Blog 7: Income Inequality Goes to School

         On top of everything that income inequality affects, it is starting to show an affect in schools.  Many people put blame on the teachers for failing students, but the real culprit is the growing gap between the rich and the poor. “As the children of the rich do better in school, and those who do better in school are more likely to become rich, we risk producing an even more unequal and economically polarized society,” wrote Sean Reardon, a Stanford University professor of education and sociology. Race to the Top was on organization unveiled by Obama who gives awards to states who improve school performance. According to this a teacher's value can be measured statistically so again its saying that if the kids get bad grades or they don't improve the its the teachers fault. Flaws have been given to this because students could be having trouble at home, poverty, language ability, and parental educational levels could be issues as well.  “The gap between the rich and the poor has widened significantly, particularly among families with children. Not only do the poor have less money than they did before, they have fewer social support systems as well.”  The education of the parents is very important.  Parents with money tend to be better educated, they have the time and the money to spend with their children and help them.  But they don't want to talk to these issues because if the teacher is to blame then class size, inadequate funding, unsafe buildings, filthy bathrooms, turmoil in overcrowded homes, unemployed parents, disruptive classmates and school or class transfers can all be ignored. All they do is tell the teachers to fix it and go on with their lives.
         This is exactly one of the reasons why I decided not to become a teacher. They get blamed for things that is always not their fault as long as the government is getting their way and things look like they are working. I have only worked with kids in a classroom for a short period, but i can see exactly what these researchers are saying when it comes to why kids fail and the family income.  Some of the kids who weren't doing as well either language wasn't their first language or they had issues at home. You see some families that struggle to make ends meet and single parents are taking two jobs to support the family so they don't have the time to sit down with their kids to help them with school work, read to them and make sure they are doing the best they can.  Whereas the rich can afford tutors and because one job is enough, they can sit down and enjoy time with their kids.  Working at a daycare I can tell which older kids read and learn things at home as well as the daycare.  But if the government just wants to overlook it and blame it on other things just to get by, then things will not improve. 

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/income_inequality_goes_to_school_20120224/