Jane Doe
Education is frequently called the cornerstone of one’s future, so why are all public schools not producing the same quality education across the board? Perhaps it is no different than any other area of life where more money result in quality education, while less money limits one’s options. New York City is one of the biggest metropolitan cities in the nation with a great number of individuals, families and students who reside there. Growing up in NYC the educations choice and options vary greatly depending on the location of one’s residence, as well as the socio-economic status of parents. For the upper class, higher income parents, good schools including additional options are available to their children who are preparing well for their higher education. However, this is not the same in the higher crime, low income neighborhoods in NYC. The families in these parts suffer with poor quality education that is leaving students behind on the educational spectrum. The following essay will focus on the differences that can be seen in schools based on location with wealthier areas having tremendously different advantages than the poorer parts of the city.
Building Conditions
First I will compare the physical building conditions of schools based on where the school is located in the city. For those living in higher socio-economic neighborhoods, there is less tolerance for run down old buildings as an educational institution where the children of these higher income households attend school. However, “recent studies have shown that children living in poverty are at higher risk for socioemotional difficulties and that this risk can be partially explained by the exposure to suboptimal environments” (Evans & English, 2002; Duran Narucki, 2008). The conditions of schools in poor neighborhoods are often worse than the condition of these neighborhoods. The attention to ensuring a quality environment is an aspect of the school environment that the highly educated and higher income residents expect for their children, which they will fight for. Whether from a higher tax income going to those public schools or through parental donations, the aesthetics of public schools in well-established neighborhoods are likely to be completely different that the neighborhoods where the working-class and poor reside. The blue collar workers and their families are already struggling to make ends meet and have no disposable income that can go towards school improvement and are also neglected by the state, as the taxes collected from these parts remain significantly lesser than the richer neighborhoods. It is unfortunate to know that even from the very basic physical environment of the school(s), the difference between the rich and poor public schools is drastic, offering higher quality options where money is no issues.
Attendance
Test Scores
The last piece of evidence to confirm the significant difference of the schools in rich versus poor neighborhoods can be seen through state test scores. Nearly every state has a system requiring students to be tested on a yearly basis to measure how well the students and schools are doing. When examining the test results of the two groups- the rich and poor, there is a gap in the performance of the students belonging to the two groups. In an article written by Zimmer and Chiwaya (2015), “The Upper West Side's Special Music School, a program that accepts students based on auditions and has only 15 kids per grade, was the top school in the city, with 100 percent of its fourth grade class passing the English and math exams — the only school to have a 100 percent proficiency rate for both.” Compare that to students who live in New
York City Housing Authority (NYCHA), the poorest of the lower socio-economic class, whose children are not even passing the same state tests (Institute for Education and Social Policy, 2008).
Conclusion
After examining this issue briefly through the use of building conditions, attendance, and test scores as a measurement for the performance of students living in wealthier communities versus those living in poverty, it is easy to see that a significant difference exists in the quality of education that is received by students in the NYC public school system. A severe gap exists placing poorer students at a disadvantage next to their wealthier peers who are being well-prepared for a future in higher education while the poor children are left in destitute conditions.
Reference
Duran-Narucki, V. (2008, March). School building condition, school attendance, and academic
achievement in New York City public schools: A mediation model. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 28(), 278-286.
NYC Department of Education. (2016). Data about Schools. Retrieved from
http://schools.nyc.gov/Common/Templates/MainTemplate/CommonMainTemplate.aspx?NRMODE=Published&NRNODEGUID={1B1CF9E3-435B-439A-BC81-27B0FC8705C2}&NRORIGINALURL=%2fAboutUs%2fschools%2fdata%2fAttendance.htm&NRCACHEHINT=Guest
