For the first seven years of my life I was an only child, ah what bliss. But I remember when my little sister showed up on the scene there was an endless dialogue about fairness. It wasn't fair that I had this and she didn't or it wasn't fair that she got to do something I did not and so on and so on and so on. I guess it is inevitable that when there is someone to compare you and your things to you do just that. (As a sidenote I find this to be a very unhealthy practice.) I always remember my mom saying that our things were just different not necessarily unequal. Although this can be the case that it is not how it is in the American education system. There are indeed many differences between schools and in some areas the lack of equity is disturbing.
In Linda Darling-Hammond's second chapter of her book The Flat World and Education she discusses the "Anatomy of Inequality." Darling-Hammond shows the long history of unequal education in America and what causes these inequalities. In all honesty I have a really hard time with this section of the book. I think my biggest problem is that I see both sides of the arguments that Darling-Hammond is making. She says that the five reasons that education is not equal are: high level poverty and low level support, unequal allocation of school resources, inadequate access to high-quality teacher, rationing of high-quality curriculum, and factory model school design.
I truly believe that as a nation we need to help our citizens. It just isn’t right that some people go into major debt because of medical bills or that some children in our country don’t have food to eat. I think it is really sad that some people live in excess and then there are so many people who can barely survive. I believe that our government should have systems in place to support people in need; things like unemployment, Medicare, Title I, and other social systems.
I agree that there is an unequal allocation of resources throughout our school system. I know that in Illinois where you live determines where you go to school and that school is funded in large part by your property taxes. This means that if you live in a wealthy community there is a large tax base so the school in that community is well funded. On the other hand if you are poor and live in a lower income area there will be a lower tax base and fewer funds available for the school. In her book Linda Darling Hammond calls this a tracking system and although I don’t think it is right I think our entire school system would have to be rearranged to remedy this problem. You could move everyone in the country around; make students go to schools that are not near them; or completely change the way schools are funded. The fact that some schools don’t have enough books for all of their students is appalling to me. But again I believe is a function of the way our schools are funded.
One of the reasons Darling-Hammond gives for inequity in our country is the lack of good teachers in high-risk schools. I believe that just like any job market the job that pays better, with better working conditions, and a better location gets more applicants and has the opportunity to get the best candidates. Where as a job that pays less in a dilapidated building in a seedier part of town doesn’t have as many applicants and as much of a choice and get essentially the leftovers. Nobody is in an uproar that a big law firm in New York probably has better lawyers than an ambulance chaser in the middle of nowhere.
Earlier in the book Linda Darling-Hammond said something that really stuck with me about how if we don’t start giving ALL our students a good education our nation will not continue to thrive in this global economy. The more I think about the inequity we already have the more I think that if we continue to only give some students the best education the high-risk students will just continue to need social services and be a drain on those who have.
