“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” Written into the founding principles of our country is the idea of equality for all, regardless of background. Two hundred forty-one years later we still face this issue in almost every aspect of life, but one of the most apparent examples of the inequality that still plagues our nation today is the achievement gap in education. In a perfect world, every child in school has the same opportunity to either succeed or fail, but in todays world those who succeed are overwhelmingly those who have privilege and those who fall behind are overwhelmingly those who don’t. …show more content…
It has always been that the schools with more funding produce students that perform better. But even after an attempt to implement a standardized curriculum, the No Child Left Behind Policy and the Common Core Standards, there is still an obvious achievement gap between the schools with money and those without. In addition to the gap that still remains, there are new problems that arise as a result of planning a standard curriculum. One of the biggest complaints to be had is the issue of ‘teaching to the test’. Meaning that students aren’t learning what will be most useful to them in the long term, but rather what will prevent the school from losing government funding as a result of not meeting the test score requirement. If the idea is to educate for the future, then teaching to the test is not a viable nor a sustainable strategy, but, in the same sense, if educating for the future is the ultimate goal we can’t allow some schools to teach a curriculum that is so significantly lacking behind
“The intent behind closing these gaps is to break the connection between race or family income and achievement while at the same time continuing to improve the performance of the top students. ”(28) Gaps between race and wealth have always been issues in schools. Historically, children living in poverty are more likely to score lower on tests than those
Many people do not know about the inequalities that African Americans go through in the public education system or choose to ignore it. Such as receiving unequal education as the white kids in rich areas, having old textbooks ten to twenty year old or sometimes suffer from discrimination in public schools they attend. The fact is that public schools that African Americans attend aren’t slightly unequal they enormously unequal from public schools funding to segregation resurfacing in schools. While at least everyone (below 18 or 19) in U.S has a right to get an equal public education. Low test scores and graduation rates show that African American students are being left behind in education, public schools African Americans attend are being
Inequalities have always existed in society. These inequalities are often perpetuated through education. While the United States Supreme Court supported desegregation of schools and struck down the idea of “separate, but equal” in the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education cases, there still exists many inequalities within the United States educational system today for minority races and people of the lower economic classes. Ann Ferguson in her article “Bad Boys” discusses punishment practices in schools and the detriment these practices provide as they resemble incarceration. Conley in his article “Education” discusses education acting as a sorting machine and the tracking of students.
Nelson Mandela once said, “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world” (Education). Education is a crucial making an intelligent and prosperous world. Every person is entitled to an equal education, deserving to be taught and have the ability to learn at the same beneficial level as any other person. However, the disparity between what some have for a school and what others have for schools that far surpass the others is unacceptable. Children in the United States are not getting the education they deserve to receive.
The American education system provides less resources and inexperienced teachers to schools with low-income students, which are said to be mainly African American and Latino. This continuing inequality has detrimental effects on society. In 2013, only 66 percent of African American graduated on time, while 83 percent of White students finished high school in four years. These facts undermine our core beliefs about education and equality. It also undermines our national ability to be competitive in the global
Despite an increase of education scores in the past decade, the United States still trenches behind many countries. Scores found in the Programme for International Student Assessment, the most popular cross sectional test, finds that the United State ranks thirty-eight out of seventy-one countries in test performances of english, math and science literary. But within the country itself contains a deeper issue. The term “achievement gap” is used to describe the polarity between the academic performances of minorities, such as Black and Hispanics, to those of Asians and White students; which are found to be much lower than the latter. Besides test scores, this achievement gap is most apparent in grades and drop-out rates as well.
America’s school system is lacking in what it can offer its students. The inequality in our society causes lower income families to be treated less than someone of higher class. Unfortunately, this difference in status means a difference in the education a child would receice. Even though there are programs, grants, and other sources of help for these children, why are there still children struggling to gain such a basic need? The educational structure is varied from state to state and country to country.
Schools servicing low income students are being shortchanged districts disproportionately distribute funds. According to a report from the U.S. Department of Education, “The analysis of new data on 2008-09 school level expenditures show that many high-poverty schools receive less than their fair share of state and local funding, leaving students in high-poverty schools with fewer resources than schools attended by their wealthier peers.” Providing more resources and a better education for students in wealthier areas not only increases the achievement gap, but it increases the social status gap in America. While the nation acknowledges that inequality is an issue, proper action is not being taken. Until this issue is seriously addressed and action is taken, and poorer schools are provided the necessary tools to succeed, the public school system in America will not have the opportunity to produced skilled
Clearly, performance on MAEP is not flat. The gains in reading have been slow, steady, and significant. The gains in mathematics in both tested grades have been remarkable for whites, blacks, Hispanics, and Asians. Despite these increases, the achievement gaps remain between white and black students and between white and Hispanics students because all groups are improving their scores.
Education inequality in America Currently in today’s era we are living in a time where education inequality is at a high more than ever, where depending on where you live, how much money you have, what race you are, and even sometimes what sex you are, is how much you would learn, many people in the Ghettos of NewYork, don’t get the same as someone who would live the the nice, more wealthier parts. In the Ghettos, any type of teachers who does not know what they are doing are thrown in there, while teachers are carefully hand selected to teach in the much more wealthier places. This is a issue, because in the Declaration Of Independence, where it states; that all men are created equal, is not being fulfilled, like it needs
When one common injustice exists, it carries a few more along with it. Americans have been divided continuously, by their class status, their race, religious beliefs, political opinions, and ethnicities. Discrimination has continuously affected America for centuries, and one problem always seems to lead to another. A never-ending cycle, even something as amazing and beneficial as education can be tainted based on someone’s inability to afford the education, or racial prejudice.
Martha Peraza SOC 3340 Inequality in Education California State University, Bakersfield Abstract In the United States, there exists a gap in equality for different demographics of students. The factors contributing to educational disadvantages include socioeconomic struggles, gender of students, language or culture, and particularly for the scope of this paper, race.
In a speech commemorating the 60th anniversary of the landmark Brown v. Board of Education at Vanderbilt University, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan (2014, May 20) questions the country’s lack of “collective outrage over our nation's achievement gaps”. The ROS problem under study addresses the local response to the academic achievement gap by focusing on the instructional practices of secondary school teachers who successfully teach children of color in hopes of finding replicable instructional practices. The “achievement gap” in education refers to the disparity in academic performance between groups of students. The achievement gap shows up in grades, standardized-test scores, course selection, dropout rates, and college-completion rates, among other success measures. Although there are many type of achievement gaps, such as, based on gender, economics, and technology, the most researched
The district, like most schools, is focused on standardized tests as they are the key to receiving sources of funding. Part of a teacher-focused essentialist view on education is a strong emphasis on a core curriculum centering around science, math, reading, and writing. Essentialism focuses on, “accuracy and thoroughness from each student” teachers are expected to push “for an overall higher standard for all students” in the core curriculum (Figures, 2012, n.p.). This philosophy is great, however, because the district is pushing it at the teachers through rigorous testing for their students and copious amounts of paperwork for teacher accountability there seems to be a disconnect between pushing all students to strive and creating a learning environment that fosters
As Americans, we view the Constitution as a stepping stone to making the great country we live in today. Yet, we the people of the United States failed to realize another component in order to form a perfect union. Which is to establish and promote equal opportunities for a quality education for all. However, we live in a society where social locators such as class, gender, and race are huge factors in the determination of one’s educational future.