Separate and Unequal Schools

By Reneejoy Paran / Winter 2020

“We cannot always build the future for our youth but we can build our youth for the future,” said Franklin D. Roosevelt. This quote resonates with me because the world that we live in is an ever-changing place that cannot shape the youth with closed minds. This is why education is so important to us and for future youth to prepare them for what is to happen in the future. As a society, we are used to this norm where we teach these kids to want the American dream, in other words, to be successful, is by going through the schooling of necessary years for their career and to start working off the debt that we carry on. However, how can the youth have the opportunities to be successful if schools in different districts, cities, and states do not have similar standards or enough funding to provide resources, basic needs, and proper education? Those who live in richer communities, their schools give students easy access to school psychologists, guidance counselors, and up-to-date textbooks and laptops. Then contrast those who live in lower-income neighborhoods are likely to have schools with understaffed, low-paid teachers, and more worn down facilities. This shows that many school systems are separate and unequal causing kids who start already behind in life to be set up to fail. So with that, let us break down and understand how we ended up with this situation by the experiences, obstacles, and solutions.

To give a deeper understanding of an experience I had with my cousin we will talk about how the living and education lifestyle is completely different. Where I live in a suburban city called Murrieta where new houses and stores are continuing to be built making it a thriving city. Nothing looks worn down or used. There are even nearby wineries that attract people to come to visit and enjoy themselves. In contrast, my cousin lives in a low-income community in downtown San Diego. The buildings around her look old and ruined. Many of their streets have so many cracks and potholes with roaming homeless people. These were the things we individually grew up in which affected even in our education. Where I go to school has so many opportunities to find our passion, hobbies and to meet others. There were many after school clubs to join, sports teams to participate, and college credit classes to take to get ahead and save money. We were up to date on books and technology so finding resources was not hard at all. Even the staff that I had was plenty enough to help a student in need. However, my cousin did not have the same stuff. There were a few after school clubs, their sports teams were barely funded, besides the football team, and there were mainly male sports. Plus, I only had the necessary classes needed to graduate and a few college credit classes. Her school had limited computers and books, which were not up to date. Also, they had low-paid and not enough staff that could get hard to keep up with a student's needs or could quit leaving these kids behind even more. These two different communities are in the same state but yet funded so unequally it affects the children's education which it commonly happens across the nation.

Now seeing this experience, you can see that rich and poor schools exist; however, let us get even deeper on how these communities face some obstacles and how it holds them back to find a solution. In a general idea, elitist groups live in higher-income communities while the working and minority class live in the opposite causing a segregation situation to happen. It reminded me of the time around the 1950s where segregation in schools to shops to even water fountains was a norm. With this type of context, it meant that disenfranchised working and minority classes had no access to decent schools that were locked out from the beginning (Mariscal). Which did not change the education lifestyle after the segregation law was lifted? Do not get me wrong, it did help bring unity to the people but how about equality or fairness. Some of those students were behind in the first place which the outcome for them was not the American Dream they had hoped for. They will still end up at the end of the bottom social hierarchy that has changed but only for the worst. This repetitive cycle continues through the years which we can see our government has nothing done to fix it. Which you are wondering why they are not doing anything about it. The answer is, the elitist, who is at the top of the social hierarchy. They have the power and money to do something about this but they will do anything to keep their position which even affects our children's education. This elitist, aka the top 1%, continues to be up there as minorities continue to go to the opposite making it hard to move up.

To look deeper at the social hierarchy ideas we can consider the ideology that shapes our education. In this system, they continue to push the idea that we continue to work as an individual and not as a community to reach the ‘American Dream’. This system drills individualism to teach us to become independent, self-reliant, and egoistic. They believe it promotes the students at such a young age to be responsible, focus and set goals to have a good future. The idea forces them to behave competitively to become successful and better with one another leading them to grow greedy, isolated, and self-focused. This type of movement continues to help the elitist at the top. However, if we fail as in living in poverty, working only minimum wage, or just surviving, we are the ones to blame and not the system that we are living in. They believe we did not work hard enough to be like the others. Those who fail are pushed back down deep to the social hierarchy with no source to get help since they believe we are capable of doing things on our own. This happens in a lot of lower-income communities which can make them end up homeless. It is reported that 182,000 students are living in shelters, transitional houses, or even waiting in foster care (Ho). From this data, we can gather about how we can provide a kid's success even though these kinds of stabilizing features are not available to them which has harmed student’s ability to perform well. We can see that our system is built to see who is the fittest to survive.

Another tactic they have been using to keep the system in check is using the school-to-prison pipeline. This theory is a process in which kids are pushed out of school and straight into prisons. So in other words, society is already labeling them as ‘criminals’, no matter how small the offenses were, which are carried out by disciplinary policies and are being practiced within schools that put students into contact with law enforcement (Nicki Cole). The way it works is that they incorporate the zero-tolerance policies that mandate punishments and the presence of authority on campus which became a common practice after school shooting started to be a norm. These are usually happening in low-income communities since many students who express behavioral issues at school are acting out in response to stressful or dangerous conditions in their homes, so removing them from a safe and structured school and returning them to a problematic or unsupervised home environment hurts rather than helps their development and to society. It seems like they are putting a lot of money in putting kids in juvie then spending money to provide them with resources. This Texas study found that students who were disciplined in middle or high school, 23 percent of them stay in contact with a juvenile probation officer, which only 2 percent were not disciplined, and students who have been suspended or expelled are three times more likely to come in contact with the system in the following year (George). In short, this type of strategy supports the idea of survival of the fittest which is a way to set them up for failure.

Lastly, another obstacle why there is so much difference between a rich and poor school is the cost of living nationwide. These discrepancies occur largely because public school districts are being run by the local cities and towns and are funded by local property taxes. So in high-poverty areas have a lower home value and collect fewer taxes which causes them to be able to raise much money as in places where homes are worth millions of dollars. With this it affects the schools' district budget to be able to provide for the students' weather is the staff, books, computer, and the facilities. Plus, it affects the staff's salary which some of the newcomers would not take those jobs or those who already there might even leave since they need to provide for themselves. As schools are being understaffed, teachers' jobs have expanded to be also counselors, therapists, and nurses which they do not even get paid for. Author Krista Watson mentions from her article ‘Why Schools in Rich Areas Get More Funding Than Poor Areas’, “relying on property taxes as a means of public school funding is unfair to children. Last year, only 2 percent of humanitarian aid funding was spent on education”. It seems like the officials have stopped supporting the youth’s future at such a young age where it is such an essential time to learn. Making most of these kids fall behind already causes them to fail which they will be blamed again for their outcome and not blame the system. While the kids who belong from high-income communities are set up to succeed.

With all the obstacles that I have written out for you, it's hard to hear that it is still happening and getting worse.

However, let's consider a few ethical principles that can help us overcome these obstacles. One principle we need to keep in mind as a society is that the kids need development growth. Teachers and other school staff are there to help teach kids certain skills that are going to help them in the future. It can encourage them to make the right choices and not into failure that society has set up. An analysis of 46 studies found that strong teacher-student relationships can improve higher student academic engagement, attendance, and grades along with lowering disruptive behaviors, dropouts, and suspension with both short or long term changes (Sarah Sparks). In addition to the interaction that students get with school staff or teachers, it can prepare them to engage with authority figures and might hold positions of authority themselves. The second principle is the valid assessment of the students. Each student will learn that their value was tied to the degree to which they have worked hard and behaved. This value of an idea can happen when suitable instructors are responsible to have adequate steps to ensure that students have fair, congruent lessons with objectives. To have this opportunity for each student, the government needs to provide enough funding for each school district. This ensures that each student will be able to start at the same place giving them a fair chance. Lastly, the third objective is that we need to protect and support the physical and psychological safety of individuals with exceptionalities. It is important to make sure we not only look out for education but their physical and mental health. That is why with enough school funding they can provide counselors and therapists to whom they can go to for any kind of help. Also, it can even provide activities to help students have fun and relieve stress. This can help students feel safe and perform better at school. In brief, these principles are here to give us guidance on what is needed for each student across the country.

As more people understand what is going on with the school funding and get reminded of the ethical principles of student development growth, valid assessment, and protection of physical and mental health we can overcome the obstacles. A lot of people need to know that money matters in these kids' futures. Without enough funding, these kids have a disadvantage in life and could end up what society wants them to be. A failure. For sure no parent and teacher want that on their own and other children. We need to start speaking up to our districts, state and federal government on what is going to our kids' education. Demand about how there are not enough resources being available for students. When it comes to subjects in schools, build a system where you create study clubs for those who are struggling and help them catch up. This teaches students the opposite idea of individualism. It shifts their thinking that is okay to help out and give back to the community. Plus, these study clubs help students to become sociable causing more development growth. When it comes to books, have other members of the communities donate books for all levels, whether they are fictional to dictionaries. Anything can help those kids when they want to check out a book or do research for a paper. Then when it comes to helping other families, parents make transportation arrangements that could help students go to school safely, schools can have vocational training for parents from poor or unemployed families to enable them to earn more and understand the importance of education. These are things that communities can help and support the school district that they are in and it does not have to stop there. We can have a voice when we are voting for propositions or policies in our county and country. As always, do your research if they are trying to do with our education system because there could be so many pros and cons on what we are trying to say yes too. In short, as we continue to speak to others as well of what is going on it could help get the word out and start setting up a system that can inform parents how important this should be for our children. 

So with the experiences you have here whether it is someone you know or from the news, as a general society, we need to be aware. Do not forget that low-income school districts will continue to struggle to provide resources and safety while the high-income is the opposite, which is still segregation from the high class to the working and low classes. These kids will have different starting points where others will be able to succeed faster and efficiently. However, do not think these situations have to be permanent or even have this social hierarchy to be a repetitive cycle. As a society, we need to change or shift the minds of the younger generation from the idea of individualism to working and helping out as a community. It is okay to care for others than yourself. Our country is founded upon unity with others so why not continue to teach the youths about the importance of that. If there are opportunities to help tutor a student get involved. If there are volunteer jobs with their school needs, go do it. And donate books, supplies or technology to help expand their resources at the library. Seriously, a little help to these school districts means a lot to them and appreciate them. The more we continue to push what we want, speak what we have to say, and even protest till it happens, it will eventually change as we do not lose hope for the children's future.

Works Cited

Cole, Nicki Lisa. “What You Need to Know About the School to Prison Pipeline.” ThoughtCo, ThoughtCo, 30 May 2019.

Ho, Vivian. “US Homeless Student Population Reaches 1.5m, the Highest in a Decade.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 5 Feb. 2020.

Mariscal, Jorge. “To Demand That University Work For Our People.” Brown-Eyed Children of the Sun, Mexico Press, 2005, pp. 210–246.

Sparks, Sarah D. “Why Teacher-Student Relationships Matter.” Education Week, 13 Mar. 2019.

Watson, Krista. “Why Schools in Rich Areas Get More Funding Than Poor Areas.” Global Citizen, 3 Aug. 2016.