It is no secret that not all schools are equal. I’m sure we can all remember comparing our elementary, middle, and high schools against each other. The size and quality of the school building, the sports programs, the size of the stadium, and much more. We probably did not directly compare the quality of our teachers as much, unless complaining about a particularly bad one, but quality teachers are also a huge factor that varies from school to school. And what do all of these different issues stem from? The funding each school receives. And of course, schools in wealthier areas get more funding, resulting in a better education experience for their kids. Most people know this, but how bad is this problem really, and what can be done to resolve it?
Two years ago it was reported by Technorati that 22% of kids fall under the poverty line, which is defined as a family of four living on under $23,050 or lower. 22% is a scary number, and it is only estimated to climb. “American Graduate also cites a report from the Southern Education Foundation, which shows in 17 states across the U.S., low-income students now comprise the majority of public school students in those states” (Chen, G. (2021, December 21). 10 major challenges facing public schools. Public School Review. Retrieved February 18, 2022, from https://www.publicschoolreview.com/blog/10-major-challenges-facing-public-schools.)
Poverty also affects the amount of food and sleep these children receive, how often they are on time, the resources they can access outside of school, extracurriculars they can participate in, and their chances of dropping out. And these problems are not the result of teachers, administrators, or government not trying. It seems that there is just not enough resources to make it an equal experience for all.
Another major facet to education is classroom size, and I would argue it makes the poverty factor exponentially worse. Georgia had to remove classroom size limits 3 years ago, despite budget cuts being made at the same time. South Carolina and Virginia are also suffering similar problems. We can see that as funding is being cut, the amount of kids per classroom is only increasing. There is less money and more kids, making the problem much worse. Classes of 15-17 are optimal, but many are now forced to exceed 30, resulting in less attention to each kid.
How can these issues be addressed? Well I’m afraid there really is not a simple answer. State and federal government is strained for money, especially post-Covid, and education issues are often not important on a national scale. I think for any real change to happen, it would have to start on the federal level, or at the very least a popular president bringing them to light. Former attempts to fix the education system by presidents, such as Bush’s No Child Left Behind Act are viewed as detrimental, or Obama’s attempts were insignificant. A major fight for education would have to take place for real change to be seen.
This is definitely a issue, I grew up in a very small town, and my elementary classes (1st through 5th) I had over 30 kids with me. As I was usually ahead of work, I was given little to no attention in terms of academia. Which left me behind when I reached high school. I feel as if the poverty line has an effect, but even those who are in a better spot financially still face these issues. There are certainly changes to come, the question will just be if there are the right ones. Great Job!
Several individuals are affected by poverty but I do not know why the more I read about poverty the more I believe that the children born into poverty have it worse off. They are not receiving the proper resources and surroundings that they need in order to grow up with the least amount of worries or health issues. A lot programs whether it was from the private or public sector, yet poverty rates are still changing all around the world whether it was increasing at times or decreasing at other times. Poverty is just one of those issues that you can try to relieve the people that are suffering from it but you cannot 100% eliminate it from the equation at once.
Poverty in households with children can be detrimental to children and their education and future. However, if schools were also ill-prepared with budgeting and also cannot help children grow up with enough knowledge and experience, they it wouldn’t be surprising to see graduations rates falling. My older cousin is also a teacher for elementary schoolers and spends a lot of time for her students because she knows that most of their families are suffering from poverty, or even homelessness. While she is able to spend the extra care to support her students, there are teachers out there who do not put in the same amount of dedication and also have their own fair share of problems. Hearing these stories from her, I also couldn’t think of much to change the education system, but it is something that needs to be addressed.
The funding issues that schools face are very unfortunate. It annoys me that school funding is basically a zero-sum game, so that the best performing schools get the most funding and the worst performing schools. Gee, I wonder if there’s any correlation between funding and performance? I also don’t think that the government is unable to do anything. There is a lot of wasteful government spending, such as unnecessary spending on defense and Medicare, that could be going to departments that actually need it, such as Education.