Did you know that socioeconomic disparities can significantly impact academic achievement? In "The Lesson," a group of underprivileged children from Harlem embark on a field trip to a Manhattan toy store, where they confront the stark realities of wealth and privilege, prompting reflections on education and opportunity. Studies reveal that socioeconomic status significantly influences access to quality education, leading to disparities in academic achievement and perpetuating cycles of poverty. Bambara's "The Lesson" underscores the enduring relevance of socioeconomic disparities in education, highlighting the urgent need to address systemic injustices to ensure equitable learning opportunities for all members of society. This essay will explore …show more content…
By witnessing the events through Sylvia's eyes, readers can grasp the injustices she faces and the challenges she must overcome. This point of view on the topic of socioeconomic inequality speaks directly to readers who may not have firsthand experience with poverty. By presenting the story from Sylvia's perspective, Bambara invites readers to confront the realities of socioeconomic inequality and consider its implications for individuals and society. Children and adolescents from lower socioeconomic backgrounds are more likely to experience the effects of socioeconomic disparities on academic achievement. This is based on evidence from Rosen (2018) that indicates that children, and adolescents from lower socioeconomic backgrounds tend to perform less academically compared to those from higher socioeconomic backgrounds. The research findings align with the narrative presented in "The Lesson" by Toni Cade Bambara, wherein Sylvia and her friends, who come from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, face educational challenges and disparities. Other authors, like Rosen, also acknowledge the profound influence of socioeconomic status on academic …show more content…
Sirin further states that "the academic achievement gap between high- and low-SES students has been persistent and prevalent across different measures and time periods." This research sheds light on the systemic nature of the issue. By considering the findings of Sirin (2005) alongside those of Rosen et al. (2018), it becomes evident that socioeconomic disparities in academic achievement are multifaceted and deeply ingrained within societal structures. Understanding the extent and impact of these disparities is essential for developing effective strategies to address them and promote educational equity for all students. The socioeconomic disparities in academic achievement highlighted in "The Lesson" by Toni Cade Bambara, alongside research from Rosen et al. (2018) and Sirin (2005), reveal the profound impact of socioeconomic status on educational opportunities and outcomes. Children and adolescents from lower socioeconomic backgrounds face systemic barriers to academic success, prolonging multi-generational cycles of poverty and
Have you ever had that one person that thought he or she knew it all, or that kept on you to do your work, work harder, and just was always nagging you? It could be a parent, relative, teacher, a boss, or even a friend and you always wonder why he or she is so hard on you, but in the end, you realize that it was only in your best interest? They just wanted to teach you something meaningful and important in life. I have had that one person that drove me insane, until I realized why.
In Savage Inequalities, Jonathan Kozol describes the conditions of several of America's public schools. Kozol visited schools in neighborhoods and found that there was a wide disparity in the conditions between the schools in the poorest inner-city communities and schools in the wealthier suburban communities. How can there be such huge differences within the public school system of a country, which claims to provide equal opportunity for all? It becomes obvious to Kozol that many poor children begin their young lives with an education that is far inferior to that of the children who grow up in wealthier communities. Savage Inequalities provides strong evidence of the national oppression that is endemic in the American system. Focusing on the discrepancy in resources between schools that are predominantly Black or Latino (usually inner city) and schools that are predominantly white (usually suburban), Kozol provides case studies and statistics to show some kids are given every opportunity to succeed while others (oppressed nations) are set up to fail.
Life lesson were often tough by older, wiser or formally educated people within the community. This idea still holds true today, especially in low-income communities as illustrate in the short story “The Lesson”. I am led to believe that story took place in low income community in the early sixties as African American moved to find better opportunity. Therefore, in sixties opportunity not for everyone especially low-income and color people. They are discriminated by color in the society of white people who are rich. Color people children like Sylvia, who believe that she does not belong in the society because of her family income. And her family cannot give her higher education as white family give to their children. The only possibilities she can have higher education if the communities have no race between colors also with their low-income. However, we all deserve to have equal right in United States, no matter what class we are also our color. We sh...
The subject of equality and inequality are a sensitive and controversial topic. Both equality and inequality were portrayed in the short story, “The Lesson.” In this short story by Toni Cade Bambara, Miss Moore, a well known woman in the neighborhood, gives the children in her local area a lesson about the brutal inequalities that are in existence within the socioeconomic status system. This leads the children to ponder about the equality and inequality that exists within society. Toni Cade Bambara uses her short story, “The Lesson” in order to shed light on the injustices and racial inequalities in society. The goal of the story is to not only fight for racial equalities, but socioeconomic equalities as well.
The achievement gap is defined as the disparity between the performance groups of students, especially groups defined by gender, race/ethnicity, ability and socio-economic status. The achievement gap can be observed through a variety of measures including standardized test scores, grade point averages, drop out rates, college enrollment and completion rates. The Black-White achievement gap is a critical issue in modern society’s education system. Although data surrounding the issue clearly indicates that the racial performance gap exists in areas of standardized tests, graduation rates, dropout rates, and enrollment in continuing education, the causative reasons for the gap are ambiguous—therefore presenting a significant challenge in regard to the most effective way to close the gap. The gap appears before children enter kindergarten and it persists into adulthood (Jencks 1998). Since 1970, the gap has decreased about 40 percent, but has steadily grown since. Theories suggest the Black-White achievement gap is created by a multitude of social, cultural, and economic factors as well as educational opportunities and/or learning experiences. Factors such as biased testing, discrimination by teachers, test anxiety among black students, disparities between blacks and whites in income or family structure, and genetic and cultural differences between blacks and whites have all been evaluated as explanations for the Black-White achievement gap (Farkas 2004). The research that follows will elaborate on these factors as they affect the decline in academic performance of black males—particularly the literacy achievement of black males.
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
In conclusion, the Academic Achievement has been fueled by society's presets, minority students' lack of effort, and the failures of the schooling system in America. There has been some challenging setbacks, but the Gap can be fixed to create a common ground for all prospective members of America's society to excel on equally. By realizing that change can be achieved, there are little to no limits for minority students to create a better mindset towards education. Students, parents, and teachers have to be willing to work together, as well as tackle obstacles upheld by society, and the economic deficiencies that effect schools across America. This will, in turn, take America one step closer to closing the Academic Achievement Gap in America.
Even when low-income schools manage to find adequate funding, the money doesn’t solve all the school’s problems. Most importantly, money cannot influence student, parent, teacher, and administrator perceptions of class and race. Nor can money improve test scores and make education relevant and practical in the lives of minority students. School funding is systemically unequal, partially because the majority of school funding comes from the school district’s local property taxes, positioning the poorest communities at the bottom rung of the education playing field. A student’s socioeconomic status often defines her success in a classroom for a number of reasons.
Low income students are generally found in low income communities which have fewer resources to devote to their schools. With inadequate funds and resources, these kids are not getting the equal opportunity in education as kids in high income communities. Kids...
Michael Oher was from an all-black neighborhood located in the third poorest zip code in the country. By the time he was a sophomore, he’d been to 11 different schools, he couldn’t read or write, and he had a GPA of 0.6. In his first-grade year alone, he missed 41 days of school and ended up repeating both the first and the second grade; he didn’t even go to the third grade. Oher was one of the thousands of children that have been identified as having four or more of the at-risk factors mentioned by the National Center of Education and Statistics (NCES). According to the NCES, poverty and race are high on the list of things that negatively affect students’ ability to succeed at school. Other risk factors include changing schools multiple times and being held back from one or more grades. Oher’s biography, The Blind Side by Michael Lewis, proves how socioeconomic status impacts a child’s academic success because placed in perspective, education is not as important as the hardships of reality.
For years, people have been trying to figure out ways to equalize the divergent academic achievement rates between rich and poor children. A study published by the Kaiser Family Foundation in 2010 found that, since the late 90’s when they first started monitoring over 2,000 children, media
The means of justifying these inequalities are important for the entire world. Education played and will always play a big role in everyone’s lives. Equality in education will eventually guarantee every person a better position in society. Educational inequality is the difference in learning effectiveness and results as faced by students with varying backgrounds. The effects of educational inequality are not only left within the circles of education, but also remain further to have an impact on other life aspects. All over the world, there have been unending calls to reform education at each level. With various causes that are very much connected to society, history and culture, the educational inequality has apparently been one of the most difficult challenges to address. Regardless of the challenges faced in removing educational inequality, education has continued to be a very important part of society with a big expectation of moving it forward. In the current-day America, very many disadvantaged children have continued to grow up missing key skills. Discrimination has continued to persevere in educational achievement between racial issues. Above all, low performance levels among these disadvantaged children have over the years been responsible for the long-term issues, especially in such an society with higher levels of skills and a failing incomes offered to those people that are less-skilled.
Living in poverty exposes children to disadvantages that influence many aspects in their life that are linked to their ability to do well in school. In the United States of America there are an estimated 16.4 million children under the age of 18 living in poverty (U.S. Census Bureau, 2010). “The longer a child lives in poverty, the lower the educational attainment” (Kerbo, 2012). Children who are raised in low-income households are at risk of failing out before graduating high school (Black & Engle, 2008). U.S. children living in poverty face obstacles that interfere with their educational achievement. Recognizing the problems of living in poverty can help people reduce the consequences that prevent children from reaching their educational potential.
It can be argued that the academic performance of children has nothing to do with their socioeconomic status, because there have been many cases of children from very poor families who have excelled greatly in academics (APA, 2017). Furthermore, many predominantly high-end schools have posted poor results when compared to school with poorer backgrounds. This is despite the fact children from lower socioeconomic classes do not have access to the best forms of learning materials. The high performance of children from poor backgrounds is often attributed to the fact that they are not preoccupied with many activities which would otherwise hinder them from concentrating on their studies (Sacerdote, 2002). Therefore, some believe it is false to say that poor performance is associated with children who come from low socioeconomic classes. Rather, they believe academic achievement is genetic (Sacerdote, 2002).
The great equalizer in America is education, because it provides the surest path to opportunity and social mobility (Golston). Education should be a right not a privilege in order to make the American Dream achievable to all. We do not have a democracy of only the rich are educated. Allan Golston says, “Students deserve an education that will propel them to high school graduation — and success beyond.” Unfortunately, a child’s odds of receiving a great education too often come down to the income of the parents or the color of his or her