Tuesday, February 14, 2012
After reading the article Education Gap Grows Between Rich and Poor, Studies Say I can now see that my classroom observations are grounded in research. Children who come from more affluent families enter school with a larger vocabulary and more experiences than children from lower income families. I do not believe that this entirely because the parents of low income families do not have the money to invest in their children, I believe the greater issue is that they do not have the time. The author points out in the article that many low income families are headed by a single parent, often a single mom. Many more affluent families have a mom at home or a mom who only works part time, which means that the mother has more time to invest in her children. Low income children start school at a disadvantage and never quite catch up with their higher income peers. The come in with less socialization experiences, word knowledge, and experiences outside of their home. The article is interesting because it never offers any solutions to the problem, but only lists contributing factors to the problem. I hope that in years to come the results of studies will prompt educators, politicians, and parents to make a change to narrow the gap.
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I agree that a big issue is time. A low income family usually consists of a single parent. This parent spends their time working and typically they don't allow time for helping their children in their education. Hopefully this won't be such an issue one day.
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree with the two of you. Time is a huge problem as well as education in the first place. When we think about low income parents today with think of young parents, parents who don’t have a lot of education, and this leads to why they don’t have great jobs and are low income. They don’t know about raising a child and they don’t know how important early learning is to their children.
ReplyDeleteAshley, I couldn't agree more. I also think that available experiences are a key reason that higher income students differ from lower income students. Considering this, I think that it is important to include field trips if at all possible in school. This could help those lower income students have some experiences they might not otherwise had.
ReplyDeleteAshley, as you indicated, I think time and educational experiences are a big factor in student's success. Single parents just don't have time or money to provide their kids with these experiences many times. Like Misty said, I think we adding educational opportunities in the school system gives children with low-income parents opportunities that they might not otherwise have.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the issue has less to do with the amount of money parents make and more to do with the amount of time they have to spend with their children. But, isn't the purpose of a school to meet children's intellectual needs? I think if a parent is supporting their children and providing a way for them to get to school, then they are doing their job. Sure, I agree that it's beneficial when parents go above and beyond this, but it's unrealistic for teachers to expect every parent in their classroom to do so.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you on the time factor. When parents are having to work 3 jobs to pay bills and provide for their families, it makes it hard for them to spend any time with their children. And children need parents guidance and assistance in school. It shows that they support them. This also reflects on the stress factor in the household. It makes it hard for teachers to succeed with their job when parents are having trouble doing their job as well because they are trying to pay the bills.
ReplyDeleteI agree that not all students who come from low income families are set up for failure. I was not the wealthiest person growing up but look where I am now. I like that you said what you see in your classroom is grounded in research. Its nice to know. :)
ReplyDeleteYou are right, so many parents do not have the time or do not even attempt to give time to their children. This is one of the biggest problems I have seen in my classroom observations this semester. It is very sad, and as teachers we must be there for out students as much as possible.
ReplyDeleteI think we need to have better opportunities in school for children to learn what they really will be needing in life. It also needs to be taught in a fun upbeat way to keep the children that may have other things on their minds interested. And stress to them how very important education is. It is the parents and the teachers jobs equally to help out their kids. Adults should want their kids to have a better life then they have and help them out the best they can.
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