Emma Richman
RWS 200
April 27th, 2014
Educational
Inequality
Educational inequality is greatly
determined by social and economic status. The better social and economic status
you have the more likely you are going to get a good education, and it seems to
be the opposite for people with poor social and economic status. However, Paul Krugman author of “Confronting
Inequality” sees social and political inequality as the largest reasons for our
poor economy. Conversely, Charles Murray author of “The New American Divide”
believes inequality in America comes from cultural inequality. Contrary to their ideas I see the major
reason for economic inequality in America coming from issues within our
education system. In this essay I will explain Krugman and Murray’s stances on
inequality and then explain how my idea of inequality is most sound. To further
support my argument, I will analyze an article written by George Farkas a
professor at Penn State University titled “How Educational Inequality
develops”. In addition I will look at “Inequality at the Starting Gate” by
David T. Burkham. Lastly I will use the video Social Mobility
in America by American Enterprise Institute to help my position qualify Krugman’s argument for
inequality.
Krugman believes that Americans do not have equal
opportunity due to social and political inequality. The less social support a
family has, the less money they are able to spend on their children’s health,
nutrition and overall well-being. Krugman makes it a point that our lack of
universal health care puts children who come from a low-income family at a
major disadvantage. And because children from low-income families are usually
uninsured they are now more likely to have health issues that could affect
decisions they make throughout the rest of their lives, decreasing their
chances of rising in the economic latter. Not only does social inequality lead
to poor healthcare for these children, but they are now missing opportunities to
make connections, meet people and network with others. Conversely, children
born into high-income families have access to healthcare and are exposed to
opportunities at a young age that children from low-income families will never
see. In addition to economic inequality creating social inequality, political
inequality is another large factor leading to the corruption of our nation as
well. Krugman believes that “rising inequality has to an important extent been
caused by the rightward shift of our politics” (Krugman 593). The Republican
party has been strongly benefiting from the wealthy getting wealthier.
Ultimately the extreme political inequality our nation is seeing is stemming
from poor income distribution. These large amounts of inequality “strain the
bonds that hold us together as a society” and is leading people to believe that
“growing inequality is behind our growing cynicism” (Krugman 593). Krugman’s
solutions to social inequality and political inequality involve undoing many of
the tax cuts for the wealthy that the conservatives have been strongly
advocating for since 1980. Large amounts of revenue will be generated if the
Bush tax cuts for the wealthy expire by 2010. Because social security seems
very reliable now a days, universal healthcare should be something we strive to
achieve. Krugman also see’s it wise to tax capital gain because it will “yield
significantly more revenue and limit the range of tax abuses like the hedge
fund loophole”. (Krugman 597). It may also be possible to reduce inequality
through creating a newly empowered US union movement. Empowering the middle
class and poor to rise economically and ultimately eliminating social and
political inequality will result in a happier and more successful nation.
Charles Murray sees cultural inequality as the main reason for the gap
between the rich and poor. In the article “New American Divide” by Charles
Murray, he states that “For most of our nation's history, whatever the inequality in
wealth between the richest and poorest citizens, we maintained a cultural
equality known nowhere else in the world—for whites, anyway.”(Murray 1). Murray believes that culture is the
main reason for economic inequality in America due to people’s desires for
different lifestyles. According
to Murray, marriage, single parenthood, industriousness, crime, and religiosity
are all major factors playing into cultural inequality. In 1960, 94% of upper
class workers with at least a bachelor’s degree were married while only 84% of
the lower class with no degree were married. However in 2010 only 48% of the lower
class were married while the upper class dropped to only 83%. On top of low
marriage rates now a days, nonmarital births are becoming extremely prevalent
and highly problematic in our society. When it comes to industriousness Murray
believes “the primary indicator of the erosion of industriousness in the
working class is the increase of prime-age males with no more than a high
school education who say they are not available for work” (Murray 2). Traditionally
American men were always either looking for work or working. However present
day one out of eight are not doing either of these. As the years progressed the crime rates within the
upper class seemed to stay the same while crime rates within the lower class
increased greatly. Lastly when Murray discusses how religiosity plays a role in
cultural inequality he says “whatever your personal religious views are-
religious Americans account for much more nonreligious social capital than their secular neighbors”
(Murray 2). Our nation as a whole has become more and more secular since 1960,
especially the lower income citizens which greatly affects the culture of our
nation. The major differences in these categories are what’s putting the
wealthy and the poor into different cultures. Lastly, Murray does believe that there is a difference of
quality of education within the classes. He explains how the upper class obtains
their wealth through advanced education from the elite universities while the
lower class is experiencing economic issues because of “withdrawal from
America’s core cultural institutions” (Murray 1). Although educational
inequality is mentioned in Murrays piece, it is very evident that he does not
see this as the main reason for economic inequality.
Unlike Krugman and Murray, I believe the
main reason for income inequality in America has to do primarily with
education. Not only does education provide knowledge but it leads to the
progression of ones career, character building, and ultimately the success of a
nation. Whether people want to believe it or not the enrichment of our society
relies greatly on a strong education. Education gives us the fundamentals we
need in order to specialize in certain fields of interest. The more specialists
and professionals America sees the more economic equality that will be
generated. George Farkas, a professor at Penn State University wrote a piece
titled “How Educational Inequality Develops” where he discusses the stages of
education beginning with pre-school all the way to PHD’s. According to Farkas,
“the credentials of schooling completed and degrees attained, as
well as the skills and capabilities associated with these credentials - is an
important determinant of socioeconomic success”. Income differentials within
races also play a large roll in the quality of education one receives. Farkas believes
that in general “families with higher social status (measured by education,
income, and occupation) and those embedded in stronger networks of social
relationships have more resources available” while on the contrary families
with lower social status and weaker networks and relationships have less
resources available to them and are less likely to have a stronger education.
If the government can increase educational funding to public schools, the quality
of education will increase. The more money we generate towards schools
educating the middle and lower class, the stronger education those children
will see. It has been proven that the better quality education one receives the
more likely they will be successful later in life. By providing under privileged
kids with a strong educational foundation at a young age, the more opportunity
they will see throughout their life. The right to a good education for all
citizens no matter their economic status should be a goal our nation is
dedicated to achieving. It is inevitable that our economy will flourish with an
increased number of college graduates. The skill level of America’s labor force
will positively benefit from an increased rate in higher education. The more
education one receives, the greater their skills will become, and ultimately
the better certain local economies will be doing because the quality of their
production will increase leading to higher rates of profitability.
David T. Burkham author of “Inequality at the Starting Gate”
discusses how lower income citizens have access to schools with fewer resources
causing a poor education while higher income citizens have access to schools
with plentiful resources leading to a bright future and solid education. Schools with little access to good resources
leads them to “ face greater
difficulties attracting qualified teachers, face many more challenges in
addressing student’s needs, and receive less support from parents.” (Burkham). Burkham
explains how socioeconomic status is strongly related to children’s cognitive
skills. The quality of a school is determined by more school resources, more
qualified teachers, better neighborhood or school conditions and lastly student
achievement. All of these factors derive from a higher income society. Children
with lower incomes generally start school in a lower quality elementary school
compared to higher income children attending more elite elementary schools. Burkham
believes a solution to educational inequality might be “reducing the inequality
of school resources- would aid in reducing the inequality that children and
schools face at the starting gate”. I believe the solution to this is
straightforward and simple. Supply these lower income regions with the
resources they need to run successful schools. The problem with educational
inequality begins with children’s pre-education. A solution to this would be to
invest in the middle and lower classes early educational years. By exposing
children to higher levels and quality of education at a young age, this will
increase their motivation to continue higher levels of education as the year’s
progress.
The video Social Mobility in America by American Enterprise Institute helps
my position on inequality to qualify Krugman’s argument. According to the video
“economic mobility is highly correlated with residential segregation,
education, labor market opportunities, and family structure”. Krugman believes
that social inequality is one of the main reasons for economic inequality. Low-
income citizens experience less opportunity due to their poor social status. Social Mobility in America states that “high
school drop out rates are also highly correlated with low upward mobility” and
that improving bad neighborhoods will help economic inequality. Social
inequality is also correlated to low upward mobility. If low-income
neighborhoods have the chance to attend better schools than this can counteract
with neighborhood disadvantages.
There have also been multiple
issues with public schools experiencing major defunding. This defunding results
in the loss of art programs, music programs and even Spanish in K-8 due to lack
of government support. Higher income families fortunately do not see much of
this in the schools their children are attending however many middle class and
poor citizens are experiencing the government defunding important programs. In
conclusion, although cultural inequality and public policy play a large roll in
inequality in America I see the main problem to be our education. If we can
increase the quality of education the middle class and the poor are receiving,
our nation as a whole will become so much better off. To do this we need to
focus on the middle class and make sure kids are seeing good education starting
at a young age. The younger our nation targets children and teaches them the
importance of education, the brighter future we have.
Sources Cited
"Inequality at the starting gate: Social
background differences in achievement as children
begin
school." Economic Policy Institute. Web. 12 May 2014
"Social Mobility in America: Still
the Land of Opportunity?" YouTube. YouTube, 19
Mar.
2014. Web. 13 May 2014.
Krugman, Paul. Conscience of a
Liberal. 2007. 586-603. Web.
Murray, Charles “The New American
Divide” Web.
