With the improvements of the highway systems all across the United States, many middle to upper class families moved to the suburbs during the 1960s and 70s, leaving many inner-city school districts for greener pastures.
What emerged from all of this is two very different school systems in and around the cities: one for the suburbs and the other for the inner-cities. Although the differences between these two educational systems are abundant, the differences in funding and facilities suggest inequality.
Differences in School Funding
Public education is funded primarily by the federal, state, and local governments with the local and state governments providing the bulk of the proceeds. Most states and local communities support public education by using property tax revenues. Also, school districts in many areas can levy extra taxes in accordance to state and local guidelines (Marx, 2006).
With that being said, because the homes in the suburbs tend to be worth more and those living in the suburbs tend to be more affluent, more tax revenues can be collected from them. This in turn means that schools in the suburbs tend to generate more income than those from the inner cities.
More funding means more competitive educator salaries, smaller class sizes, more access to technology within the classroom, cleaner and more advanced facilities, newer books and classroom resources, and even healthier and more nutritious foods. It also means that those who have access to more money tend to get better access to more desirable educational opportunities (Gamoran, 2001).
In other words, students at suburban schools tend to have a much more enriching educational experience than those from the inner-cities. It is not a great coincidence why they tend to outperform their urban counterparts.
Disparities in School Facilities
The upper to middle class’ massive exodus from the urban areas happened less than 50 years ago for the most part. As a by-product, many of the facilities in the suburban areas tend to be less than 60 years of age. In the process of building new schools in the suburbs, many school districts neglected to maintain the older school facilities in the urban areas. This lack of maintenance translated into much older facilities in urban areas (Marx, 2006).
In some cases, especially in Northern states, some facilities outdate even the Industrial Revolution, and this is a potential hazard to students’ health and well being since the building codes during the early portion and previous to the Industrial Revolution were less regulated.
Implications of the Educational Differences
Finally, as the issue of race slowly transitions into a matter of economic discrepancy between the haves and the have-nots, it is important to understand that education is still the number one predictor of economic and social upward mobilization (Gamoran, 2001). Thus, inequalities within the educational system of the United States severely hinder the image of the United States as the rags to riches capital of the world. Horatio Alger would be very disappointed; but on a more serious note, this can further widen the gap between the affluent and the destitute.
There is a need to address these discrepancies and find solutions to helping inner-city schools mend the gap in educational achievement.
References:
Gamoran, Anderson. "American schooling and educational inequality: A forecast for 21st century." Sociology of Education, 27, 135-151, 2001.
Marx, Greg. Sixteen trends: Their profound impact on the future implications for students, education, communities, and the whole of society. Alexandria, VA: Educational Research Services, 2006.
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