Equity Blog - Education

From the site that brought you the last two photographs that I shared, this blog provides news and opinions on today's educational system. It is a solid collection of the most important stories of the time in the world of education.

Another symbolic photograph from http://equityblog.org/tag/education, this shows young people out in public protesting the budget cuts that are crippling the nation's education system. I believe that it is imperative that not just young people, but all Americans voice their opinions and tell our politicians that these budget cuts, especially the ones to the most important aspects of our nations success, will no longer be tolerated.

This is a picture of Arne Duncan, U.S. Secretary of Education, with a handful of young American children. It is important to know who Arne Duncan is, because he plays a huge role in the way American education works. This picture captivates a necessary element of Secretary Duncan's job, and that is to be out with the students, listening to them and learning from them, as well as the school teachers. This picture can be found at http://equityblog.org/tag/education/.

Canada's Education Reform

This article is about the reform that Canada has created in their educational system. It explains what Canada did to achieve the reform, mainly looking at teacher development. Like the title hints at, I believe that America could learn from Canada. Teachers must be treated with much more appreciation in this country to achieve the success that other countries such as Canada are achieving.

This is a particularly disturbing video from the documentary "Waiting for Superman". It's discussing what is being called "drop out factories". The numbers of children who are dropping out of high school is astonishing. While this video doesn't give a lot of detail on the reasons for these "drop out factories", it is a good clip from the documentary, and will hopefully interest audiences enough to want to watch the rest of the film.

http://www.dangerousminds.net

Although it does not pertain to the current political system, this article on Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal shows the impact it had on the educational system. After The Great Depression, teachers, students, and the entire educational system was in trouble. Franklin Roosevelt put the correct policies in place to help pull education back up to where it needed to be. This article is important because it could be used as a blueprint for the current American government. All hope is not lost, as President Roosevelt proved in the 1930's.

Eliminating Education Inequality Podcast

This is a podcast featuring a fantastic discussion from Teach for America CEO Wendy Kopp. She provides terrific ideas on how to eliminate educational inequality, including a plan to create a national corp of recent college graduates to teach the neediest communities for at least two years. She also discusses the problem of education not being a high enough priority for the United States government. This is a great hour of discussion for anyone who is looking for quality ideas and arguments to help eradicate this problem.

Pennsylvania Budget Cuts
This is a link to an article written by a Philadelphia news affiliate detailing PA Governor Tom Corbett's budget plans. With plans to cut about $1.5 million dollars in the education sector, it's no wonder that so many schools are falling behind. This is a common example of a politician cutting money from one of the most important facets in American life, education.

This article is written by Arnold King, and he is providing a rebuttal of the argument made by Brink Lindsey that the problem of educational inequality is a class struggle. Brink Lindsey believes that children from lower income families struggle more often because they don't get the same amount of nurturing attention from their parents as a child who comes from a wealthier family. Arnold King provides his opinion, but gives little more than that. He explains that he believes that nurturing may be a minor part of it, but he also believes that there is a genetic element to it. These arguments, in my opinion, do little to further that cause against educational inequality. It is still an interesting argument, nonetheless.

This chart, from http://j.worldfund.org/assets/images/inner-chart-b.png, shows that while educational inequality is certainly a problem in our country, it is still a larger issue in other parts of the world. I fear however, that if we do not get a handle on the problems that our school systems face in America, that our results will begin to look more like some of these other countries listed on this chart.

Another example of federal intervention,  this is a report on the positive progresses that have been made in underachieving urban schools. It explains how President Obama increased the funding for this specific program, the School Improvement Grant, from $125 million in 2007 to about $550 million dollars under his presidency. Again, it is important to point out and applaud the government when they do the right thing and fund these programs. This article is very informative, explaining how many urban schools were able to achieve academic turnarounds because of these federally funded programs.

Rural and Low-Income School Program

The federal government provides this program to low-income schools in rural areas to assist them in meeting their adequate yearly progress. This is an example of some of the steps that the federal government have taken to alleviate the inequality in America. While I believe they're certainly not doing enough, it is important for programs like this to continue to exist.

Education Gap Grows Between Rich and Poor
Sabrina Tavernise wrote this article for The New York Times in February 2012. She discusses how income levels seem to be overtaking race as the main contributor to educational inequality. Although race and income levels often go hand in hand, it is not always the case. This article not only explains the growing disparity between the rich and the poor, but also talks about what makes children who come from wealthy families succeed more often in school.

This is a video of a discussion between Dr. Cornel West and Miriam Rivera. They are discussing the problems of our society, and why education doesn't seem to be as important in America as it is in many other nations. They also discuss what will need to be done to help more low-income students get into secondary education. This is a great discussion between to leading American intellectuals. Dr. Cornel West always provides a compelling argument to anything that he is discussing, and this video is no different.

What Will Decrease Educational Inequality?
This is an article by Adam Gamoran of the University of Wisconsin. It discusses the reasons of educational inequality, largely focusing on one of the main factors of all equality, race. He does a good job of explaining the socioeconomic reasons for the inequality. Unfortunately, the article does not quite do what its title suggests. It explains the reason for the inequality, but barely touches on any possible solutions.

NPR Education Podcast

The NPR education podcast is a weekly podcast that delivers various stories on the topic of education. It often touches on the effects that political policy has on the education system in this country. It's a good source if you're looking to find quality journalism in the field of education, although at times the stories provided can seem to be somewhat irrelevant and unimportant. Overall, the stories that are provided help to form a solid opinion on what is happening in the school system, good and bad.

An Urban Teacher's Education

This is a blog written by James Boutin, a teacher in Seattle Washington. Boutin provides excellent insight on what it means to be an urban teacher, where educational inequality is often prominent. He points out many of the concerns that urban teachers experience, and pairs them with certain solutions that he has come up with. Having taught in New York City, Washington D.C, Knoxville, and now Seattle, Boutin is able to come with a particularly broad point of view on America's school system.