Inequality in Schools and How We Could Fix It

Linda Darling-Hammond wrote a piece called “The Flat Earth and Education: How America’s Commitment to Equity Will Determine Our Future” which focused a great deal on the startling amount of inequity and discrimination in schools today. I use the word “startling” for few words are apt as that to describe my feelings on how prevalent this problem is. Let’s not confuse my reaction with nativity, for I am not as ignorant to pretend there is not some degree of discrimination in schools. I was just surprised on how widespread it is and how damaging it can be.

Hammond pounds the reader with a number of statistics, including this not too shocking but above all, disappointing one: “Only about 17% of African American young people between the ages of 25 and 29—and only 11% of Hispanic youth—had earned a college degree in 2005, as compared with 34% of White youth in the same age bracket” (318). She drew this statistic for the U.S. Census Bureau from the year 2005 and it is very likely that the statistics have not changed significantly for better or for worse in the past eight years. Because of these limited graduation rates, many end up turning to crime for one reason or another and according to Hammond “nearly 40% of adjudicated juvenile delinquents have treatable learning disabilities that were undiagnosed and unaddressed in schools” (Hammond 318).

Hammond speaks about the classical fix for this problem: funding. However, unlike others, Hammond gives a solid reasoning beyond this: certain schools, particularly urban schools that have higher minority student populations, do not have the resources needed to tend to all students and their respective needs. As she writes, “Educational outcomes for students of color are much more a function of their unequal access to key educational resources, including skilled teachers and quality curriculum, than they are a function of race” (Hammond 320). This may seem a bit redundant, considering, this is what everyone who advocates for more school funding says. However, Hammond does speak the truth as she enters more detail, leading to the fundamental problem with educational reform: a lack of resources for the lower level students in less well funded schools. Tracking only serves to greater expand the achievement gap. In fact, Hammond is quite critical of tracking claiming that is not significantly benefit the higher tier students and only further does a disservice to the lower level students (Hammond 324).

With this all being said, Hammond does propose a few solutions. A new plan, really, and one can truly provide at least a foundation to better remedy this problem and take full advantage of increased funding, should schools ever receive such a thing. It begins with hiring more skilled, more knowledgeable teachers especially in subjects of high need, such as math and sciences. This is already happening in some districts, as math and science teachers are in higher demand as it is. The second aspect is improved teacher preparation, with better trains teachers with the skills needed to be a skilled teacher. This is a given, truly, and should already be included in teacher prep programs and teacher education. This comes more down to college reform, from my perspective, and is out of the hand of elementary and secondary schooling. The last aspect is something I am particularly fond of: support mentoring for new teachers. Veteran teachers can mentor younger teachers and provide them with much needed advice and knowledge they will not get in a classroom. This allows them to acquire much needed skills or ideas that can place in their own classrooms to improve the education for students. Taken as a whole, Hammond’s ideas would much better improve the condition of schools and take full advantage of any increased funding or reforms that may and hopefully will take place in the upcoming years.