Rich vs. poor: making up the difference

The Ira Glass podcast is clearly done by professionals with experience.  The sound quality is good and the interviews are well-conducted.  Transitions between interviews and commentary from the host are much smoother than in the “home-made” podcast and they did a better job with the background music as well.  Ira Glass also seemed to be speaking more naturally and smoothly which makes him easy to listen to and the audience feels more at ease.  Glass also uses the opening interview of a personal story to attract listeners and make them want to hear more.  He refrains from jumping to different topics too quickly unlike the “home-made” podcast but explores a topic to the perfect degree so that it doesn’t seem like he takes it too far but tells the listener as much as they want to hear.

In his podcast, Ira Glass interviews a woman named Jada.  She and her siblings were able to experience a better school by listing their grandfather’s address as their own.  Jada talks about how the Copley-Fairlawn school system had more technology and resources to dedicate lots of attention to each student.  Teachers were able to make learning more hands-on and were more creative with their lesson plans.  Overall, Jada described it as being a positive environment where learning was expected.

In contrast, Jada also attended the Akron public school systems after being kicked out of Copley-Fairlawn.  These schools fostered an environment where learning was difficult and easily distracted by other kids who didn’t care about school.  The smarter kids were bullied and made fun of for being different and the schools had fewer resources to encourage learning and valuing their education.

Glass explains that part of the problem with this situation in comparing the two school systems is the difference in finances.  Akron is a poorer area where less money is spent per student than Copley-Fairlawn which is a more well-off neighborhood.  Because a large portion of education funding comes from the local government, kids from a poorer government will almost always receive a worse education than kids from a nice area because of the difference in funding.  More resources and better teachers result in a better learning environment and smarter students.  Therefore, kids from a nice area will always have an advantage over kids from a poorer neighborhood because those two areas are able to allocate different amounts of money to education.  If states regulated how much money can be spent per student and paid the difference for poorer counties, this would give all kids an equal opportunity to receive a quality education.