When we look around the world majority all the urban communities have education systems that are extremely horrible. This is not because at all times the students are the problem, but because these students have a lack of resources that they need due to poverty, the teachers that the students have don 't really value their positions and put in effort, and so much more that these students have to deal with being as though they live in such impoverished environments. With all of these things going on around these students lives; sometimes the struggles that they are facing is causing them to be unable to even attend school. In Unequal Fortunes Snapshots from the South Bronx by Arthur Levine and Laura Scheiber it discusses the ways in which some …show more content…
When she viewed the ways of engagement in the upper class schools she saw that they were able to participate and give their own opinions in the classroom while “in the working class schools… work was following steps in a procedure. There was little decision making or choice… and work was often evaluated in terms of whether the steps were followed rather than whether it was right or wrong. (Finn, 10). This shows that in lower class areas the schools in which children attend they are unable to build any academic skills because everything is handed to them. This is as if the children are in the military and the children had to obey rules because it is just doing as your teacher say in their classrooms. Also that the teachers are the only ones right and the students have no say so in anything because the teachers are in charge. This is unfair and it makes children not really want to attend school. Also this make children start to lack in things, because if the student only has to do as the teacher say, basically copy what the teacher does that becomes a routine, and they never have to think for …show more content…
They need teachers to use methods that will engage the students more, and make them want to actually feel that coming to school is worth it. They also need teacher to make not only teaching them their main priorities, but also getting more involved into these urban students lived because they need more than just someone telling them what to do, but rather someone being a role model and helping them understand life rather than telling them how they should do something in life. These students in these urban schools have more problems than a little bit and these teachers should start realizing and understanding the group of people in which they are teaching, and open their eyes to see that they need support especially since they probably see the teacher more than their parents. They need to stop with all the assumptions about why or how the students should or should not act, and understand why they are doing the things they are doing, and how they can help. The education for these urban schools lack in so many areas and it need change before these isn’t any students occupying these schools at all. The system need to start trying to save are student than letting them fail because of the lack of help and support those around them are giving
Savage Inequalities, written by Jonathan Kozol, shows his two-year investigation into the neighborhoods and schools of the privileged and disadvantaged. Kozol shows disparities in educational expenditures between suburban and urban schools. He also shows how this matter affects children that have few or no books at all and are located in bad neighborhoods. You can draw conclusions about the urban schools in comparison to the suburban ones and it would be completely correct. The differences between a quality education and different races are analyzed. Kozol even goes as far as suggesting that suburban schools have better use for their money because the children's futures are more secure in a suburban setting. He thinks that each child should receive as much as they need in order to be equal with everyone else. If children in Detroit have greater needs than a student in Ann Arbor, then the students in Detroit should receive a greater amount of money.
Many people believe that “having an economy that places a greater value on skills and education is a good thing” and that is the thing that is needed to improve people’s lives and futures (Baicker, Lazear). If what our economy is trying to do a good thing they why are so many students still suffering? The main issues are the low-income education that many students have. Many schools are getting money from the government but that is not enough to pay for everything students need. Educational standards have continued to increase throughout the years but that does not help the students who are unable to pay for the better education. These students who cannot pay for the better education are stuck barely getting by with a low education. A low-education can affect many areas of regular schooling. The students who are at low-income schools do not know what type of disadvantage they have compared to other students across the country. These students believe that they are getting the best education, but there are many students who are getting a better education at a school that has the funds to pay for everything their students need. Low-income students are suffering due to the environment they are in at school and they continue to suffer throughout their life due to it. These students will continue to suffer unless something is done about the low-income schools and improve them for the future. Improvement has to come from all areas, not just one aspect of schooling but from all aspects. Although education has improved along with technology many low-income students still suffer from the vast inequalities. These inequalities will take many years to find a way to fix and even more years to actually fix, until this happens the students will...
Urban schools in New York City have been criticized for many failures in the last past years. Failures such as low achievement, disconnection between students and teachers, poor teaching methods, inappropriate conduct, lack of security, and lack of motivation from students as well as from teachers. To improve these issues, few changes have been implemented such as the metal detectors. The effectiveness of these changes is been questioned. But the best way to see the effectiveness, it’s by looking at the school’s progress. Most schools are still failing, which clearly means that the new methods are not working out. These unsuccessful adjustments lead to a possibility for a reform in the school system. The reform would have to consider changes not only from the system itself, but also the areas that surround the school. Therefore, it is not reasonable to expect that urban schools can be reformed without changing the political economy of urban areas. The reasons why it cannot be reformed is because the political economy determines the amount of resources available, generate a lot of violence, and creates teenagers who will be pursued to the “code of the streets”. When it comes to change, it always works better starting from the outside to the
The fact that students from lower income families fail to perform as well in school holds no dispute. Growing up with less money has been proven to create a significant disadvantage. Those struggling to pay their bills often are forced to cut back the money spent on food, leaving kids with only the option of cheaper food with poor nutritional value, or sometimes skipping meals. This inhibits the brain from functioning at its best and can leave students more worried about their growling stomachs than their schoolwork (Ladd, Fiske). Low income students face other distractions from their schoolwork including home struggles like in the movie Freedom Writers. A teacher starts a job...
For decades now, there have been educational problems in the inner city schools in the United States. The schools inability to teach some students relates to the poor conditions in the public schools. Some of the conditions are the lack of funds that give students with the proper supplies, inexperienced teachers, inadequate resources, low testing scores and the crime-infested neighborhoods. These conditions have been an issue for centuries, but there is nothing being done about it. Yet, state and local governments focus on other priorities, including schools with better academics. It is fair to say that some schools need more attention than other does. However, when schools have no academic problems then the attention should be focused elsewhere, particularly in the inner city schools.
Low- income children 's school districts often lack the money to provide these children with resources, and therefore the children will not get these resources any other way. Devarics (2011) stated, "Only 22 percent of local districts reported offering pre-kindergarten or other early learning programs for low-income children" (para.8). Denying this resource affects the many children who reside where that 78 percent of local districts do not offer pre-kindergarten, because many go to kindergarten not knowing minimal skills required. As a consequence, this postpones their education even further. Moreover, Davarics (2011) also stated, "Many schools aren 't educationally where they need to be, which ultimately means many students won 't graduate ready to succeed in a career or in higher education," (para.11). Many low-income schools do not offer activities such as, art, music or sports, because of the lack of money, facilities, or staff. They are not supplied with the right tools and have poor access to computers and Internet. They also do not offer rigorous courses at many of these schools, and have less qualified, trained, and less experienced staff that cannot proficiently teach such courses. Going to school with these disadvantages, can make these children unmotivated to continue an education where there will be little educational progress.
In many low income communities, there are teachers that are careless and provide their students with poor quality education. These teachers are there just to make sure that they keep receiving their monthly paychecks and act in this way because they believe that low income students do not have the drive, the passion, or the potential to be able to make something of themselves and one day be in a better place than they are now. Anyon reveals that in working class schools student’s “Work is often evaluated not according to whether it is right or wrong but according to whether the children followed the right steps.” (3). This is important because it demonstrates that low income students are being taught in a very basic way. These children are being negatively affected by this because if they are always being taught in this way then they will never be challenged academically, which can play a huge role in their futures. This argument can also be seen in other articles. In the New York Times
For decades, the United States educational system has provided opportunity for millions of Americans to attend school. However, the gap between the lower income and middle-class students continue to narrow in terms of who will drop out and who would succeed. The articles I chose speak both of issues regarding education and inequality and the growing gap of educational success between the haves and the have nots. In addition, how race and lower class play a large factor on those who succeed and those who do not.The articles also bring to life possible factors such as funding towards a child’s education, in particular the early years, parent involvement and race.
Many people believe that urban schools are failing to educate all of the students they serve, but in reality, they are only failing a portion of them. Reports and observations give off the perception that these schools students achieve less, retain less material and the student’s success after the schooling process is over, is low. Some of the students are failing because they are lacking things like school readiness, a basic understanding of the English language or simply because they are not engaged. Schools need to find a way to incorporate each student in their own education and not forget about those who are struggling. Academic success hinges on many different factors that the families, students and schools are all responsible for helping.
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.
Education is a major component in an individual’s future success in today’s society. The traditional model that we are taught to follow is to achieve good grades in High School so that we are able to get accepted to a good college in order to obtain a good high paying job. However, if the major building blocks of our education are somehow hindered by sociological influences, it would be correct to assume that our future success would also be affected. An example of a situation in which sociological aspects impact that education system can be found right here in the city of Lowell. According to the United States Census Bureau, the median household income for the year 2012 was about $51,714 annually compared with the average income throughout Massachusetts which was about $66,658 annually. Additionally in the year 2012, the statistics for the persons below the poverty level was 17.3 percent, significantly higher than Massachusetts average of 11.0 percent. Lowell is known as an urban environment and a city full of many different and diverse types of people. However, the city of Lowell does contain a large population that are, by today’s standards, considered to be living below the poverty line. ("U.S Census Bureau")
Poverty has stricken the country with thousands of inner city families facing dilemmas that contribute to their inability to reach a higher economic social status. Each year, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services issues updates for the U.S. Federal Poverty Measure. These updates report thresholds that determine eligibility for particular federal programs, and also is used to set an income measure which allows the National Census Bureau to estimate the percentage of the population who are indeed suffering from poverty (The 200 HHS Poverty Guidelines). These poverty-stricken homes have very few ways to escape the economic trap that they are in. Forty-two percent of all poor live in metropolitan areas of 300,000 or more (Harris 12). By examining the factors that affect the poverty within America's inner cities, one can easily see the economic damage that each can cause. Three major factors that affect poverty in the inner cities are the lack of educational and occupational opportunities to those who live in the communities, racial and economic segregation, and governmental ignorance and abandonment of the urban communities. Over twenty percent of all children under age eighteen are now living in poverty (12). Impoverished students tend to have much lower test scores, higher dropout rates, fewer students in demanding classes, less well-prepared teachers, and a low percentage of college-bound students (Orfield 56). "More parental involvement in active learning (including programs that teach parents how to help and teach their children) should be fundamental in improving the system" (Dreir 114).
It is essential that teachers know and understand this and know how to properly support their students. A socially just teachers needs to know what each individual student needs in order to succeed and do everything in their power to help them get there. Teachers need to be an advocate for their students and create an environment that is safe for them to be themselves and succeed. A highly effective teacher is someone who is great at teaching concepts from a textbook, but, more importantly, can teach life lessons. Teachers have the ability to change lives. They will influence the students and they need to lead by example. If a teacher treats specific cultures differently than others, students will do that. But, if teachers promote diversity and inclusion, students will follow. Students living in poverty should not be targeted, bullied, or feel unsafe to come to school. They are just as equally important than a child not living in poverty. If the teacher can connect and try to relate to the child, then they may encourage them to take a step further with their education and to better themselves throughout their life. Education is the key way to improve life and the one thing that can get someone out of the poverty cycle. Each and every child should feel that they have their teacher on their side and they are advocating for them. Without this, students will fall behind and may become disinterested in
For the most part it is not the students fault as to why they are failing, but the teachers. In run down schools in poor towns, most teachers can only do so much with what they are given. In most cases it leads the teachers to just give up. In David K. Shipler’s The Working Poor: Invisible in America, Shipler states, “It had been a science class, and the teacher had given up and allowed a student who had brought a Nintendo game to plug it in” (Shipler 240). If the teacher ends up giving up or stops caring all together, the student will follow suit. In the student’s mind if the authority does not see it as important, why should they. It is important that the teachers, no matter the school, not give up on the students, for most it is the only the students have to look up to. According to Lyndsey Layton, writer for the Washington Post, just about 11 million children were living below the poverty level (Layton). For that amount of children to be living that low in life is unacceptable, but because of how education is in these areas where the children are living in are bad, they don’t have much hope for their future. Education is the only outlook these kids have for a better future and if that is corrupt or interfered with than there is a really good chance of them not being able to escape the poverty. Although there are millions of teachers that do strive to provide the best for his or her
While it may be true that the government did provide these people with an option to get an education, the argument breaks down when you look at the effects that an underfunded school can have on people. Without proper funds, schools are left without the basics found in most modern education systems, textbooks and other materials to assist learning. When faced with the question on how can better funded schools provide a better experience to students, several authors resonate that “Better-funded school districts can attract teachers with higher levels of education, more experience, and higher scores on competency tests; these teachers, in turn, seem to generate better achievement scores among students” (Biddle & Berliner) With better achievement from students, there is a less likely chance that they are going to turn to crime or even become retail salesmen on the streets like the previous generations had. This proves that education does have a positive effect on poverty and that if it was funded properly that it could