filed under Daily Dose
A shame, but not a shock
6:57AM ON
08/20/2008
BY
Dave Segal
A society with disgustingly wide class divisions is probably going to have broad divisions in academic achievement. I’ve ranted about this before: We can’t look at education in a vacuum.
Regressive taxes + lead poisoning + transience within communities + lack of employment opportunity + parents who work many jobs + racism + language barriers + poor healthcare +….+…. Add up to a stark divide in educational achievement.
Also, please recall that we have the worst or second-worst ratio in the country of state vs local education funding: The state levies progressive taxes. Cities levy property taxes, which are generally regressive, and poor cities, understandably, would rather not increase them — and that creates pressure to under-fund schools.
There’s no magic bullet: We need a more equitable society, and until we get it, kids in our inner cities are going to suffer — in their relative educational achievement, and beyond.
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