
The fight for equality has been a battle that has been present since the construction of the United States. People throughout history have fought and risk their lives against overwhelming odds to achieve equality. As a nation we have come a long way. Many things that were thought to be impossible at one point have become a reality because of the efforts of several brave individuals working together to achieve equality. Even though we have come a long way to this day we still fight to achieve equality in many ways dealing with things like gender, race, wages, etc.  However, one of the most dangerous and prevalent forms of inequality is in our educational system. Many students who come from lower income families tend to receive an education that is severely lacking in comparisons to a student who comes from a more economically stable family, and due to the subpar quality of education lower income students receive they tend to develop at a slower pace than the average students around the country. This severe contrast in education is caused by lower income students not having access to many resources, not having qualified teachers and administrators and the schools lower income student attend lacking the necessary tools to compete with higher income schools, and because of that contrast of education several lower income students are less likely to strive for a higher education and even they do they are more likely to apply to a subpar establishment because their prior education left them with a lack the confidence to achieve greater heights. Also the inequality in education causes students who attended a substandard school to be less inclined to seek a well-paying and prosperous jobs, while many children who came from higher quality schools tend to be more motivated to seek a higher education from a quality school and seek out more prosperous jobs. This epidemic of education inequality is one that can cause great harm to our nation if not addressed, “By wisdom a house is built, and through understanding it is established” (New International Version, Proverbs 24:3). If knowledge and wisdom is withheld to only the upper-middle class than our nation will crumble, we must make sure that all citizens are properly educated so we can continue improving as a nation and keep our house strong.

One of the reasons why so many lower income students suffer from inferiorities in their educational career is because they do not have access to many resources such as tutor, but of school help and even domestic support. Many lower income students lack the funds to receive help outside of school and due to domestic issues that many lower income students have to experience they cannot rely on their parent or guardian for academic assistance. In DIVERGING DESTINIES: HOW CHILDREN ARE FARING UNDER THE SECOND DEMOGRAPHIC TRANSITION, the author Sara McLanahan, talks about how the domestic issues can affect a lower incomes students access to resources outside of school and their academic development:

Children who were born to mothers from the most-advantaged backgrounds are making substantial gains in resources. Relative to their counterparts 40 years ago, their mothers are more mature and more likely to be working at well-paying jobs. These children were born into stable unions and are spending more time with their fathers. In contrast, children born to mothers from the most disadvantaged backgrounds are making smaller gains and, in some instances, even losing parental resources.

Many guardians of lower income students struggle just to make ends meet; they spend a large amount of their time working to support their family. Because of that lower income students lack sufficient financial support from their parent or guardian and are unable to compete and learn at the same level as students from upper and middle class families. This causes a gap in academic achievements between the two classes and throughout academia the gap continuously widens. Because of the tremendous gap in academic achievements between lower income students and upper-middle class students and because the feelings of insecurity that they cannot compete with other students in higher education, many lower income students at the end of high school tend to look for employment directly after graduation. This causes the lower income student to walk down an inferior career path compared to someone who obtained a higher education and because the lower income student decided to accept the lacking career path his economic and financial situation will stay the same and their children will have to deal with the same situation as the parents. This cycle of inefficient resources will continue to repeat itself for many lower income families, and it will not change unless the lower income student finds a way to receive the resources they need to compete with other students across the nation even if they struggle financially or the student discovers a prosperous career path that will lead out of poverty and into a better economic situation and 

Many schools in lower income communities suffer from a lack of quality and certified educator to teach their students, which is another reason why lower income student’s education is severely lacking. Many schools in lower income communities hire uncertified and inexperience teacher because of the lack of experience of the teacher’s students do not develop the skill and do not obtain the same amount of knowledge that they could get from an experienced teacher. Also because of the lack of quality teachers many lower income student do not fully comprehend the materials that they were taught which effects them later on in their academic career when they must call upon their prior knowledge to further their intellectual growth. It’s not just later in a student’s educational career that they start to see this dissatisfaction educator. As stated by Sean Reardon, “the income achievement gap is large when children enter kindergarten and does not appear to grow (or narrow) appreciably as children progress through school” (Reardon 6). Even coming into school lower income students are disadvantage because of the amount of experienced and qualify educators. The time when a student enters school is one of the most important parts of their life in education because it introduces them into a learning environment and provides essential skills that they will need for their later education. If lower-income student come into school at a young age and receive a piss poor education because of unqualified or inexperience teacher this will not only effect their performance in school at the time, but it will also set them back academically, mentally, and emotionally. Many students have grown to detest school because they cannot perform at a level that is suitable for their grade level. This can be attributed to the student not developing the skills they needed earlier on due to inadequacies in teaching, because the student are left having to gather these skill on either later on or not receive them at all which put them at risk of failing. One major key to fixing the gap in education is lower income student must have qualified teacher especially in the earlier and later year of their education. Too many lower income students fall behind in school due either learning misinformation or not learning essential thing to help them to in there later year. It is imperative that lower income student get teachers that not only teach them correct information, but also teach them skill that they can use to learn more and grow. A student may be able to get by knowing how to do add, multiply, and write a sentence correctly, but students will truly excel is someone teaches them how to properly absorb knowledge. When someone knows how to properly learn and can retain the knowledge they receive they can truly grow as an intellectual and the only people that can do that are teachers.

Lastly, lower income students suffers from a severe inequality in education because schools that are mainly attended by lower income students lack the necessary tools to compete with schools that higher income students attend. Many lower income student’s struggle just to make ends meet, so it is obvious that they would not be able to equip themselves with the latest technology that other schools and students use. Many higher class schools have access to things likes MACs, PCs, and even personal IPads, however as those schools flourish by achieving new equipment schools that lower income students attend are usually forced to use outdated technology because they cannot scavenge the funds to give their student newer equipment.  In The Widening Achievement Gap Between the Rich and the Poor: New Evidence and Possible Explanations, Sean Reardon talks about how the main cause of the gap in academic achievements is mostly effect by the parents economic status and not necessarily the education of the parents:

The gap appears to have grown at least partly because of an increase in the association between family income and children’s academic achievement for families above the median income level: a given difference in family incomes now corresponds to a 30 to 60 percent larger difference in achievement than it did for children born in the 1970s. Evidence from other studies suggests that this may be in part a result of increasing parental investment in children’s cognitive development. Finally, the growing income achievement gap does not appear to be a result of a growing achievement gap between children with highly educated and less-educated parents. In fact, the relationship between parental education and children’s achievement has remained relatively stable during the last fifty years, while the relationship between income and achievement has grown sharply. Family income is now nearly as strong as parental education in predicting children’s achievement.

As the gap in wealth grows so does the gap in academic success and lower class student struggle to compete with higher class student that are equipped with ever thing they need to fully optimize their learning experience. Now more than ever the amount of resources and tools one has at their disposal can drastically effect a person learning and development. Student can now have access to limitless information because of the internet and the advancements we have made in technology. However, if someone does not have the right means of finding this information they will be left behind and will face a life of hardship and strife. Even though some lower income student may have access to some newer technology, many do not and they are being left behind by this ever changing world that is becoming more and more dependent on technology. Lower income student must gain access to some form of updated technology for them to have a chance in closing the gap, if they do not they risk losing a tremendously vital resource which is the internet and if they do not have access to newer technology they will be unprepared for the work force because nowadays more business are switching to technological interfaces to make work go by smoother and more efficient.

Some argue that even if the education of lower income students improve/69699e the effects on the student’s quality of life will not be significant enough. An article by the New York time states that, “In short, more education would be great news for middle and lower-income Americans, increasing their pay and economic security. It just isn’t up to the task of meaningfully reducing inequality, which is being driven by the sharp upward movement of the very top of the income distribution”(Irwin, “Why More Education Won’t Fix Economic Inequality”).  In this article is shows that there would be an increase in income for lower income student, but the difference in earning between them and average students would still be substantial. They created a simulation that assumed 10 percent of working-age men without advanced education received a college degree, and began earning wages that were typical for college graduates. They then compared it to people from the 90th percentile earnings to 50th. Through this simulation it showed that the 50th-percentile of workers was brought closer to the inflation-adjusted level of $37,838. Meanwhile, the 90th-percentile worker in this simulation holds onto their income and improves even improves from this gain. The annual earnings of the 90th percentile climbed from $75,700 in 1979 to more than $100,000 in both the actual data and the simulation with higher education levels. They then added it by using the Gini ratio, a frequently used measure of income inequality, and found it would only decrease the inequality to 0.55 from 0.57 in this simulation of drastic educational improvement. The inequality would still be higher than the 0.43 recorded in 1979. So even though the improvement in education would help it would only help slightly, and according to the article it would not only hurt some of the middle class, but it would also help the top-percentile of earner gain more money.

In conclusion there is a drastic inequality in education for lower income students because they do not have access to many resources, they do not have qualified educators, and the schools that lower income student go to lack the necessary tools and funds to compete with higher income schools. This inequality in education is causing a severe impact on the aspiration of lower income student which causes them to not seek out a higher education, and the ones that do are more likely to apply to a below average universities and schools because they do not have confidence in their academic ability. Also the extreme difference in education causes students who attended a substandard school to seek employment in a career that will lead them to little or no economic growth, so there financial issues will continue to be apparent and their cycle of poverty and substandard education will be passed on to their children. There are many government programs that are working to slowly close the gap between lower income students and upper-middle class students, but without the continued support of government programs and the assistance from people from lower-income student’s community there will be no drastic change for these students and the cycle of poverty will continue until the damage is insurmountable. It not just the government’s responsibility to address this issue, but it is also the duty of the people in and near struggling communities to help educate the next generation so we can look forward to a bright and prosperous future where anyone can achieve their dreams no matter what class they are born into. The battle for equality is long and difficult fight, some believe it is impossible to truly reach equality for all. However, if we strive to solve one issue at a time and make sure ever one has the knowledge to improve their life, than one day through hard work and dedication we could reach some form of equality that everyone could benefit from.
