Income Inequality in Schools by Noah Auger

Income Inequality in Schools

            In this post I am not talking about family income and the disparity between them but schools income and affordability themselves. If a school does not have much money, they cannot afford the latest, new tools to help their students grow and become strong citizens. Schools that have money can buy the latest equipment and therefore equip their students with the best possible chance of succeeding in school and in life. Now of course this all matters to how the school uses the equipment, how well the teacher’s can basically teach, and how well the students respond to the teacher and new equipment. However, at a basic level, we can see that the poorer schools will be fighting an uphill battle and the richer schools will at least be on level terrain if not higher ground.

            Schools that can afford SMART boards have a greater ability in teaching because it can be used for multiple purposes. Schools that still have blackboards may not be able to keep up with the other schools because they cannot do as much. When it comes to teaching, being diverse is good because each student in the classroom is diversely different and will learn in different ways. If a poorer school is unable to teach in different ways because of its limited ability in equipment and supplies then their students may not be learning to their potential. This isn’t going to be one magic fix by getting every school the same equipment. There are multiple factors that go into that, however if schools are at least on the same level in what they can and can’t afford then their students will also be on the same level. If the students are all on the same level then it will be easier for the school system as whole to cooperate and find ways to reach their student’s potential rather than blaming it on insufficient funds and crappy technology or supplies.

            Private schools tend to have the better hand when it comes to education because they usually have more money to use on their school and students, due to having tuition. Public schools however must be funded and when funds run low they cannot and do not have the ability to give their student’s the best chance possible. This happens in primary school or k-12 schools but also happens in college as well. Universities and Private schools have a higher advantage and Junior colleges when it comes to education because they can afford the new stuff and the quality professors. In the system today though, Junior college is a basic level college that get students the minimum requirements for a specific job, like a trade schools. There is nothing wrong with trade schools either, they are very efficient and usually really good at what they do. However, the problem occurs when more and more students cannot afford universities and then must go to a Junior College to receive a sub-par education in their dream field of work. Private schools and Universities can afford more things because their tuition is much higher than Junior Colleges. However, more and more of their students are climbing into debt because they need to take out loans just to afford college, just so they can get an adequate education for their field work and hope to earn enough money to pay back their debt and have a future life.

            If it was at all possible, one of the best things the U.S. could do for their education standards is equal out all the schools under their control, which is basically all public schools. They could provide equal funds to each school so students at every school have equal opportunities in their education instead of being limited to what their school could afford. Also this will allow the Education branch to have a better look at their system instead of having multiple variables come into play and blur the main problems. If schools were funded more equally than technically, when they “compete” with each other they are at least on the same level playing field versus one school always being ruled out due to their fund availability. In this sense the public education system would be more equal overall and the private education system would most likely remain the same since the government doesn’t have as much control over them. When it comes to college, it would help if students could afford to go to a quality university for an education instead of being forced to attend a lesser quality school and possibly the chance of a lesser education all because they could not afford the university. Right now there is a huge disparity between “rich” schools and “poor” schools and if nothing changes the harder it will be to head in the right direction in education.