The top wealthiest 1% of the United States possess 40% of the nation’s wealth ("Pre-K-12."). The growing gap in income levels in the United States is due to many factors, but education is a huge issue in the incapacity of Americans to raise income levels after childhood. It is much more difficult for children in the lowest social classes to receive the same quality education as children whose parents are in the higher social classes. Without proper education throughout their childhood, these students struggle to make a livable income after schooling ends. Minorities and low income students in the United States receive a mediocre education due to a lack of funding. In urban areas like Chicago there are high concentrations of minorities and low …show more content…
In 2012, the Chicago Teachers Union went on strike. Kurt Hilgendorf, a previous Chicago Public Schools teacher believes the strike was an ineludible result due to years of a “…corporate-led educational reform in Chicago” (Manuel). This result was attributable to the fact that, “Corporate-led reforms not only harmed minority students, Hilgendorf argues, but quickly became a nationwide model for radically reforming urban public school systems, especially in the wake of former CPS CEO Arne Duncan 's promotion to Secretary of Education in 2009” (Manuel). A historian at Fordham University and a critic of the recent educational reform, Mark Naison, argues that the strategy used to transform education is not actually intended to sincerely progress public education, “but instead serve as a strategy to reduce economic and racial inequality without redistributing wealth through taxation '” (Manuel). Instead of producing a genuine solution to the income gap, reformers work just to improve certain inequalities among …show more content…
In an effort to reduce these disparities in education for poorer school districts, the Supreme courts “…have ordered the states to find a means to equalize (or more closely approximate ' equal) funding among districts” (Walters). This effort to equalize has reached some political road blocks (Walters). “Voters in relatively wealthy districts have generally bitterly opposed funding equalization because they stand to lose the most from any equalization plan” (Walters). With the funding of schools relying heavily on local funding, wealthy parents have a large control over reforms in public schooling (Walters). “These parents can always abandon the public sector and send their children to private schools. If they do so on a large-enough scale political support for funding public education in general will erode” (Walters). Without support of all the citizens of a town, especially the affluent ones, a complete equalization of funding for public schools cannot
Education is a huge topic of controversy, society is always trying to reform what we know as education today. Right now, the first 12 years of education are entirely free for students directly, but in the end are paid for by the taxpayers of the town. The question is, why should only grades k-12 be free why not a college education too? On the other hand, there are some exceptions to free schooling at the k-12 levels. The most prominent being, Private schooling, most towns in the United States have at least one if not many private schools. They require a certain amount in tuition for each of its students every year. An example of this, in my town Salem, NH one of the most known private catholic schools is St. Joseph 's. I had a good friend a few years back
After viewing the panel discussion about how our local school districts have implemented English Language Learning in their school, I am very intrigued. From what I gathered the field of ELL is a growing industry in education, especially in Colorado Springs. We have ELL’s students coming from all over the world. Here in Colorado Springs alone, school districts have to accommodate for over fifty different languages spoken by ELL’s. I can only imagine the challenge that comes with such a diverse group of non- English speakers in our community schools.
Mr. Kozol provides his own socially conscious and very informative view of the issues facing the children and educators in this poverty ravaged neighborhood. Those forces controlling public schools, Kozol points out, are the same ones perpetuating inequity and suffering elsewhere; pedagogic styles and shapes may change, but the basic parameters and purposes remain the same: desensitization, selective information, predetermined "options," indoctrination. In theory, the decision should have meant the end of school segregation, but in fact its legacy has proven far more muddled. While the principle of affirmative action under the trendy code word ''diversity'' has brought unparalleled integration into higher education, the military and corporate America, the sort of local school districts that Brown supposedly addressed have rarely become meaningfully integrated. In some respects, the black poor are more hopelessly concentrated in failing urban schools than ever, cut off not only from whites but from the flourishing black middle class.
In this detailed and shocking book, Jonathan Kozol describes the horrific and unjust conditions in which many children in today’s society are forced to get their education. Kozol discusses three major reasons for the discrepancies in America’s schools today: disparities of property taxes, racism, and the conflict between state and local control. The first of these reasons is that of the differences of available property tax revenues. Kozol discusses the inconsistencies in property tax revenues and the problem that the poorer districts aren’t getting the same opportunities for education as the more affluent neighborhoods. He says the reason for this is that the poorer districts don’t receive as much money as the affluent districts because their property isn’t worth as much, therefore they get less money in return. Therefore, if they demand more money for the school systems, they end up taxing themselves more money. Kozol uses shocking statistics to get the reader’s attention. For instance, a classroom in Chicago “received approximately $90,000 less each year than would have been spent on them if they were pupils of a school such as New Trier High” (54). Kozol also discusses a solution for this problem, the Foundation Program, which is meant to set a standard of basic or minimum education for the less fortunate neighborhoods. Although this program seems to work on the surface, it makes a bigger gap between the rich and poor districts.
In my view, system-wide, large-scale reform is needed to achieve the goal of "getting all young people as close as possible to their upper limits of learning potentialities" (Perrone, p. 15, 1991). This is crucial to ensure change because "trying to transform schools within the existing structure is a contradictory process" (Murphy, p. 38, 1991). The first step is to involve the traditionally voiceless at all decision-making levels to best determine what the needs of the least privileged are, if we are truly committed to providing opportunities that respond to children's needs. I specify, "opportunities" through funding based on my assumption and belief that money can improve education through attracting and keeping good teachers, reducing class sizes, establishing programs to respond to different needs, and maintaining healthy facilities and quality resources. Equitable funding, where all children have the chance to receive a high-quality education, is the first step towards education acting as the great equalizer in a country where oppression limits, dehumanizes, and disempowers in virtually every other life realm.
With this many students, both state and federal representatives have made efforts to adopt reforms designed to make a solution to the funding inequality. The disproportion of funds first and foremost effects the amount of programs offered to children that vary from basic subjects such as: English, Math, and Science. This created the motivation to improve the quality of education for low-income neighborhoods by targeting resources other than property taxes and redirecting the states budgets. The goal the school districts all shared was the need to increase instruction, add after school activities, promote a well-rounded education, physical innovations to facilities and classrooms, and to update the academic resources. The popular demand that the funding to public education needs to correspond throughout all the school districts. Wealthy tax payers often argue that a region that depends on property taxes is the “American way.” This argument derives from the ideology that American success relies on perseverance and hard work, but if the playing field is uneven the higher born student has an advantage. “High property taxes—the burdens and perverse incentives they create, the rage they generate, the town-to-town school funding inequities they proliferate—…represent an endless New England nightmare…” (Peirce and Johnson, 2006). In the attempt to
Inequalities in Education Funding inequalities have been an issue from past to present, especially in the low-income communities. In fact, students in urban areas with less funding have low attendance, score lower on standardized testing, and a low graduation rate. Also subjected to outdated textbooks, old dilapidated buildings, students in the inner cities need to compete with their suburban and wealthy counterparts for this reason funding inequalities must end and more money should be directed to these communities from federal, state, and local governments. Frank Johnson, a writer for the National Center for Education Statistics, “Disparities in Public School Spending.”
After watching the Teach Us All documentary on Netflix, it opened my eyes to many of the issues regarding educational inequality. The study looked at schools in Little Rock, New York City, and Los Angeles to show us the current state of U.S. education and how far we have come since the school desegregation crisis. The thesis of this documentary is that since the efforts of the Little Rock Nine, our belief is that educational inequality has improved when in reality, it hasn’t improved and the actions of our country have had negative effects. Teach Us All emphasizes the need for unity and collective action to improve our education system for the kids in poor communities that are in the most need. Our country has devoted all the resources to the middle and upper class for education and are taking money away from where it needs to
“Brown vs. Board of Education” made it a federal crime to segregate children based on race in 1954. On the other hand, “Plessy vs. Ferguson” concluded that “separate but equal” was justified in America’s education system in 1896. Fifty years later after “Brown vs. Board of Education” according to author Jonathan Kozol, the school systems are run more like a separate but unequal system. Kozol states that today’s schools are just as segregated as they were before 1954 and funding is seriously inadequate for those in the urban areas where most attendee’s are African American and Hispanic. This inadequate funding has led to overcrowding, dilapidation of the schools, a decreasing number of on-site health officials, and lack of an enriching educational program. The effects of the funding situation has led to poor state standardized test scores, and an increasing number of students dropping out or taking more than four years to graduate. Today, strict military style programs hope to correct these poor outcomes. Are today’s schools being segregated to pay less for subordinate groups’ education, or is this just one person’s one-sided outtake on a matter that society has little control over? I aim to examine these accusations incorporating some firsthand experience from my dilapidating public school system.
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 with schools boil down to either racism in and outside the school system 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 in this time of struggle, with billions of dollars going towards various war efforts overseas, America still has managed to keep taxpayer investments in education higher than that of funds for national defense (U.S Department of Education). In the 2004-05 school year, there was an estimated amount of 536 billion dollars set aside from taxpayer investment for education purposes. Without a doubt, education is a priority for the American government, and if these funds are used in the correct way, there is no reason why each and every kid in the United States shouldn’t be getting a quality education. However, the organization of the financial system is flawed, funds are not handled proportionately at the state level; rather, this system favors the wealthier districts and hands more funds to them while the less wealthier districts are handed a smaller pool of funds. This really affects America’s quality of education, which also reflects upon how America fairs on the world stage when it comes to competition in education with other countries. The disorganization of funds in the United States can be seen in the Hoover City School district, which has bought every student in that district an iPad for use in school. The first problem with this is that this school district does not even have a viable bus system that can transport students to and from school. Secondly, not even 20 miles from this district lies the Birmingham City School district where a little more than half the students are graduating, compared to Hoover City Schools where a bit more than 90 percent of the students are graduating. If anything, the state should be working towards improving educational standards in lower-income communities rather than debating on the log...
College education goes about the way to an effective future for people who are not kidding with it. Currently, a college education has turned in the base necessity in securing a job in different companies and although some people might think college is not worth the debt, in a long run it actually is.
Since its inception, the American public education system has undergone various reforms and equitable and adequate funding has been a reemerging issue in school finance. The challenge of providing equitable and adequate funding in the American public schools was addressed as early as the mid 1800’s. Horace Mann, the Father of the Common School, was influential in advocating the need for equity and adequacy in public schools. “However,” writes Baines (2006, p.269), “perhaps his greatest contribution was the idea that American children should be provided with a free, nonselective, academically challenging, fair, and morally just system of schooling. In his appeals to the public, he posited schools as a way to unify and edify a diverse
Education is meant to be the key to a successful life. It is supposed to inspire great ideas, and prepare each and every generation for their future. However, school for today 's generation fails to meet those requirements. Every student knows education is important, but when school is not engaging or in some cases, even relevant, it makes learning difficult. Improving the school system is something educators attempt to accomplish every year. Despite their best efforts, there are numerous flaws students see, but adults overlook. There is a lack of diversity for students to learn, an overabundance of testing, and students’ voices are being ignored on how to create a more productive learning experience.
Some states want to have separation when it comes to the income of these schools. States argue that high class, wealthy, school districts should have more money than the lower class districts, because of the tax payers wants or because there are better opportunities for students to grow in the wealthier areas. According to the U.S. Department of Education, more than 50 percent of lower end schools are not receiving the amount of money they should get from the state funds (U.S. Department of Education). This is what is preventing school districts in these areas from helping students with their education. The schools are forced to cut back on programs such as extracurricular activities that are suppose to encourage students to be active, or they would have to cut back on supplies where in some cases there are not enough textbooks for each student to have his or her own. The U.S. Department of Education also stated that teachers that are less paid and have less years teaching are often the ones dealing with the students in poverty. (U.S. Department of Education). This only prolongs the problem with children receiving the proper education. If they are taught by teachers who don’t know what they are teaching or those who don’t have enough experience, then the students are not going to learn the correct information or any information at all. While there are some schools