The readings for the past several weeks have talked a lot about the correlations between race, poverty, and success in school. In his first chapter, Zhao cites a 2008 study of high school graduation rates: while about ¾ of white students graduated, only about ½ of black students received a degree. To be honest, both of these statistics seem ridiculously low to me–why are so many students not able to finish even a high school education?
Over the past few weeks of class, two questions have stuck with me. First, why does the American school system allow students to automatically fail by dropping out? What would happen if dropping out of school simply wasn’t an option? While many students have circumstances that make attending or passing school more difficult for them than for others (teen pregnancy, neighborhood violence, and learning disabilities come to mind), allowing these students to simply give up nearly guarantees that they won’t succeed. Even if a student gets a mediocre high school education, surely that’s better than getting no high school education at all. Perhaps something along the lines of a large fine would keep more kids in school (particularly those that come from disadvantaged backgrounds). Does anyone else think disallowing dropouts would be effective?
The second question I’ve been considering is more of a consideration of an ideal education system. Let’s say that reformers like Canada get it right, and all students from all backgrounds recieve a fantastic education and a college degree. Now what? America still needs people to work at clothing stores and fast-food restaurants. Just because everyone is suddenly educated enough to work at a high-paying job, doesn’t mean (enough) more high-paying jobs will necessarily appear. I think that the issue of children in poverty succeeding goes much deeper than just their educations. The way the American economy is currently set up, there will always be someone in poverty, there will always be someone trying to support a family on $7.25 per hour wages. Without changing the way the economy functions, and the way workers are compensated, I don’t think it will ever truly matter, for many people, how great education gets. Educating children is poverty may change their life, but it doesn’t change the system.
Comments
2 responses to “Race, Poverty, and Success in Education”
Interesting points. With respect to forced education through high school, I wonder if this might cause more problems than it solves. From experience, I know that teaching high school kids who don’t want to be in school is enormously challenging and wastes a lot of teacher time and other resources. At the same time, it might force educators and families to pay more attention to education.
I had a friend in graduate school who used to advocate for making the whole system voluntary from K on up. What would happen to U.S. society under those circumstances. What would happen if kids could drop about at age 8?
I also think your observation about the structure of our society is a good one. The promise of hard work = success just doesn’t ring true when you have high school graduate unable to earn a living wage.
Alex, to your first question, I feel as though disallowing dropouts might have some repercussions. While I agree that everyone should make it through high school, I feel as though a better way to go about it might be to create an education system that is effective enough to actually keep students engaged. For example, a kid from an inner city neighborhood who might be facing violence outside of school and other factors persuading him to drop out should find school to be a reprieve. Public school should be effective and engaging enough to convince that student to want to stay in school.
To some degree, this then ties into your second point, what exactly do you do with a high school degree? If we made it a priority to not let anyone drop out, I feel like we would then also have to make a high school degree worth something much more than NOT having a high school diploma. As of now, I feel like a high school degree’s worth lies largely in its ability to allow someone to pursue a degree in higher education. Students with only a high school degree and students who dropped out of high school seem to be heading in the direction of being grouped together. Perhaps this is a result of the decreasing value of a high school diploma, and the “inflation” of pursuing higher education.