As data has recently been collected about the quality of schools across the country, the stark difference between the educations that children receive has risen to the forefront of conversation. For some parents, the lack of quality public education in their communities is a pressing issue. The distinction that wealth creates occurs in whether or not these parents are able to offer other alternatives for their children. For financially secure, and often, white families, this may mean sending their children to private schools or to better school districts. For less well-off, and often black, families the presence of subpar education may create a problem without any tangible solutions. As a result, as white parents move their children out of poorer districts and abandon the issues of the public schools, these schools often fall farther behind in terms of educational achievement, furthering the effects of wealth on educational attainment. This wealth difference can impact more than just where a child attends primary or secondary school, as in this case. Centuries of disadvantage have left black families far behind their white counterparts, with various institutional and systematic factors hindering their progress.<\/p>\n
Considering the importance of education in combating income inequality, I found this idea very interesting. This novel helped explain how the same families affected by lower incomes also were unable to build wealth and therefore unable to offer their children the same educational opportunities as other families, further widening the income gap. Shapiro, through this book, does a good job of explaining the perpetuity of the wealth gap, and how the presence of assets can alter the life course of families and subsequent generations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
As data has recently been collected about the quality of schools across the country, the stark difference between the educations that children receive has risen to the forefront of conversation. For some parents, the lack of quality public education in their communities is a pressing issue. The distinction that wealth creates occurs in whether or … Continue reading Wealth Inequality and Educational Opportunity<\/span>