17 Jun 2022

339

Preventing Unequal Quality of Education

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Academic level: College

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Inequality in education has become a serious issue with its effects becoming more damaging day by day. It involves the unequal distribution of resources required in schools such as funding, competent teachers, adequate books and technology to socially excluded communities (Achievement Gaps, 2018) . These inequalities lead to numerous problems in the success and efficiency of these individuals after they complete their education and go into the world. Most of educational inequality is owed to the huge economic differences, which are closely related to the racial difference in the country. These two factors are closely related and inseparable. The inequality has created a great rift between the success of white students and the minority students. Most children from white families can afford private school education while the minority are not. Indeed, the current inequality in the education system has continued to widen the gap between the rich and the poor, and unless proper policies are put in place, the situation will only get worse.

Background Report 

Major steps have been made since the 1970s in trying to reduce the gap between black and whites education success. This change seemed to go on for a while until it stagnated from the 1980s. This gave rise to so many questions on what was really affecting the education system to bring this gap. Blacks were and still are less likely to attend and complete college education than whites.

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Over the years, the rates of employment have reduced for black men and women. This gap has been a major focus of recent research. The Current Population Survey (CPS) has provided more insight on this subject. Between 1967 and 1987, the labour force participation rate for black males decreased in corresponding rate to white males (Jacobson, Olsen, Rice, Sweetland, & Ralph, 2001) . The proportion of males who were unemployed for most or throughout the year was greater for blacks than for whites. This decrease was attributed to the lesser education being received by both races. Most unemployed individuals had been high school dropouts (Jacobson, Olsen, Rice, Sweetland, & Ralph, 2001) .

Blacks have been found to be less likely to participate in the labour force. Young adults who had prior educational achievement had higher chances of participating in the labour force and better wage rates. The completion of high school and GED for blacks was noted to be lower from 1986-1992. This was also reflected in college attendance and completion rates (Jacobson, Olsen, Rice, Sweetland, & Ralph, 2001) . Blacks also had lower mathematical and reading scores than whites. These differences could be attributed to differences in family backgrounds, differences in school resources and the way these children were treated in their individual schools. The National Assessment of Educational Progress showed that there were still differences of the cognitive proficiency of Black and Latino children were still lower than that of white children.

The differences between public and private schools have also contributed to the disparities in the education system. A higher percentage of children are enrolled into private schools since they are perceived to have better success in teaching and result rates. The public school system even looks into private schools for the reforms they desire to enact in their own schools (Choy, 1997) . Public schools rely mostly on state and federal funds while private schools rely on non-governmental resources such as grants, endowments, sponsorship are religious organizations and charitable donations. They have more sources of income hence they are able to fund their activities with more ease than public schools, which operate on a tight budget (Choy, 1997) .

Private schools have always been the school of choice for most parents; the only issue was if they could afford them. Researchers have suggested that public schools should try to offer an alternative and compete for students. Within the private sector, parents are offered a wide array of choices; some vary with the religion they are affiliated to, while others vary in their selection processes. Public schools only offer one option (Choy, 1997) . Moreover, it was found that families that had an annual income of more than $50000 were the only ones who could afford the private education system.

Public schools have more ethnically diverse populations. This sometimes proves to be a challenge since teachers and administrators have to be more sensitive to the wide range of cultural differences. Public schools also have lower English proficiency levels than public schools. This profanely relies on resource availability, which is not adequate in the public sector (Choy, 1997) . Public schools are more affected by personal issues than the private schools. Many students face the problem of drug abuse, alcohol use and poverty. Public schools win on some instances having more minority teachers and better qualified teachers but these teachers are inadequate to the needs of the schools and some of them are too advanced in age ( Choy, 1997) .

Goals for Change and New policies 

The plan to reform the system would focus on improving the education experience for all students to reduce the inequality gap. The country should adopt a standardization program, which would aim at levelling the playing field for low performing schools, which may be public schools, and private schools, which are top performing. This brings a similar notion than no matter where a child studies, they are supposed to receive a similar level of education as their counterparts ( Choy, 1997) . Education should be similar but private schools can offer added advantages based on the fanciness of the parents desires. Moreover, public school teachers should also receive better wages to improve their living standards (Choy, 1997) . This will give them more morale when reporting to work. Teachers are the backbone of education as they are tasked with transferring information from books to the learners.

The government should also equalize the number of resources that are going into schools. The government might not be able to influence the resources in private schools but they can try to measure up to what they offer to improve education in the public sector. This will enable public schools to challenge private schools and offer an alternative that asks for fewer fees. The PISA report found that most education systems around the world tend to level the resources given to their schools despite being placed in low income or high-income regions (Jacobson, Olsen, Rice, Sweetland, & Ralph, 2001) . This new policy would also ensure that children individuals in public schools receive mentorship programs that urge them to do better in school. It would also add art programs and teacher parent association activities. These programs will look into what children enjoy doing in their free time and focus more on their strengths and countering their weaknesses.

The policy would also look into decreasing the disparities between black and white involvements in the education system. Schools based in black majority areas tend to get less qualified teachers than other areas. The Federal No Child Left behind Act requires that all teachers must be highly qualified (Jacobson, Olsen, Rice, Sweetland, & Ralph, 2001) . All teachers must be qualified to ensure there is similar education for all schools. Moreover, the policy would ensure that there are programs in schools to address racial insensitivity to ensure that all children feel equal in school.

Black people are affected a lot by the fact that they have to live in poverty and areas affected by drug and alcohol use. This impairs their ability to have a better mind-set and realize that there are better things to be achieved in life (Jacobson, Olsen, Rice, Sweetland, & Ralph, 2001) . Offering guidance to these individuals can help them to feel settled in school and teach them to stay away from such negative influences. Students facing financial struggles would also get assistance with aids to fund their studies. Such influences would also ensure that parents are more involved in the studies of their children and help to address any problems that they may be facing at home that may be affecting their performances in school.

Conclusion 

In overall, this study has demonstrated that, the education sector has been heavily affected by the inequality between the minority groups and the whites. In fact, it appears that people from low-income families are forced by the system to continue being in that state. For that reason, it becomes obvious that, the only way to turn around the situation is through coming up with new policies and changes. The government should ensure all students get equal chances to education, their background and ethnicity notwithstanding. The policy and the changes the study proposes ensure that there will be high education standards for all schools ensuring an equal education system. A high quality curriculum will ensure better completion and success rates in all schools and all individuals of all races.

References  

Achievement Gaps . (2018). Retrieved April 23, 2019 from National Center for Education Statistics: https://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/studies/gaps/ 

Choy, S. (1997). Public and Private Schools: How do they differ? National Center for Educational Statistics , 1-39. 

Jacobson, J., Olsen, C., Rice, J. K., Sweetland, S., & Ralph, J. (2001). Educational Achievement and Black-White inequality. National Center for Educational Statistics , 1-120. 

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