Over 35% of Black and Latino Children Living in Poverty

[Modern School]

39% of black children and 35% of Hispanic children are currently living in poverty, while 12% of white children are living in poverty according to a report on Democracy Now. In terms of total numbers, there are 6.1 million Hispanic children living in poverty, compared with 5 million white children and 4.4 million black children.

If anyone really gives a damn about improving schools and educational outcomes (not to mention alleviating a great deal of human suffering), then ending poverty ought to be the overwhelming focus. Improving teachers, curricula and school structure may help some students do better, but it cannot end the achievement gap, bring all students up to NCLB standards, or make all children successful.

The primary cause of the achievement gap and poor educational outcomes is poverty. As long as kids come to school hungry, sick, homeless, stressed out from material insecurity, and well behind their affluent peers in academic readiness, no reform will ensure that they are reading at grade level, graduating on time or ready for college.

Of course ending poverty cannot occur by simply increasing social programs, charity or the efforts of community based volunteer organizations. Poverty cannot end without also ending wealth, which necessarily involves social conflict and, in all likelihood, violent resistance by the wealthy. But a good start might be if those who work for wages started to align themselves with each other instead of the bosses and started to recognize that their own wellbeing is intricately linked to that of other wage workers.

Modern School
http://modeducation.blogspot.com/2011/09/over-35-of-black-and-latino-children.html

[golfguru]

1. Schools I grew up in

My schools from grade 1 through 12 was located in a 100 year old
building converted from actually a large residence. The class
shapes were all different and we had wooden benches to sit on, not
individual seats. Class sizes were based on how many kids could be
crammed into the classroom, usually 50 to 75. I can't ever remember
eating breakfast before school since school began at 7am and was
done at 12pm when another school system took over the building.
IOW two different schools shared the building. India was a poor
country after gaining independence in 1947.

Most of my classmates went to college. Majority of my classmates
lived in very small houses, my guess is less than 500SF.
But poverty ridden schools did not stop us from getting a good
education. One thing in our favor was we had very few distractions.
No TV, no radio, no phones, no electronic gadgets and toys!

The college I attended was much better, with very nice classrooms,
and well equipped laboratories. After graduating, I was fortunate
to get admission to a university in United States, and graduated
with a master's in engineering.

[izquierdista]

2. Anything like this?

http://www.archive.org/details/AndSoTheyLive

Things are a lot better than the way they used to be. All the more reason to keep people from turning the clock back.

[dkf]

3. That sounds like communism. Equally wealthy or equally poor.

[golfguru]

4. Are you saying people need incentives to improve their lives?

If every one's kids can attend equal schools, and have all the life's
necessities provided, where is the incentive to do anything worthwhile
with your life?