Students With Low-incomes Are Not Receiving Proper Education

The achievement gap between whites and blacks in the 1960s was a major problem, but since we started integrating schools that problem has decreased. Now the major achievement gap isn’t between whites and blacks, but it is between the rich and poor. An article by Sabrina Tavernise, “Education Gap Grows Between Rich and Poor, Studies say” states that Professor Reardon made a study and found that “the gap between affluent and low-income students has grown by forty percent since the 1960s and is now double the testing gap between black and whites” (tavernise 1). These studies where taken in 2008 and 2009 before the recession really hit and affected the people. The effects of the recession would only show these results in a larger scale.

Until recently families have been able to select their children’s schools. Now school choices are driven by wealth. Many people who are able to afford residence in middle class suburban areas have the opportunity to send their children to successful high school, where as people who can only afford residing in urban or rural areas are forced to put their kids in failing high schools. The lack of school choice is increasing this achievement gap between the low-income students and the high-income students. Theresa Harrington’s article “Many Bay Area districts fail to adequately educate low-income and minority students, reports find” states, “In the graduation rates category, San Ramon Valley, Castro Valley and Pleasanton all earned A's, while Oakland got an F”. These students living in urban areas are victims of a system that is telling them that they are failures who can only achieve low-income jobs. This system of school choice is creating a never-ending cycle for families who live in poverty.

The environment in which low-income students attend school also gives them less hope that they will succeed. Almost every classroom (k-12) in suburban areas is decorated with work that the students have done and inspirational and hopeful quotes. When entering a school in an urban or rural area it is apparent that no one has faith in the children’s success because there are only a couple of teachers willing to provide that hopeful environment for their student. If this molecular example isn’t enough the faith the district has for the schools is another problem In the book Savage Inequalities Kozol states, “Morris High could be a wonderful place, a centerpiece of education, theater, music every kind of richness for poor children. The teachers I've met are good and energized. They seem to love the children, and the kids deserve it. The building mocks their goodness” (130). The appearance of the exterior building is provided by the lack of funding for the school. In order to achieve a classroom full of hopeful students you need the teachers and the district need to provide a hopeful environment for them. They should not be reminded of their current economic status but encouraged to obtain a better future for themselves.