We have all heard the phrase "falling through the cracks." It's a way of life in America where some people are just forgotten about. Some of these gaps are predominate. The wage gap is widely debated and criticized within the media today, as such an important issue should be. But what about the gaps we don't talk about? The large gaping holes in the sidewalk that we choose to walk around and ignore while others fall straight through? It's time to talk about the education gap and what we can do to improve the standards of the public school system in America.
I have lived in St. Louis my whole life up until college. What is considered to be the St. Louis area is quite extensive and contains within it dozens of public high schools. As a student in this area, I had the opportunity to see first hand, what I am calling an education gap. The education gap can be explained simply: schools in high-income areas receive more funding and inevitably, become better schools with higher test scores and graduation rates, while the public schools in low-income districts decline in funding, test scores, and graduation rates every year, and see an increase in teenage pregnancy. I can name at least two public high schools in the St. Louis area that had lost their accreditation since I started my freshman year of high school. In a society where education is everything, students can’t afford to slip through the cracks.
There are several studies that show the difference that just graduating high school can make. A high school diploma can mean the difference of thousands of dollars in yearly income, and yet, we only require students to attend school until they are sixteen years of age. Even with graduation, those in high-income areas are likely to have received a better and more comprehensive education and are more likely to continue on to college. When higher education has become such a central and expected part of any young person's life, it is unacceptable that the education is public schools is stacked against those in low-income areas.
This gap in education can especially be seen between races. It’s no secret that St. Louis is one of the most segregated cities in America, and one of those reasons is that caucasian families historically have more money, and so are all concentrated in higher income areas because they can afford the luxury of selecting housing based on good public schools. Not only does the gap often affect people of color, it perpetuates the stereotype of the uneducated black kid.
The whole thing becomes a cycle. People who have more money take their money to where the better schools are which is in areas with higher property taxes. The more money flowing into the school through property taxes, the better teachers and technology the schools can afford, which inevitably, makes them better schools and drawing more people to the area. Meanwhile, people aren't moving to low income areas unless they have to, and schools are not getting the proper funding they need. Without proper funding, some of these schools can barely afford books and supplies for their students, and fewer teachers are wanting to be employed there. As these students grow the ones at the well-funded schools will likely go on to college and earn a degree that will allow them to make enough money to move their kids to these same great schools, while those low-income students are far less likely to receive a college degree and leave those low-income areas.
Trying to rectify the education gap would be no small feat. One of the first steps would be looking at the budget, and finding a way for schools to receive money that was not solely based on property taxes in the area. Other steps would include stricter enforcement of the ideals of common core education, which puts standards in place for education across the country; or working to change the law to make it so that every student legally has to graduate working in conjunction with programs like A+ in Missouri, which gives students the opportunity to continue education after high school for free if they have received satisfactory grades and attendance. Until we address this major issue, students will continue to fall through the cracks in America, and we should all be held accountable.
