"So long as these kinds of inequalities persist, all of us who are given expensive educations have to live with the knowledge that our victories are contaminated because the game has been rigged to our advantage."
Jonathan Kozol
The 4th and final piece of my examination of poverty has to do with the structure of funding for our schools. Many misconceptions exist regarding poverty and education. Simply put, on average, wealthy communities have far better access to educational opportunities than poor communities. Can we find examples for either side of the argument that disputes this conclusion? Absolutely. However, we are talking about the overwhelming evidence and data that supports the assertion that school funding is both inadequate, and unfair to poorer communities.
Disparities can exist within a district itself. In some communities, you can find the run down elementary school in poor neighborhoods and just down the road is a newer elementary school in a more affluent district. Some schools in affluent communities have a much greater selection of electives and the arts, while poor communities are cutting programs due to lack of funding.
It’s a common misconception to believe that Brown v. the Board of Education reversed a trend of inequities in school funding. Since the 1960’s, integration of schools has slowly returned to segregation of schools. Poor people attend schools that receive less funding, and have poor learning conditions. There are many reasons for these disparities, however, for a child attending public education, the only thing that matters is the inequities in opportunities and how it impacts their democratic right to have an education in our country.
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