I can definitely see why she felt this way. Especially if people at her school weren't her ethnicity, it is no surprise if she was left out or outcast, as I've seen other people get treated this way first hand. I wonder if she will be able to recover from this early trauma, or if it'll be something that will subconsciously impact her and lie hidden throughout her later years. Hopefully, she can rely on her family as her support system as they have a strong sense of commonality.

Wow, you can already tell how proficiency in math is already different in just four paragraphs. Chantelle didn't get ahead in math for various reasons, which meant that she was going to retake pre algebra over and over again until she was comfortable enough to move onto algebra; this doesn't seem like the most efficient way to move up the ranks in math. However, Jennifer, through the use of higher quality education in private school and talented private tutors, was able to move up the ranks quicker and with much higher confidence.

I am definitely not rich by any means, but I am comfortable and not struggling, primarily because of how much my mom sacrificed for me. However, we are objectively poor. I can see that if I were poorer than I am now, and struggling to pay for groceries, gas, etc., it could be a bit harder to hang out with more opulent friends because I would consistently be reminded of what I don't have, or if I had a less awesome mom, how my mom could help me out more. I've never thought of this life perspective; this is why I enjoy reading -- it helps me learn and see life from different angles I wouldn't never thought of without reading.

I'm sure life outside of school is another significant reason for the success gap between socioeconomic groups. People in the higher echelon of family income are likely to have far greater quality of life through after school programs, sports, more time to spend time with friends, tutoring, etc. Those who are less affluent could have to help their parents by getting part time jobs, have a single parent household, an abusive parent, or a substance addicted parent, which can all be factors in significantly less quality of life; thus, proving to have worse performance in school.

When I was thinking about socioeconomic disparities within education, I always thought disparity would only show in the later years of the students' lives, such as high school and college. This would make sense, as economic advantages would compound over time slowly instead of early on. However, I was completely wrong. For some unknown reason, maybe through infancy, parents expose their children to reading/writing, allowing for skill disparity compared to low-income students.

This is really sad. Although extremely blatant racism is less frequent seen than in history, it can still be blatant today. Professors and teachers can be racist, reducing the quality of their education, potentially hindering the degree of their future career success. Classmates can also be racist; denigrating students to not speak up in class, resulting in a silent student. These are some of the ways I can think of that would affect students in the classroom, simply because of their heritage which is out of their control. This cannot be.

I agree that this would be a great way to pivot our current school system. However, I still feel as though it's unrealistic mainly due to the average salary of a teacher. If a teacher were required to attend these training sites, would they be paid to go? Would they have to pay to go? If it is the latter, there would be that much more friction in the desire for people to become teachers, more less become a great teacher who goes above and beyond for their students. This proposal for change seems hopeful, but unlikely.

I don't really understand how we can make learning more inclusive to multicultural students, which is great because I will be able to learn about it in this class. If I'm being frank, the only thought that comes to mind about catering to multicultural students is that it's not possible. I feel like there's so many ways that a teacher would have to adapt to and so many methods that would have to be used that it seems almost impossible. However, I remain optimistic. There's a reason why this class is about multicultural education; I hope to wash away my ignorance soon.

This is such an unfair statement. I've been thinking about this here and there for a couple months too, and those in poverty are an extremely difficult path ahead of them if they want to escape poverty. Non-affluent children often cannot afford to go to college or have the time to go to college as they likely have to help their parents rake in enough money while or after high school. This delays their undergraduate education and makes it that much harder to catch up to everyone else. Moreover, because all they've seen within their family is poverty, that identity is also a challenge to shake off if they want to pull either themselves or both themselves and their family out of poverty. Although it can be done, some individuals/families and odds stacked extremely high against them. It is not an excuse, but somewhat the reality.

I really like this phrase. In parallel to the last article, making public school the only form of schooling can give everyone an equal footing. It can give those who don't have an affluent background have more similar opportunities from those in wealthy families. There is one huge caveat to this, however; why would we want to limit those from more fortunate backgrounds to everyone else? What if those their affluence they'd become one of the greats in their field? I feel like making public schools "the great equalizer" is not a smart idea.

I can see where the author is coming from here. If everyone is intensely running towards this collective goal, everyone is bound to have an opinion on it. It would actually be strange if everyone agreed on a strategy that they thought would be best for achieving quality education for both children and adults. It can be helpful to have thoughtful disagreements -- even if those disagreements are tense-- because it could ultimately weed out the less effective ideas and funnel in the higher quality ones.

This is certainly a mindset I live by. Although it is definitely a subconscious ideology which this text helped put words to, it is the mindset of most people I've met in America and probably the average mindset of Americans. I actually talked to my friends yesterday about a topic related to this one, which was about how this is the mindset of first world countries because most of us aren't struggling to survive. In third world countries, people live on dirt roads, huts, etc., but many people in first world countries have shelter, food, access to clean to water, etc. Because we have everything we need and our brains are wired to look for the next best thing, we now tunnel vision on success and status because we don't necessarily have to worry about surviving anymore.