Studies have shown that children coming from families of the top 10% of income generally had better test scores than children from the the lower 90% of income. Not only do they generally have better test scores, but also are much more likely to get into an elite college. For decades, parents from higher income families spend an exponential amount of money on learning expense for their children. These numbers are only increasing, possibly giving children from lower income families a massive disadvantage.
So my questions to you guys--the US Message Board community--are:
Could the possible increase in educational inequality of children of different social classes be due to the wide economic disparity that we have today between the rich and the poor?
Do you think there should be more elite educational programs for children of the lower class?
Also, what other factors could possibly be involved?
Growing wealth gap may threaten education
Some Other Good Reads:
Money Makes A Difference, Even In Kindergarten
Inequality among students rises - Business - The Boston Globe
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/10/e...grows-between-rich-and-poor-studies-show.html
So my questions to you guys--the US Message Board community--are:
Could the possible increase in educational inequality of children of different social classes be due to the wide economic disparity that we have today between the rich and the poor?
Do you think there should be more elite educational programs for children of the lower class?
Also, what other factors could possibly be involved?
Growing wealth gap may threaten education
BY KYLA CALVERT September 30, 2014 at 3:43 PM EDT
The idea that a college degree is a ticket to a middle-class lifestyle or that a good education can break generations-long cycles of poverty in a family is a lynchpin in stories of achieving the American Dream. But data show education is just one more arena in American life where gap between the rich and poor is widening.
The Associated Press reports today that education spending by the country’s wealthiest families increased their education spending by 35 percent during the economic downturn to $5,210 per child. During the same period, education spending per child stagnated at $1,000 in the other 90 percent of American households.
The extra dollars are going toward expenses like SAT and other tutors, private school tuition, childcare and preschool.
A growing gap between higher and lower-income students on measures like reading proficiency and college completion is already well documented, according to a New York Times report from 2012.
Data showing those trends in 2012 were only available through 2007 and 2008, before the economic downturn took hold.
A report out last year from the Hamilton Project also found a growing gap in the education spending of high- and low-income families.
“The most concerning thing is that there are initial signs that inequality is starting to bleed into social mobility. And social mobility is at the heart of the American experience,” Michael Greenstone, the co-author of the report and an economics professor at MIT told the Boston Globe.
Some Other Good Reads:
Money Makes A Difference, Even In Kindergarten
Inequality among students rises - Business - The Boston Globe
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/10/e...grows-between-rich-and-poor-studies-show.html