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United but Separate: Educational Inequality in the United States

Alex Dooley

Sociology 115
Dr. Henry Kim
May 6, 2013

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Alex Dooley
SOC 115 Sociological Imagination Research Paper
Dr. Kim
5 May 2013
United but Separate: Educational Inequality in the United States
Children are the future of our world this quote is used often, and for good reason .
The laws of nature dictate that each generation eventually turns its positions of both leadership
and service over to its children. In the United States of America, as is the case in every other
economically advanced country, the most formative academic learning and training for the
young generation is initiated at school. However, schools in the USA are massively underpreparing students to be successful predecessors to the current generation of leaders . In one of
the most wealthy countries in the world, why is this the case? What are the reasons for the
academic defciencies exhibited by students in the USA, particularly among minorities and
students from low-income families? The richest country in the world should be able to remedy
the problem of a broken education system, and certainly has the capacity to do so, but
defnitely has yet to make it happen. Furthermore, as Christians living in the United States of
America, we should be the frst people caring about this issue . We need to be on the forefront
of revitalizing the educational system in America, both for the betterment of our youth and for
the good of the kingdom of Christ in this world.
In comparison to other countries with highly developed economies, the USA is already
performing at a subpar academic level. According to their fndings released in 2007, the
National Assessment of Educational Progress reported that only 32 percent of students in the

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United States tested at a profcient level in mathematics, and only 31 percent scored at a
profcient level in reading. This places the USA at the 32nd spot on the list of world rankings in
mathematics and 17th place in reading. 75 percent of students in the city of Shanghai, which
was tested separately from the rest of China, tested at or above a profcient level in
mathematics, a rate nearly triple that of students in the USA. The seeming lag of the United
States' educational system behind that of other developed countries indicates that the system
currently implemented in the USA is already defcient, thus making it vulnerable to even more
discrepancies within the system itself.
A survey of 4th and 8th grade students performed by the National Center for Education
Statistics in 2003 found that students at schools in which more than 75 percent of the student
body qualifes for free or reduced cost lunches score between 17 and 20 percent lower in
standardized math and reading tests than students at schools in which less than 10 percent of
the student body qualifes for reduced cost lunches . Additionally, the same study found an even
further achievement disparity along racial lines. Black students were outperformed by white
students by 14 percent, and Hispanic/Latino students scored 8 percent lower than their white
counterparts. The already broken system of the American education system seems to do
nothing but keep breaking down as both the size of the paychecks of students' families and the
value of their social capital as determined by their race diminishes . Given the statistics revolving
around this issue, there is clearly a problem.
Systemic inequality and oppression of minorities in the United States is not exactly a
little-known occurrence, and the historical debt still being paid by minority students in this

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country is quite vast and noticeable. Education was initially forbidden for Blacks during the
period of legalized slavery, and the Emancipation Proclamation saw the establishment of many
freedmen's schools. These schools were set up to maintain what was, in reality, a servant class
of young Black farmhands, many of whom only were only able to attend school four months per
year while the growing season was not taking place (Ladson-Billings 5) . In addition, these
schools often received unwanted, cast-off textbooks that were no longer considered ft to be
used by White schools. Given the deep hole that Blacks in America have been in since before our
nation was even established, it is no wonder that an educational gap exists .
The process of social reproduction has led to a continuous, vicious cycle for marginalized
families even entire races of people who have, for generations, not been afforded the same
life chances as White middle-class Americans . This cycle of poverty and lack of social mobility
started a trend of underfunding among low-income school districts that continues today, and
seems to have no apparent end. Chicago public schools, made up of 87 percent Black and
Latino students, receive an average of $8,482 per pupil every year, while schools in the nearby
Chicago suburb of Highland Park receive an average of $17,291 per pupil per year (LadsonBillings 6).
One reason for this cycle of low funding is the simple mathematics of home values and
tax revenues. Wealthy families tend to own more valuable houses than low-income families, thus
paying more in property taxes to the city or county in which they live . Much of the revenue
from these property taxes goes back to the school district the house is located in, generating
revenue for the schools allowing those who live nearby to beneft from a larger school budget .

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On the other side of the equation, poor areas with low-income and government subsidized
housing will simply not have as much property tax revenue as higher-income areas, thus leaving
their schools at a defcit in regards to funding. This phenomenon reproduces itself as more
wealthy families who can afford to relocate to expensive areas move into neighborhoods with
good schools, buy nice houses, and drive the cost of real estate up . Poor people are effectively
barred from moving into certain areas due to the prohibitive cost of real estate, exacerbating
the social stratifcation created by the intertwinement of capitalism with our educational
system.
Social stratifcation does not stop at the level of funding given to certain schools in
fact, the amount of money that is provided to schools by way of tax dollars often refects the
home life of the students attending that school. Poor school districts are likely to have poor
families, and the parents of low-income families are less likely to have gone to college, or even
graduated from high school. Oftentimes, students in a low-income situation only have one
parent living at home and supporting them. In his article How Educational Inequality Develops
published by the National Poverty Center in 2006, George Farkas states that while only 15
percent of white stuents live in single-parent homes, 27 percent of Hispanic/Latino students do,
and a staggering 54 percent of Black students were currently in single-parent home situations .
Single-parent households are naturally more prone to being fnancially depleted than two-parent
homes, and single parents often have less time to offer their children by way of support . This
diffcult combination of living circumstances at home often leads to lower expectations for
students and consequential lower academic achievement.

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Private schools are a viable option for many families looking to place their child in a
school other than their automatically assigned public school, but the cost of tuition at private
schools is often a deterrent for the low-income families living in dilapidated school districts who
are arguably most in need of an alternative for their children . One option for some families is
sending their children to a public charter school, funded by the government but run
autonomously from other federally funded public schools . In areas where public schools are
chronically underperforming and graduating students at low rates, a public charter school can
sometimes seem to be the only way out for students in the district .
Davis Guggunheim's 2010 documentary flm Waiting for Superman addresses the charter
school movement and its response to the failing public schools in many of America's poorest
communities, notably the work being done in the Harlem neighborhood of New York City by
education reformer Geoffrey Canada through the Harlem Children's Zone (HCZ) . The HCZ is a
non-proft organization utilizing both public and private funds to serve the children and families
of a 97 square-block section in one of the poorest neighborhoods in Central Harlem . Its aim is
doing nothing less than breaking the cycle of generational poverty for the thousands of
children and families it serves (Harlem Children's Zone Website) .
Canada's HCZ model tackles the issue of education reform in low-income areas by
providing nearly completely comprehensive education for the students that go through it from
birth all the way to college and beyond. The Baby College, a facility providing workshops to
parents of children aged 0-3, is the frst component of the HCZ's early childhood learning
program, followed by other educational programming and activities for all ages of students,
including a system of extended-day charter schools known as the Promise Academies and a

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network of after-school tutoring and community activities (citation website?) . Taken at face
value, the HCZ is working as designed the black/white achievement gap has been closed in
math among students attending HCZ schools, and the gap in reading has been reduced by 50
percent (Dobbie 3). High school-age students at HCZ schools continue to routinely outperform
the students in neighboring schools, and are able to take advantage of intensive college
preparation courses and guidance counseling, during both the college admission process and
while at college itself.
While it may take several more years to fully see the long-term impact of the HCZ in the
lives of its students and know whether or not it truly achieved its stated goal of breaking the
cycle of generational poverty for marginalized families, there are models we can look to in other
countries that have proven to be successful not only in educating well, but also in educating
equally across social classes.
Sweden is one country with a model that achieves many of the goals necessary to
equalize the educational experience for all the students that go through its public education
system. Every Swedish family is given the opportunity to send their child to an affordable
daycare due to a guarantee by the government that pays for no less than 82 percent of the
total cost of a child's daycare parents pay no more than 18 percent of the cost of a public
daycare (Bjornburg 20). Every new Swedish mother is given an entire year of paid leave at 80
percent of her salary whenever she has a child, and fathers receive a one-month paid leave of
absence (Bjornburg 25). This allows every parent the opportunity to spend valuable time to
bond with their child when it is frst born, eliminating the need for the parent that may desire to
stay home to work for purely fnancial reasons. Additionally, Sweden has a maximum fee

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system guaranteeing that no family will ever pay more than 6 percent of their total income for
daycare, ensuring that even poor families are able to afford sending their child to a daycare
once their paid leave time has expired (Bjornburg 21) .
Given the nature of the way the Swedish system is set up, every student has an equal
opportunity to succeed. Barriers set up by social stratifcation in education are removed
because of the fact that the educational experience is the same for nearly every Swedish child .
Unlike the system that exists in the United States, in which educational options are largely
determined by the ability of a family to fnancially afford to either live in a good school district
or send their children to private school, all Swedish families are guaranteed equal opportunities
to provide a good education for their children regardless of family background, income level, or
other variables.
Any attempt to introduce massive reform into the educational system currently in place
in the United States will not be met with open arms by those who are a part of the system as it
is right now. The system is so large and cumbersome that changing the intrinsic structure of
how things work would require massive effort the educational system in America truly is
wrapped up in an iron cage, as Weber puts it. The success seen in cases such as the Harlem
Children's Zone is an encouraging start, but we certainly have a long way to go before such
change is implemented at an institutional level. America has thousands of broken schools in an
interview with Davis Guggenheim in his flm Waiting for Superman, Geoffrey Canada estimates
that there are more than 2,000 high schools across the United States performing at dismal
rates in which less than 50 percent of each new class of 9 th graders will graduate from high
school drop-out factories or academic sinkholes, so to speak . It seems that our country

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has people who know how to fx the problem of our broken schools, but somewhere along the
line, somebody simply is not taking action.
Fixing the broken educational system in the United States will not be easy . The entire
system is so large that any attempt at moving the entire thing at once is destined to be futile .
Perhaps the only way to initiate real change is by starting small, working with the models given
by the Harlem Children's Zone and places around the world such as Sweden and other countries
in Europe and Asia. Once the United States sees successful alternatives to the system that is
currently in place being implemented in real time, people will start to catch on, and reform will
become an actual possibility.
Christians need to be involved in initiating reform and showing the love of Christ through
actively seeking social justice and equality for all people, regardless of their race, family
background, or socioeconomic status. Even if you are not in the teaching profession, simply
being aware of this problem and possessing the ability to lend a voice to the conversation is
enough to help instigate change. Everything we do on this earth refects the love of Christ in
some way, shape, or form, and there is absolutely nothing glorifying about the disparity that
exists in life chances afforded to different groups of people based on the color of their skin or
the size of their bank account. Educational inequality is a problem that will take a lot of people
to solve, but it is certainly a problem worth solving .

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Works Cited:

Bjornberg, U. & Dahlgren, L. Policy: The case of Sweden. University of York, United Kingdom. <
http://www.york.ac.uk/inst/spru/research/nordic/sweden>

Dobbie, W., and R. G. Fryer. Are High Quality Schools Enough to Close the Achievement Gap?

Evidence From a Social Experiment in Harlem. NBER Working Paper Series. Accessed
online 5 May 2013 <http://www.nber.org/papers/w15473.pdf>.

Lee, J., Grigg, W., and Donahue, P. (2007). The Nations Report Card: Reading 2007 (NCES
2007- 496). National Center for Education Statistics, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S.
Department of Education, Washington, D.C.

Ornstein, Allan C. Class Counts: Education, Inequality, and the Shrinking Middle Class. Lanham,
MD:

Rowman & Littlefeld Pub. Group, 2007. Print.

U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. (2009). The Condition

of

Education 2009 (NCES 2009081), Indicator 32.

Waiting for "Superman". Dir. Davis Guggenheim. Perf. Geoffrey Canada. Paramount
Home Entertainment, 2010. Film.