The Native Perspective of Urban Education Essay -- Education

I. Introduction: This essay reports the state of urban and rural educational development in public schools, while also focusing on New Orleans public education system. In the literature, we explore factors both internal and exclusive as well as factors external and inclusive that contribute to the quandaries of K-12 education in America. To be clear public education as a whole is not in crisis. Children in more affluent school districts gain a comparative advantage over their impoverished peers because they have strong investments tied to the communities overall success. In turn, these children are able to go further with more resources readily available to them. However, children in less affluent school districts face serious educational shortcomings due to little investment in the beggared communities surrounding the school. It is more accurate to say that America has two systems of public education. The first system, based principally, but not entirely in the suburbs of America and in wealthier urban districts, is in many respects mediocre, specifically in comparison to international peers in advanced industrial nations. However, the second system, based principally in poorer urban and rural areas, is an absolute failure; in which an exceeding number of students dropout well before high school graduation. An astounding number of students receive high school diplomas that do not certify academic confidence in basic subjects. An outstanding number of students are unprepared for the world of employment. An incredible number of students are unprepared to matriculate to institutions of higher education or advanced training. In this essay, I shall focus on the small yet significant aspect of this educational crisis bey... ...rs—not eliminated in all cases, but closed substantially in many cases. This is in part because a higher percentage of the expenditures in the poorer districts are now being picked up by the states. Likewise, the federal government also picks up expenditures through compensatory education programs. So while money matters, it is not the only thing that matters. School safety and discipline matter significantly. The quality of teachers matters considerably. Support from parents and the surrounding community matters radically. And a culture of learning matters drastically. Hence, all of those things must be attended to; at the same time, we must concentrate on the preexisting and remaining gaps in resources. This study points to the disparities of public education in historically poor minority communities and the steps necessary to address the issues. (Developing)