Education is Not the Great Equalizer PDF

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Education is Not the Great Equalizer in America...

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Education is Not the Great Equalizer

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Education is Not the Great Equalizer For English Composition: ESL II New Jersey City University April 6, 2020

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Introduction Most of the people in the United States think that education is the path to equalizing the racial gaps in homeownership, income, and wealth. Research, on the contrary, does not support the idea that education is helping to make equal opportunities in the United States. The quality of education is not the same in all the school. Also, Blacks and Hispanics students are suffering from education inequality, they do not have the same opportunities as Whites students. Unequal opportunities like lack of resources and low teacher quality are causing that Blacks and Hispanics students to have a lower opportunity of graduating from High School compared to White students. In addition, Black and Hispanic students are less likely to be enrolled in AP classes. Low quality and lack of resources make the inequality even bigger. Unfortunately, there is still segregation in the United States.

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Education and Inequalities The inequality of education in New Jersey depends on whether the community is rich or poor. According to Savage Inequalities written by Jonathan Kozol (1990), riches schools such as Montclair, Millburn, and Princeton. Poor schools like East Orange, Irvington, and Jersey City. Montclair has indispensable benefits for their students. Montclair has two recreation fields, four gyms, a dance room, a wrestling room, a weight room, and 13 full-time physical teachers for 1,900 students. On the other hand, East Orange has no field, therefore, student-run in the hallways of the school to exercise. East Orange has a lack of space. The students cannot choose to play lacrosse or soccer. East Orange has only four physical teachers for 2,000 students, and 99.9 percent are black. In Addition, according to Jonathan Kozol (1991) Millburn has 1,500 dollars more than East Orange. Millburn has 14 different AP courses, sports such as golf, ice hockey, and lacrosse. Also, ten music teachers and an honor music program. On the contrary, Irvington the 94 percent of the students are nonwhite, Irvington has an auditorium, they play a music concert while ten other classes are trying to study in the same space. Also, Irvington does not have showers, no lockers, and not enough space, and time creates overheated in their students. Students dislike who they are and what they have become. It is very difficult for the teachers to teach in those conditions. Moreover, According to Jonathan Kozol (1991) Jersey City is the seventeenth poorest city in America. Thee 85 percent are nonwhite, and only 30 of 680 children can participate in instrumental music. The school provides no instruments and students must rent them. No music

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suites. The computer classes take place storage closet. 45 percent of third-grade children fail their basic skills exam, 45 percent are approximate 800 children. The dropout rate is 52 percent which is about 2,500 children every four years. On the other hand, Princeton has a comfortable computer, only 10 percent fail a basic skills exam. By comparison to Jersey City, the population of the student is smaller. The 10 percent is about 19 children and the dropout rate are less than 40 children. According to School Data Finds Pattern of Inequality Along Racial Lines By Motoko Rich (March 21, 2014). The three different patterns of inequality are, a quarter of high schools with the highest percentage of black and Latino students do not offer any Algebra II courses, while a third of those schools do not have any chemistry classes. over half of all black students have access to those courses. Just over two-thirds of Latinos attend schools with the full range of math and science courses, and less than half of American Indian and Native Alaskan students can enroll in as many high-level math and science courses as their white peers. Black, Latino, American Indian, and Native Alaskan students are three times as likely as white students to attend schools with higher concentrations of first-year teachers. Abbott V. Burke of 1981 These statistics that listed all the inequalities in the educational system were addressed by Abbott v. Burke In 1990, the case was implemented by the New Jersey Supreme Court. This case provided resources to children in the lowest- wealth community. New Jersey was the first state to mandate early education, starting at age 3, for children. This law changes their lives and for school districts like East Orange, Irvington and Jersey City providing supplementary programs

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and reforms was an unprecedented effort to target funds to initiatives designed to improve educational outcomes of low-income schoolchildren. This improvement in education is so important because children get a chance to go to school and learn. Children from a poor community and education will help the community to continue growing. Miseducation on the four schools in New Jersey According to the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights found patterns of inequality along racial lines in schools. The relationship between income and SAT scores is a tremendous impact on the student’s academic development and success. Children in the highincome families have access to a better quality of education, better educational environments, enough academic material, and resources to prepare more properly a student for tests. On the contrary, children in low-income families do not have the resources or benefits to be prepared to take a test like the SAT. In addition, the SAT scores for the following high schools in New Jersey are Millburn High school 1347, Irvington High school 853, and Jersey City 944. Also, the property taxes in New Jersey by the city are Millburn: $23,327, Irvington: $7,282, Jersey City: $6,958. Moreover, the property taxes in Millburn are $23,327 and the SAT scores are 1347 because the high income of the family influences positively the educational development of the students. The property taxes in Irvington are $7,282 and the SAT score is 853 because the moderate-income of the family provides limited help to the students to improve their academic performance. The property tax rate in Jersey City is $6,958, and the SAT score is 944 because the

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family’s income can indicate how much resources they can afford to help their children prepare for the SAT exam.

High Schools

Percentage of Hispanics and Blacks taking AP class

Millburn

1% Hispanics

Rate of discipline for Black students compared to White students

19.6 times likely to be suspended

Percentage of inexperienced teachers

2%

0% Blacks

Irvington

10% Hispanics 79% Blacks

Snyder

28% Hispanics 61% Blacks

McNair

20% Hispanics

89% Blacks students out of school 11% suspension or 100% expulsion. No white students in this school

86% Blacks out of school suspension compared to 3% Whites

12%

Black are more likely to be suspended

9%

17% Blacks

Brown V. Board of Education of 1954

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Brown v. Board of Education was passed in 1954 to address these racial gaps in education. However, Between 1991 and 2009, over 200 medium-sized and large districts were released from desegregation court orders. Desegregation means to eliminate segregation. After this law was approved, racial school segregation in these districts increases more. Also, courtordered desegregation plans are effective in reducing racial school segregation. But, their effects fade over time in the absence of continued court oversight (Reardon et al., 2012). The Court has ruled that desegregation plans were never intended to be permanent, and many of the school districts that were once under court order to desegregate have been released from court oversight to. Also, to provide African American children a bigger chance of graduating from high school. This desegregation allows black children to attend a better quality of education in schools. Moreover, schools in the south were most likely to ignore court laws, as schools did not have oversight on the part of the court, many schools maintained segregation in their districts. Furthermore, the legacy of Brown v. Board of Education was the decision made to enforced in the southern school districts (Reardon et al., 2012). Schools now in the United States are less segregated. However, in many schools, segregation still happening. Also, desegregation is very important to the quality of education for African American children because causes a positive impact in their life. First, African American children can have the same level of education as other races. Second, it provides chances for African American students to have a better quality of education, more resources and materials in the school, and a better chance of earning a degree. Third, African Americans have the opportunity to grow economically and provide a better future for their families. Conclusion

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According to Eduardo Porter (2013), A study was made by James J. Heckman on inequality in early education, one of the top economists in the United States studying human development. He found out that the sons and daughters of mothers who had graduated from college scored much higher at age three than those whose mothers had dropped out of high school. Another study by Heckman and Flávio Cunha of the University of Pennsylvania found that the gap in math abilities between rich and poor children was not much different at age twelve than it was at age six (Porter, p. 1). The investment in the early education of disadvantage children is very important because pays extremely high return for their academic future and have a beneficial impact on their lives. Investing in early education it’s crucial because not only improves their cognitive skills but also important behavioral traits like sociability, motivation, and self-esteem. In addition, the United States has not been doing an exceptional job at funding for early childhood education programs because public spending on higher education is more than three times as high as spending on pre-school (Porter, p. 1). I think knowledge is power and should be taught from childhood....