In the song by Alicia Keys and Cham, the chorus goes “Here’s my ghetto story, here’s my survival story.” And it is a survival story indeed. The song chronicles their trials and tribulations, growing up in the ghetto and expresses the want and need to get out as well as the eventual escape. This story is not unique to just these artists. Countless children grow up in the ghettos of America, however, not many of them have the privilege of making it out. A ghetto, in the context of this paper, is defined by Merriam Webster as “a quarter of a city in which members of a minority group live especially because of social, legal, or economic pressure.” Most sociologists and urban scholars have adopted the term “inner city” to describe these areas also
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For example, one of the main measurable effects is the state of the school systems in these communities. In a report released by the Center for Reinventing Public Education, some startling and attention-grabbing statistics were found when it came to urban city education. These statistics primarily affected low income and minority children. Less than 10 percent of the schools surveyed made gains in math or reading proficiency over the three-year study span relative to their state's performance. It was also found that high school students were less likely to take advanced math classes in 29 of the fifty cities, as well as less than 15 percent of students took the ACT or SAT in 30 of the 50 cities. To add to this, the study brought to light a fact that many other studies have also concluded, black students were almost twice as likely to receive an out of school suspension than their white counterparts. While the study results weren’t completely negative, the results still show that education in inner cities needs some major reformation. (Superville, 2015) These poor education systems further contribute to the school to prison to pipeline, which is the idea that the disciplinary system in school is just a gateway to young boys being incarcerated in the future. This has a strong correlation to discrimination that these communities face by law enforcement and school
For example, one of the main measurable effects is the state of the school systems in these communities. In a report released by the Center for Reinventing Public Education, some startling and attention-grabbing statistics were found when it came to urban city education. These statistics primarily affected low income and minority children. Less than 10 percent of the schools surveyed made gains in math or reading proficiency over the three-year study span relative to their state's performance. It was also found that high school students were less likely to take advanced math classes in 29 of the fifty cities, as well as less than 15 percent of students took the ACT or SAT in 30 of the 50 cities. To add to this, the study brought to light a fact that many other studies have also concluded, black students were almost twice as likely to receive an out of school suspension than their white counterparts. While the study results weren’t completely negative, the results still show that education in inner cities needs some major reformation. (Superville, 2015) These poor education systems further contribute to the school to prison to pipeline, which is the idea that the disciplinary system in school is just a gateway to young boys being incarcerated in the future. This has a strong correlation to discrimination that these communities face by law enforcement and school