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Education inequality in america
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Implication of technology in education
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To ensure America’s economic competitiveness, boost student achievement, fulfill the promise of equal opportunity, and renew the education delivery system, the United States must transform its archaic approach to financing public education. This proposal explains why and how.
The standards movement, signified by No Child Left Behind, calls on Americans to embrace the challenge of educating all children to high standards by setting goals and holding educators accountable for reaching them. But these steps alone are not sufficient to advance this important agenda. To make progress, and especially to close achievement gaps, we must acknowledge that some students require more educating than others in order to meet the same ambitious standards. Hence they also require more resources.
Education is changing in other ways, too. New forms of schooling are being born, people are becoming far more mobile, and educational options are proliferating, not only within traditional school districts. Though these changes face resistance, the fact is that profound and unstoppable demographic, technological, and social forces will continue to
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In a tragic paradox, they too often direct less money to schools that serve students who need the most help. Within states, large gulfs separate the best-funded and worst-funded school districts, in ways that favor the more affluent. Whether a child attends a well-funded school or poorly funded school still depends heavily on where he/she lives. Even within school districts, there are often vast disparities between schools—disparities that generally favor schools with savvier leaders and wealthier parents. The latest research shows that these gaps between disparate schools and districts can amount to thousands of dollars per student per year. For youngsters on the caboose of the socio-economic gravy train, we spend tens of thousands of dollars less on their educations than we do on their more advantaged
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.
The gap between the nation’s best and worst public schools continues to grow. Our country is based on freedom and equality for all, yet in practice and in the spectrum of education this is rarely the case. We do not even have to step further than our own city and its public school system, which many media outlets have labeled “dysfunctional” and “in shambles.” At the same time, Montgomery County, located just northwest of the District in suburban Maryland, stands as one of the top school systems in the country. Within each of these systems, there are schools that excel and there are schools that consistently measure below average. Money alone can not erase this gap. While increased spending may help, the real problem is often rooted in the complex issues of social, cultural, and economic differences. When combined with factors involving the school itself and the institution that supports it, we arrive at what has been widely known as the divide between the suburban and urban schools. Can anything actually be done to reverse this apparent trend of inequality or are the outside factors too powerful to change?
The implementation of the No Child Left Behind Act applied a market approach to school reform as a way of improving the school system. This new law promised an era of high standards, testing, and accountability in
The issue of whether charter or public schools are more beneficial for students has been an ongoing debate. The question that arise is which type provides a better education. Having gone to a charter high school myself, I got to see and experience first-hand the benefits of going to a charter school as well as realizing the issues charter schools face here in Oklahoma. These problems need to address in order to guarantee that students are getting the best education that they can get. We are facing an epidemic today with our education system and charter schools could be the solution. There may be opponents to the idea of having charter schools, but they have been wildly successful lately and are quickly expanded throughout the states. This is due to the fact that charter schools can benefit people economically, educationally, and as well as socially.
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
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.
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.”
There are numerous accounts for why schools receive unequal funding. Some schools may reside within wealthy areas where the property taxes are higher. According to the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation & Institute in "Fund the Child: Tackling Inequity & Antiquity in School Finance”, the amount of money a school gets depends on where it is located. Some schools may be within wealthier neighborhoods and receive more money as a result. For Example, the 2010 Public School Review report from the Modoc Joint Unified School District in California shows that the high school spends $7,858 per student whereas the 2010 Public School Review report for Tamalpais Union High School District in California shows that the school spends $19,821 per student (2010 Pubic School Review). This serves as a great disadvantage for students who do not live in wealthy neighborhoods because their schools are not receiving the proper funding...
In society, education can be seen as a foundation for success. Education prepares people for their careers and allows them to contribute to society efficiently. However, there is an achievement gap in education, especially between Hispanics and Blacks. In other words, there is education inequality between these minorities and white students. This achievement gap is a social problem in the education system since this is affecting many schools in the United States. As a response to this social problem, the No Child Left Behind Act was passed to assist in closing this achievement gap by holding schools more accountable for the students’ progress. Unsuccessful, the No Child Left Behind Act was ineffective as a social response since schools were pushed to produce high test scores in order to show a student’s academic progress which in turn, pressured teachers and students even more to do well on these tests.
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...
I chose this topic because education is all around me. I am literally surrounded by illiteracy. From the moment I leave my door, to the moment I return, I am able to witness illiteracy in my society. Therefore, I could connect well to this particular topic in detail. So many children younger than me, of my age and also people elder to me do not have access to education. Even though 86.1% of the world is illiterate (CIA World Factbook), the other 14.9% have absolutely no access to education!
Public School Systems are cheating American kids out of an education. A high school diploma indicates what students learn in achieving it, but in reality students have been learning and earning greatly less as the years have gone by. As a former public school student myself, I know we are not given the same opportunities are students in private schools. Public school students have been told that the reason our education is limited is because of funding but in the video it states that public school spend more money than private schools and still not have a better outcome. More money hasn’t improved schools. So, what’s the real problem?
As Rodney Paige, former Secretary of Education, said, “We have an educational emergency in the United States of America” (Hursh, 2007). The American ideal of egalitarianism essentially states that individuals should have an equal opportunity to pursue their dreams, and an important part of being able to achieve this is attaining a quality education. Students of differing racial, cultural, socioeconomic, and ability levels should all have the same opportunities in receiving a high-quality education. Unfortunately, this is not the case. The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) seeks to change this.
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
Education is a vital tool for lifelong success but there are many areas of concern in the current system of public education. Education reform has been a constant occurrence since the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. Every year, specialists develop