By: Alyssa Feudo
Imagine, going to school everyday, walking the hallways, and seeing classrooms filled with shaky, old desks, ripped books, and outdated technology. For children who attend suburban public schools, this is nothing less than a nightmare, but for inner city kids, this is a scene from everyday life. More than 49.4 million students have been enrolled in public schools as of fall 2011, those of which that are located in urban areas, where the education is poorly funded, are made up primarily of students who identify themselves as black or hispanic. For people like me, who have attended private school their whole lives, the question of why this is happening arises. Long story short, it all comes down to money and discrimination. The economic value of a public school education is based on property taxes of particular districts, and, because of past discriminatory actions, such as redlining and blockbusting, minorities tend not to own expensive houses in suburban areas. Therefore, property taxes for rich whites are contributing to excellent educations for privileged white children, while poorer inner city minorities are being forced to settle for significantly less. Take for example, the video below. Heartbreaking pictures show a comparison of the dirty, unfortunate conditions that these inner city students deal with everyday, and the beautiful state of the art schools that suburban children are privileged to attend.
So, what exactly does this mean, and why should we care? Essentially, it means that inner city school children are being set up for failure, by society and their own government. The school boards refuse to give more funding to schools whose test scores are below a certain average, but if funding for books and more advanced courses is never provided in the first place, then these students won't ever reach that specified testing average for sufficient funding. If we, as a whole, do not petition our government to fix this problem, then we all have a role in contributing to the vicious cycle of failure these children will face. They will continue to be forced into classes that prepare them for low-paying jobs and management positions.
In this world, where equality is supposed to be established and honored, it sadly is not. Education, which was one of the key aspects of human development, is now depriving students of their full potential. If the discrimination among poorer inner city students and more financially stable suburban students does not stop soon, the future for these children will not be a bright one. The only real thing this "education" will do is break down an individual's self esteem and diminish life goals, fueling a rat race among minorities for minimum wage jobs. Ready...get set...fail!
Imagine, going to school everyday, walking the hallways, and seeing classrooms filled with shaky, old desks, ripped books, and outdated technology. For children who attend suburban public schools, this is nothing less than a nightmare, but for inner city kids, this is a scene from everyday life. More than 49.4 million students have been enrolled in public schools as of fall 2011, those of which that are located in urban areas, where the education is poorly funded, are made up primarily of students who identify themselves as black or hispanic. For people like me, who have attended private school their whole lives, the question of why this is happening arises. Long story short, it all comes down to money and discrimination. The economic value of a public school education is based on property taxes of particular districts, and, because of past discriminatory actions, such as redlining and blockbusting, minorities tend not to own expensive houses in suburban areas. Therefore, property taxes for rich whites are contributing to excellent educations for privileged white children, while poorer inner city minorities are being forced to settle for significantly less. Take for example, the video below. Heartbreaking pictures show a comparison of the dirty, unfortunate conditions that these inner city students deal with everyday, and the beautiful state of the art schools that suburban children are privileged to attend.
So, what exactly does this mean, and why should we care? Essentially, it means that inner city school children are being set up for failure, by society and their own government. The school boards refuse to give more funding to schools whose test scores are below a certain average, but if funding for books and more advanced courses is never provided in the first place, then these students won't ever reach that specified testing average for sufficient funding. If we, as a whole, do not petition our government to fix this problem, then we all have a role in contributing to the vicious cycle of failure these children will face. They will continue to be forced into classes that prepare them for low-paying jobs and management positions.
In this world, where equality is supposed to be established and honored, it sadly is not. Education, which was one of the key aspects of human development, is now depriving students of their full potential. If the discrimination among poorer inner city students and more financially stable suburban students does not stop soon, the future for these children will not be a bright one. The only real thing this "education" will do is break down an individual's self esteem and diminish life goals, fueling a rat race among minorities for minimum wage jobs. Ready...get set...fail!
Jaime Kasztelan
ReplyDeleteI agree with your opnion, since funding is not distributed fairly it becomes the main factor in why the test scores for inner city kids remains so low. If the government would take a look at each school maybe they would see that not every child needs a lap top or they can do without the butler service for those more funded schools. Inner city schools can do without laptops for every child. All they ask for are better bathrooms or an updated textbook. While the parents of the richer schools do work hard for their children to go to nice schools, they don't need all those luxuries. If they want a laptop, the parent should buy it for them. The fact that they have high test scores is because they are getting the very best teachers, books and curriculum. The money should be given to the children that really need it. Maybe then we can see more successful students from poor families able to go to college and get a better career so that they can give the best education they can to their children. They shouldn't think about it as distributing wealth or cool stuff, they should think about it as distributing knowledge and a better environment for a child to be in for a good portion of their lives.
"The only real thing this education will do is break down an individual's self esteem and diminish life goals, fueling a rat race among minorities for minimum wage jobs. Ready...get set...fail!" This comment you give in your post in what is happening everyday. Nothing but a big race rat for inner-city people trying to survive on a minimum wage paying job that will never support their families. There needs to action taken place and that means thinking deeper then just protesting.
ReplyDeleteYoun Hee Lee
ReplyDeleteBefore learning about this in class, I really had no idea what was going on in inner city schools since I live in the suburban area where the school system is definitely better. Education is really important and everyone deserves a good chance of receiving it. It unfortunate how the government does not care for the children will live in the poorest sections in the cities and they probably have the best potential for succeeding if given the right resources. Something really has to be done.