"lacked access to a proper education". How does that explain Washington DC with the highest levels of funding per child in the country? Every kid has access to a well funded school with well paid teachers.
I think it's easier to defend the claim that the kids lacked guidance and support to take advantage of the education provided for them.
In the US a single mom who homeschools, with only a high school education, will have her child place in the top 70% of public school kids.
Parental involvement is so important, it's the only factor that matters.
> lacked access to a proper education". How does that explain Washington DC with the highest levels of funding per child in the country? Every kid has access to a well funded school with well paid teachers.
Education funding in the US is wildly uneven. Spend some time visiting inner-city schools. They are not even remotely "well-funded".
Property-tax driven school funding formulas ensure that richer areas have much, much better funded schools than poor areas.
Inner city public schools are some of the most well-funded in the county. Washington DC is almost entirely "inner city" public schools (I.e. Almost all the student population is low income) and has the highest per student spending.
The wealthy suburb of DC where I grew up spends $13,500 per student per year. That's a lot less than DC or Baltimore or Chicago, all of which have 70-85% low-income students, and only moderately more than Philadelphia, which is also almost all "inner city" schools.
So what's going on then? Exactly how are inner cities misusing funds, and what are wealthy suburbs doing right that they're able to get such bang for their buck?
Also, are you certain that wealthy suburbs are spending that little? I know some rich families in NYC who are sending their kids in high school to schools that ask above $50k. It's a straight pipeline to Ivy league, and from what I understand there are good reasons this high school asks $50k -- they have top of the line 3d printers, souped up computers, etc.
I wish people would understand that it is not ONLY about the money. I live in an affluent suburb, our high-school is 40 years old, the roof is leaking, etc. A few inner-city schools are brand new, modern, etc.
Yes, teachers are better in my town - but the most important difference are the role models. IN my town most families are professional couples, typically doctors, executives, etc. Kids are expected to not only go to college but good college and then continue on to graduate school, to at least match their parents' status. None of that, sadly, is at work in inner city families. It is a difficult problem and not something that money alone will fix.
>I think it's easier to defend the claim that the kids lacked guidance and support to take advantage of the education provided for them.
That guidance is a critical part of a "good" education. Unfortunately, we leave it up to parents and don't have a way to teach them how to raise a successful kid.
High levels of funding != quality education. Washington DC schools recently celebrated a rise in graduation rate, to 64%. [1]
My brother went to public high school in Washington DC graduating in 2008. His school had tracking, meaning you could only take classes available in your "track". A student was in either all honors/advanced classes or in all regular classes but could not take a mix of both.
The regular track was exclusively black, while the honors track was for white and/or rich students, regardless of actual academic performance!
Unless a non-white student is both high achieving and has parents who are able to navigate the bureaucratic nightmare that is the DC public schools (it was a mess even for upper-middle class white students like my brother) they don't really have an opportunity for anything other than a poor education.
I think it's easier to defend the claim that the kids lacked guidance and support to take advantage of the education provided for them.
In the US a single mom who homeschools, with only a high school education, will have her child place in the top 70% of public school kids.
Parental involvement is so important, it's the only factor that matters.