Inequality, opportunity in education for children of lower-income households is a prime example of social injustice. The divergence in educational quality is delineated by race and financial status. A social justice issue that needs improvement/resolution is to give all children the same educational background. Race and someone’s poverty level must not be reasons to be denied an equal opportunity to learn and grow successfully like any other citizen. Children are getting low-level education which takes away from civil rights as a U.S. citizen. This paper discusses how minority groups are being denied rights to a proper education.
This writer read a scathing report on the local disparity between races and school academic achievement last week in the media. The Massachusetts Education Equity Partnership presented its study and Natasha Ushomirsky, director of education equity policy for the Washington-based The Education Trust, said that although Massachusetts is said to be a leader in education nationally, there are “big disparities in opportunity and achievement that affect so many low-income students and students of color across the state” (Roman, E., November 29, 2018).
Ushomirsky continued, “Less than a third of African-American and Latino fourth graders are proficient in reading. That’s a far lower rate than for their white peers.” The article also adds that there are similar gaps in math when comparing low- and high-income students. The effect on families has been terrible: poverty hurts kids, and an increase in poverty is correlated with all kinds of bad outcomes.
Families living on a low income, find it harder to provide their kids with a good environment or study spaces to focus on learning. There are disadvantages of living in a no-go neighborhood or being a minority, there is a good possibility that the schools in such areas are lacking the proper education, quality curriculum, and skilled teachers. While the Caucasians show to have high graduating rates, African American and Latinos continue to fall behind. In some suburban schools, even low – income color students face persistent barriers to quality education.
Poverty can rob a person being able to catch up. According to Edelman (2014), the neurological and psychological aspects that when met, can increase educational outcomes in children. Also, mentions the consequences of poverty on child development and how important it is to bolster resilience related to environmental stresses associated with poverty. A War on Children (2014) article states the following quote of Edelman:
“We should have no poor children in the richest nation on Earth. It’s a shame. It is a moral blight, and it’s an economic—huge economic threat that we have 16.1 million poor children and over 7 million are living in extreme poverty in the richest nation on Earth. We don’t have a money problem. We have a profound values and priorities problem.”
While determining priorities with the government, people can look at the issues that really matter. Millions of children have seen their lives improved over the last 50 years, but the government still needs to build on and make sure of being fair in approaches towards education and give children of poverty the proper education.
Policymakers, parents, educators and everyone between them will need to find new methods and ideas to discuss educational inequality, tackle the sometimes-counter intuitive barriers to student achievement, and leave reasoned perspectives and solutions for change. The school districts should offer new frameworks for understanding those problems as well as concrete approaches to addressing them in the near- and long-term.
Unfortunately, some people have it better than the other. It’s not a question of one school being better than another. Rather, it is about the denial of proper education to entire classes of American children, minorities who struggle to compete with their peers on the labor market and have the same access to the American dream.
It’s so important that children have access to the same level of education as each other and that teachers are inspiring. A child’s thirst for knowledge, a desire for achievement and a readiness to make the necessary effort are necessary. School committees should focus on hiring well trained and educated teachers with qualities that will better a child’s success.
Furthermore, racial disparities create unequal access to education. Race is a determining factor in the ability of the student to access quality education. Race directly influences school factors such as policy, financing and curriculum in America.
Locally affected schools, with high levels of poverty are usually linked to a community of minority groups. Initially, segregation based on race was a societal normality in the history of the United States of America. Because of this, academic institutions followed suit and saw no problem in racial segregation, which led to disparities in education among different races.
Minority youth are further disengaged from school by the lack of cultural representation in textbooks. Their culture and experience are devalued (Henderson, 2014). Eventually, situations would come to challenge the social confines of segregation and how it affected everyday life. Racism is a barrier that continues to play an active role in everyday life worldwide. Ralph Ellison (1952), as cited in Henderson, 2014 states “I am invisible; understand, simply because people refuse to see me.” Racial tensions may be less in America, but prejudice still exist, and the effects still harm low-income and minority students.
School workers are normally employed by the school district or an agency contracted to provide services to the school district (Code of Ethics, 2017). A school social worker might be helpful in providing teachers with resources to understand their students’ cultural backgrounds so that they avoid culture clash.
After school training on cultural competency could be taught to teachers. Students can also be educated by their school social worker and can help provide a safe environment. Maybe setting up field trips to explore their own culture with a school social worker. There are many things that a school social worker can do, as educators, to better serve, support, and educate economically disadvantaged students.
These suggestions are consistently mentioned in my study of this subject through multiple resources. One step is to take the time to know the students one on one. Ask questions. Discover the way they think. Let the children speak first so that they won’t be nervous. Get to know the whole child. Listen and rephrase things to show that you’re a good listener. Another approach is to value the student and treat them with respect.
Convince them that they are important. Show them that they bring important skills to the classroom and the world. Reward them by praising their success. Let them know that they are not less than and are equal, even thought they might not feel sad for not having the same opportunities to join a music class because their parents cannot afford it.
It is okay and let them know, resources are everywhere and there could be some other activities that can be provided. Expose them to experiences. Make connections to real-life. Add to their experience of the world. Take virtual field trips. Take real field trips to explore their cultural awareness. Engage in authentic tasks and classic literature. At last, hold high expectations. Do not ask for payment for services. Ask for anonymous donations.
Use a shared supply system. Engage you school’s partners and local businesses when finances are necessary. We can make a difference together. As a social worker in the school system, the vision should be to nurture young children ‘s curious minds, to create lasting trust and to inspire joy in learning (Code of Ethics).
Our mission is to help low income children must be to build academic, social, emotional and physical confidence in them through our resources and thereby promote a thirst for knowledge, a desire to achieve it and a basis for success. School social worker can provide a safe, loving and developmentally appropriate program that promotes active learning and supports the whole child. School social workers can also link parents to unemployment resources to help gain new training or help in getting financially stable. Which in turn would help the children in the house hold get better educational resources. No child should be disadvantaged and oppressed.
Privilege is understood in its simplest definition to be the rights, benefits and benefits enjoyed by a person or body of persons beyond the advantages of other persons. The majority group refers to the largest group, whereas a minority group has fewer members in society.
A social worker can provide economic and social stimulus to dominant groups while at the same time supporting structural barriers to prejudice-imposed groups. A social worker can focus on closing the gap in education achievement while providing minorities with better education. For example, privilege could also be the money to afford an expensive education with free government grants.
Learning one’s own culture background and being fluent in more than one language could be an advantage to other students who only speak English. Having more leaders of their race and being acknowledged by school peers can also be a cultural privilege. Therefore, people need to be treated differently, as people have different needs. It enables all members of a society to give to others what they have the right to, regardless of race, respect, high expectations, opportunity or dignity.
