Prudence L. Carter: Article Analysis

The challenge of creating equal opportunity in schools has existed for years in the United States. Student and teacher life can vary greatly based on which district the school is located in. Issues like unfair opportunity, unqualified schools, and funding issues shroud the progress of educational reform.

Prudence L. Carter argues that too many schools are in poor condition when it comes to programs, resulting in a lower success rate. Carter states “we cannot expect all students to achieve when far too many are climbing stairwells with broken handrails and missing steps, tripping and falling as they work to keep up, while others are zooming up on elevators,” in reference to the opportunities children are given at school. Families living in low-income communities do not have the same access to school programs that children in high-income communities do. “Those struggling with poverty and family instability cannot be expected to succeed at the same rate, on average, as those who will never know hunger and who have little to no exposure to unemployment, homelessness and/or

other stresses,” as stated by Carter. By having access to educational, financial, and other skill-based programs, schools can expect children to slowly start improving, as their familial or educational stressors are being looked after.
Unqualified schools are also a problem, as mentioned by Elaine Weiss.

She claims that “schools are complex ecosystems,” meaning that there are multiple factors in question. One factor is the challenge of hiring good teachers, “given the privations of the job and poor odds of student success.” Some teachers choose to leave schools in low-income areas due to the amount of money they receive, as schools in high-income areas earn more; creating an imbalance between good or bad teachers and high or low-income areas. Another factor are the unsafe conditions in schools, as “it is hard to teach and even harder to learn in such places”. Problems like “stiflingly hot classrooms, collapsing ceilings, poisoned drinking water” all intervene with the ability for children to learn. By focusing on these issues, schools can repair and mend the in-school stressors that affect children in low-income

neighborhoods.
Robin Lake, however, claims that the problem lies within the system. “Seniority-based teacher assignment and “last in, first out” layoff policies” are ineffective in Lake’s opinion, we need to focus on “radically [rethinking] urban public education” instead. She suggests using a “weighted student funding” model which sets aside a certain amount of money for each student and gives schools more control and options of what they can do for their students.
By refocusing our attention on issues like unfair opportunity, unqualified schools, and funding issues, schools can expect to see an improvement in their students’ education and personal lives.