Structural Inequalities In Public Schools

AltSchool, seems like the utopia of education with no standardized testing, little homework, curriculum picked by the students, and small class sizes allowing for personal attention from teachers. However, with current systems for education in the United States, it is impossible for the model to be implement on a large scale. While the school says that economic background is of no matter but rather merit is the determining factor for their students, with scholarships available to students, it does not take into account educational disparities that occur in public school systems. Factors such as lack of funding, large populations, standardized education requirements, and tracking make it nearly impossible for those of low-income to have a chance …show more content…
Similarly, his alternative for education does not challenge current structures or offer reform for the broken system that is urban public education but rather caters to the “affluent children whose families are paying reasonably high tuition fees” at his schools so that he may test out his idea of education while making a profit (Bellafante, 2015). Furthermore, he negates the existence of social inequalities within the school system by stating that “You don’t need rich parents to get turned on to learning from a river”, lessening the experience of students who aren’t even afforded the opportunity for a high quality of education in a system that values accumulation of knowledge (Bellafante, 2015). Lastly, he eludes to the waste of resources sports are to academia, however as we have seen from Kozol, they are often some of the only motivation that urban students have to stay in a system that if failing them (1991). And sports are often the marketed as the optimal “ticket out” for many poor students of