Education Reform

This evening in my Ethnic Diversity class we were talking about the Chicano "Walk Out" movement in LA in the 1960's.  This got me thinking about current situations in the educational system.

Firstly, it is important to realize what causes poor education.  Poor education is a result of poor resources.  Poor resources include incompetent teachers, outdated text, etc.  These poor resources come from poor funding.  Schools are funded largely by property taxes paid by residents of the school district.  Property taxes are based on home values, and home values vary by location.  What can cause home values to decrease? Here's a hint: Why do most real estate resources offer demographic information on the residents of the area the property is in?  Unfortunately, large numbers of minority races lower home values.  People with lower incomes in an area will also lower home values.  This means that the taxes are lower because the home values are lower.  Lower taxes mean less funding for the educational system in that area.  The youths most at need - the lower class minority groups - have less funding and poorer resources available to them.  In the long run, this means they are less prepared for college.  Lack of college educations means they will continue to make a lower income than those more educated.  Lower income keeps them in lower income areas where their children will go to poorly funded schools.

Obviously, there is a vicious cycle that needs to be ended in the lower income, primarily urban educational settings.  How can we make a change?  We need to make attempts to even the playing field.  Perhaps all property taxes should be pooled nationally and allotted to schools based on number of students.  Perhaps the funding system should be completely reorganized so that it doesn't have an economic/locational bias at all.  There are many ideas floating around in my head on what can be done to help.  One thing that doesn't seem right is that the educational issues for these areas has not been in debate for the upcoming elections at all.  Do your elected representatives in congress even know that it is an ongoing issue?  Maybe you should write them. Actually, you probably should.