Analysis: How America's Public Schools Keep Students In Poverty

“We’re still incredibly segregated by race and class. Our funding formulas are often regressive and inadequate. Schools serving mostly poor students don’t have nearly the resources of those serving rich students” (Singer 1). We still have immense problems that we can work on, but at least we have a problem fixed that other countries haven’t even tried to address. In the end, school is supposed to do more than educate the next batch of geniuses. The purpose of school is supposed to educate the entire next generation so that they all can move on to improving our future. We should give all students a chance. Anyone can complain and rant on about the US educational system, how it doesn’t have the funding, the interest or the passion that other countries do. But at least the problems it has can be fixed. An economically segregated or sexist school can’t be fixed without starting over, which is a lesson our neighbors in Europe and beyond should

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.

The United States is a country based on equal opportunity; every citizen is to be given the same chance as another to succeed. This includes the government providing the opportunity of equal education to all children. All children are provided schools to attend. However, the quality of one school compared to another is undoubtedly unfair. Former teacher John Kozol, when being transferred to a new school, said, "The shock from going from one of the poorest schools to one of the wealthiest cannot be overstated (Kozol 2)." The education gap between higher and lower-income schools is obvious: therefore, the United States is making the effort to provide an equal education with questionable results.

Children who live in large cities and cannot afford to go to private schools often will get passed along throughout the course of their education, even if they had not learned the material they needed to. These inner-city public schools are the root cause of why so many people in the U.S. live in poverty and struggle every day. These schools are overcrowded and understaffed, due to this, children fall behind and then do not get the opportunity to catch back up. These schools do not give children the tools they need to graduate or be successful in life. The school systems are not doing anything to improve their success rate either, they just continue to make new standardized tests and not teach the children who are going to be taking those tests.

The world we live in tends to put filters on what we see, it has always been that way. We will never know the whole story to our society and what is really going on. That is why we have to think for ourselves and not give in with what one person says or thinks. Therefore we need to stand for what we want, our beliefs, and our rights. In Kandice Sumner’s Ted Talk “How America’s Public Schools Keep Kids In Poverty” (November 2016) she argues that kids of color don’t get the same education or resources needed like the white kids do; that it’s not an equal system. Therefore her students don’t learn well. I agree with her completely because in order to have a good education money is needed for the students resources; money and education

There have been steps to fix this clear inequality of education in the United States, such as the institution of affirmative action. Unfortunately, this has not been enough because, though it gives minority students to gain acceptance, it does not make up the fact that they learned in an under-resourced environment and may lack the appropriate knowledge and skills to be successful in a university setting. It would take $100-200 billion to fix the public school system, yet we see that these funds are often used for other things, such as the building of a new stadium in Cleveland (“Children in America’s Schools”). It has not been a priority for many politicians, as we have seen in Chicago. There has been many closures of schools

Everyone has heard the saying “the rich get richer and the poor get poorer” but few people think of schools when they here this phrase. The way our educational system is set up today benefits students in high income areas more than it helps students in low income schools. People in the United States like to think that anyone can achieve greatness if they try hard enough but getting an education is important and being in a well-funded school never hurts. In this country there is a profound lack of funding to our schools and there is an inequality when it comes distributing the funds and it only serves to help some and disadvantage others.

With poverty comes a certain attitude, in higher up communities the children and parents are more respectful towards their teacher, education itself is respected; however, in poverty stricken areas the children are at home alone, or running the streets, the parents are usually too busy working to worry about how their child is doing in school. Districts also have the same attitude, schools in upper class neighborhoods have the essentials; such as, running hot water in the gymnasium, and showers that actually work, new books and just the overall approach to the education, of its students is superior. Compared to that of lower class, neighborhoods the essentials are overlooked for instance, classrooms are in need of repair, as well as the bathrooms and gymnasiums. Their books are torn, and outdated, and their approach to education has been to just make it through the

When you compare two schools located in areas of different economic standing, you see a huge difference in graduation rate that correlates to difference in resources. This divide is widening the education gap and thus also the achievement gap. This is leading children in poverty to be stuck in poverty and rich children to be unaware of what poor children are going through in their own country. If we don’t make effort to allocate resources effectively, then children in poverty and children that are rich will be confined to feed the divide in our country. This will lead both to be in a bubble of ignorance, which will continue to create deeper tensions between the rich and poor. Jonathan Kozol explains that “most adolescents

Almost all the family incomes are over $100,000...The incomes in this school represent less than 1 percent of the families in the United States,” (256) compared to working-class families who earn incomes “at or below $12,000” (256). Anyon presents these examples to compare the backgrounds of each school and uses this as logos to persuasively reason her claim that quality of education is offered to people who can afford it. Public schools that working-class and middle-class families can afford do not offer the same education private schools that upper-class and capitalist families can afford. Wealthy children who are privileged get an advantage early on in their education career because they are able to afford better quality teachers and lessons. This varied quality of education found in curriculums is what creates the unequal divide between educated individuals in different social classes. An audience of scholars and teachers would be persuaded by this claim because Anyon’s data transparently shows the uneven distribution of resources and opportunity found in the social class schools.

We can’t look at the inequality given to our students without looking at the expenses used per child in certain areas of the country not too long ago. While desegregation of our schools had taken place before this time due to many of the schools zoning laws we find that there are still many schools facing challenges because of this issue. People choose to move to good neighborhoods for the right price and if you have a family to think about you are also looking into the school rating. If you have the privilege to be able to choose where you want to live and you have the availability to make it happen, you can find yourself in a wonderful neighborhood with a wonderful education system. But what about those who are fighting to make ends meet and can only afford so many housing opportunities and an unfortunate reality is that these neighborhoods are

The United States has a reputation for being free to all with promises of equal opportunity. America is not as equal as people think. In regards to income and wealth distribution, the U.S. has fallen behind a number of countries, such as Iran and Turkey ,and despite the freedom granted, America has become a place where inequality thrives and lower class people have little opportunity to move to the next financial class. This inequality finds its source within America’s education system, specifically alongside the disparity of opportunities and resources imposed on students in elementary school

As a student who attended public schools in low-income and high-income school areas, I become very acquainted with the opportunity and the stark of an inequitable system. My utter disappointment in the public education systems has me in hot pursuit of closing the opportunity gap. My experience as an educator from 2011-2015 in the fastest improving state of Tennessee, left me with a high sense of possibility regarding the solvability of the problem of inequity.

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.

Thus, The Education Gap between the rich and the poor can be solved with more funding to community schools in poor neighborhoods by the government because low-funding is the primal reason for students being so far behind compared to their higher social class peers.