The ‘educational’ value of being born rich
School reform efforts that are solely focused on raising test scores are doomed to fail. Why? Here to explain is P.L. Thomas, an associate professor of education at Furman University in South Carolina. Thomas edited the 2013 book “Becoming and Being a Teacher,” and wrote the 2012 book, “Ignoring Poverty in the U.S.: The Corporate Takeover of Public Education.” This was published on his “the becoming radical” blog.
By P.L. Thomas
Secretary of Education Arne Duncan has often stated that “education [is] the one true path out of poverty—the great equalizer that overcomes differences in background, culture and privilege. It’s the only way to secure our common future in a competitive global economy.” While this claim appears obvious, here’s what blogger Matt Bruenig concluded in a blog post titled, “What’s more important: a college degree or being born rich?” in which he examined the data:
So, you are 2.5x more likely to be a rich adult if you were born rich and never bothered to go to college than if you were born poor and, against all odds, went
The secret war on afterschool programs
The Obama administration has for some time been supporting the expansion of learning time in school — which sounds useful but often isn’t — by diverting money intended for afterschool programs, many of which are high quality and offer different … Continue reading →