Even years after the civil rights movement, there are still large amounts of racial inequality in American public schools and universities. Additionally the economic status of a person significantly contributes to the quality of education they receive starting in preschool all the way through college. There is a direct correlation between the quality of education a person receives and their race and economic status in America today. In American society, there is wide spread economic

In the school system, the racial segregation continues to become more and more of a problem. Statistically 80% of Latino students and 74% of black students attend schools where 50-100% of the school’s population consists of minorities. Furthermore, 38% of blacks and 43% of Latinos attend schools that are highly segregated, meaning the student population consists of 90% minority students (Orfield 8). Many of these highly segregated schools are also double segregated, meaning that the school has large amounts of students who fall under the government’s poverty line. From 2001 to 2009 the amount of poor students has risen for each racial group. However, statistically black and Latino students are likely to attend schools where two thirds of the students are from low income families (Orfield 50). Schools in impoverished areas are likely to have less experienced and less qualified teachers. These same schools also have a hard time retaining the teachers they do have. Schools in impoverished communities do not offer the same salaries and advanced training options that schools in other areas can offer (Orfield 31) Additional; many of these segregated schools in impoverished communities do not have adequate materials or facilities to properly educate their students (Orfield 6). With inadequate material

According to Robert Haveman and Timothy Smeeding, “Income- related gaps both in access to and in success in higher education are large and growing. In top- tier colleges and universities, almost three quarters of the entering class is from the highest socioeconomic quartile” (Haveman 120). That just goes to show the inequality that surrounds colleges in the United States. Far more students who come from financially well off families are attending college than students who do not. In a study done in 1988, researchers looked at the enrollment of 146 top tier colleges and universities in America. 74% of the entering class came from the highest economic quartile, while only 3% came from the lowest. The trend of inequality continued when the researchers looked at 253-second tier universities, where 46% of the students came from the highest economic class and only 7% came from the lowest economic class (Haveman 121). Inequality in higher education is not just economic however; there is still substantial racial inequality in American colleges and Universities. According to information provided by the US Census bureau there is still a large gap between race and attendance at four-year institution. As of 2012, there were 10,270,812 people enrolled in four-year degree programs. Out of roughly the ten million people who were enrolled in a