Inequality of Opportunity in Schools

The following quotes are taken from The Shame of the Nation, written by Jonathan Kozol.

“To qualify for admissions to this public school, a child must first be taken to a private testing agency: $165 for the IQ test, she notes. Parents who can’t afford to pay may apply for a free test, she says but many parents are intimidated to make such requests and, more to the point, most of them have never even heard that such exemptions are available.” Chapter 6, Page 138.

This quote is a good example of how privileged families can get ahead in school systems. Families that have the money to pay for certain tests to get their children ahead have a better chance to attending prestigious schools. People with lower incomes do not have the same opportunity as wealthier families because they may not be able to afford testing. The test should be free for all students to take; it is not fair for the people that can’t afford to take it. If this is a public school then why does private testing have to be part of the admissions process?

“Even in a brief recession in the early 1990s when a billion-dollar cut in funding was imposed on New York City’s schools across the board, $150 million was discovered to erect a dazzling new building, the most expensive high school ever built in New York City¸ for the students who attended Stuyvesant. Not a single high school had been built for students in the Bronx since 1973.” Chapter 6, Pages 139-140.

Why did the government of New York build another high end school when there are hundreds of schools in low income areas that need repairs, new buildings, and materials within the school? This makes no sense to me. In this book, Kozol describes on numerous accounts, schools that are located in urban settings that are falling apart, but yet the government still decides to build a bigger and better school for those who already have what they need to get by. What was the government of New York reasoning for this? Do they not care about the students who have no learning materials in their schools?

“Class size averaged 30 students. Thirteen of the 15 teachers were provisional which meant they were not fully certified to teach. Supplies were scarce. Three of my classes don’t have textbooks, said the principle. I have to fight and scratch for everything we get.” Chapter 6, Page 143.

This quote goes along with the one previous. Principals and teachers in poor urban areas have to fight for the supplies and materials they receive. How are students supposed to learn and be successful in school when the schools do not have the resources they need to teach properly? There should be more funding to schools that do not the materials they need. But again this all connects to government standardized testing and increasing scores.

“At that point, his mother agreed to have him transferred to this school in Harlem. When I later asked her why she had agreed to this instead of trying to enroll him in one of the better middle schools that were presumably available under the school choice program in New York, she said that she was given no alternative. I went to the school district office and they gave me that school she replied. If other choices did exist, she said they were not mentioned.” Chapter 6, Pages 143-144.

Why is the district office holding back important information to parents? This is half the reason why poorer families do not get good educations because they do not know what is available to them. It should be a mandated rule that the district needs to come forth to help families and provide them with options and other resources available to them. Holding information can jeopardize a child’s future. In this quote the mother had no idea she could have sent her child to a better school. Instead he see violence every day because the district held information from him and his mother.

The following quotes are taken from American Education, written by Joel Spring.

“Horace Mann believed equality of opportunity would reduce tension between the rich and poor. The poor could believe that their children had and equal chance to compete with the children of the rich. Rather than feeling antagonistic toward the wealthy, the poor could believe that they had the opportunity to join the rich.” Chapter 2, Page 31.

Horace Mann theory of equality means well, but in fact it would never work. There will always be inequality in American society. Some people will always have more opportunities while others do not because of economic statuses people have. Equal opportunity should reduce tension between the rich and the poor. However this is not true because people of privilege backgrounds always will have more resources available to them to get ahead in the competition, while poor families to not have means in obtaining extra resources. Therefore, sadly there will always be inequality between the two.

“Common-school model continues to be plagued by differences in family backgrounds. Children with parents who read to them expose them to a variety of cultural events are probably better prepared to learn than children whose parents are illiterate. Also, wealthy parents can provide their children with special advantages such as tutors and learning aids, while poor parents might have to struggle just to feed their children.” Chapter 2, Page 33.

As much as this model proposes equality for all school systems, our society does not work this way, there is always going to be more advantages for some. It is not anyone fault, it is the way the American society works. Some people are more privileged then others.  If all the schools were set up the same for every child, there will still be students who fall behind and some that achieve great success because of their family’s economic status. This is not fair to the people with fewer privileges, just because they can’t afford tutors and aids for their children, they fall behind in academics.