“Separate and Unequal” Education’s Broken Promise

In Part III of School: The Story of American Public Education and the video How America's Public Schools Keep Kids in Poverty, I learned that schools in the United States are still not fair. A long time ago, schools were separated by race. Now they are not supposed to be, but many schools still don’t have the same things.

Some schools in rich neighborhoods have lots of books, new computers, and good teachers. But schools in poor neighborhoods, where many Black and Latino kids live, do not have the same. They have old books, broken buildings, and not enough teachers. This is not the fault of the kids. It happens because schools get money from taxes in the neighborhood. If the area is poor, the school gets less money. That is not fair.

In the video, a teacher named Kandice Sumner talked about this. She said people call it an “achievement gap” when poor students don’t do as well. But she says it’s not a gap, it’s an “education debt.” That means the country owes these kids more help because they never got a fair chance in the first place. I think that’s true.

My classmate Jennifer wrote about how parents in the past lost their jobs and homes just for trying to get their kids into better schools. That made me feel sad. Parents should not have to lose everything just to help their children go to a good school.

Linda in my group said that schools are supposed to be fair and help everyone learn. But many schools still don’t have enough things to help kids do their best. Some kids have everything they need and others do not. That is not right. All kids should have good teachers and fun ways to learn.

My group made a PowerPoint presentation to show what "Separate and Unequal" means today. On one side, we showed a school in a rich area. It had new desks, computers, smiling kids, and lots of books. On the other side, we showed a school in a poor area. It had broken windows, crowded classrooms, and not many books. We added some words from the book and video to show what is still wrong today. We also put money signs to show how rich schools get more money.

After reading, watching, and talking with my group, I understand more about how schools in America are not fair for everyone. It makes me feel upset because every kid should have a good school. It should not matter where they live or how much money their family has.

School is supposed to help all of us learn and have a good future. But right now, the system is not fair. I think we need to change the way schools get money so that every kid can learn, grow, and be proud of their school.