The Road to Success: Equality and Access in Education
““For the individual, education is the path to achievement and fulfillment for the nation, it is a path to society that is not only free but civilized; and for the world, it is the path to peace - for it is education that places reason over force.” ”
Education is a fundamental pillar of societal progress; the “road to success,” as some people like to call it. In the United States, all students have the right to a free public education. Yet, not all students have equal access to the resources, opportunities, and support that are essential to success in the educational landscape today. Such factors are most likely influenced by outside variables like socioeconomic status, race and ethnicity, and geography, which can weave a spiderweb that is difficult to avoid. Disadvantages that underserved and underprivileged students face can often trap them in this web, determining the trajectory of their educational journey—from kindergarten up to high school, and even college.
One of the strongest threads of such a spiderweb originates in the conditions that students live in. Research indicates that “a student living in poverty will typically attend underfunded schools with fewer resources for students who are struggling or showing signs of learning disabilities.”
Residing in an area where property values and taxes are high often tends to result in better-funded schools, which improves their student’s performance and their ability to get into better colleges. Conversely, students in poverty-stricken areas go to public schools in locations with much lower tax revenue, receiving a relatively lower amount of educational resources.
These lower-income students, defined as having an annual family income of less than $40,000, lack the privilege to decide where they live, yet they bear the direct and negative impacts of it due to the lack of funding that their schools have. Such schools often struggle or are unable to provide their students with necessary support, such as well-paid teachers and advanced coursework. This disparity becomes a barrier for lower-income families to break the cycle of poverty through means of education, perpetuating systematic inequalities.
Moreover, students of color make up the majority of the student body of high-poverty schools. “About one in every six students of color (15 percent) in Virginia attended a high-poverty school in the 2013-2014 school year, as did more than out of every five (22 percent) Black students—compared to just 3 percent of White students.” This creates a situation where students of color are singled out to be at an odds that is not level with the rest of the playing field. Not having access to a quality of education that their counterparts have is a disadvantage that extends beyond the classroom.
So, how can society strive to address these problems? One crucial step would be to obtain or spread more funds for public schooling in underprivileged areas. This would ensure that there are more resources like mentorship programs and allow for the hiring of well-trained teachers that can meet the diverse needs of their students. It may be one of the best efficient paths to confront and rectify the structural inequalities within the US education system.
That being said, the challenge lies in implementing effective strategies to allocate these funds equitably, especially in areas with lower property tax and tax revenue. National research director Adam Tyner also poses a problem that “ensuring access to some resources, such as high-quality teachers, costs more in schools that serve more disadvantaged student populations.” The same amount of funding could have a completely different value in different contexts and situations.
Moreover, funding has already made a huge leap of improvement in recent years, helping to bridge the gap between schools in lower and higher income places. However, it is evident in today’s society that most structural inequalities remain. Could it be that the solution to this problem is not quite as simple as funding? Either way, it is worth the effort to find out.
Former president Lyndon B. Johnson elaborates that education is the path to achievement for individuals, civilization for nations, and peace for the world. Nonetheless, this path is not paved for all, and some may even have to walk through spiderwebs. As a society, we must strive to break down such barriers, since every student deserves to have an equitable and inclusive educational landscape.
BY SOPHIA DU
Works Cited:
Ayers, Ryan. “How Poverty and Homelessness Affect the American Public Education System.” ELearning Industry, eLearning Industry, 10 Dec. 2022, elearningindustry.com/how-poverty-and-homelessness-affect-the-american-public-education-system#:~:text=A%20student%20living%20in%20poverty,safe%2C%20quiet%20place%20to%20study. Accessed 22 Jan. 2024.
“Unequal Opportunities: Fewer Resources, Worse Outcomes for Students in Schools with Concentrated Poverty - the Commonwealth Institute.” The Commonwealth Institute, 13 Apr. 2021, thecommonwealthinstitute.org/research/unequal-opportunities-fewer-resources-worse-outcomes-for-students-in-schools-with-concentrated-poverty/. Accessed 22 Jan. 2024.
“Think Again: Is Education Funding in America Still Unequal?” The Thomas B. Fordham Institute, 2023, fordhaminstitute.org/national/research/think-again-education-funding-america-still-unequal#:~:text=White%20and%20middle%2Dclass%20families,districts%20often%20received%20paltry%20resources. Accessed 24 Jan. 2024.
Image on first page:
Element5 Digital. “Red Apple Fruit on Four Pyle Books.” Unsplash.com, Unsplash, 25 Aug. 2017, unsplash.com/photos/red-apple-fruit-on-four-pyle-books-OyCl7Y4y0Bk. Accessed 7 Feb. 2024.