OPINION & EDITORIAL
Urban kids deserve a fair chance
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Also by Guest Columnist:
- Stop America's 'green scare' (December 10, 2007)
- Greek sexuality misconceptions unfair (December 6, 2007)
- Security fee shows UWPD's prejudice (December 6, 2007)
- Vote Democrat, vote equal LGBT rights (December 6, 2007)
- Free trade stagnates upward mobility (December 6, 2007)
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- Turkey day trouble (November 20, 2003)
- 'Green' is Good for UW (March 4, 2005)
- End of an eventful year (December 14, 2004)
- Addicted to the online timetable (May 1, 2003)
by Guest Columnist
Tuesday, September 12, 2006
As we begin another school year, we cannot help but let our minds wander. We think about our new roommates, our new classes, and we wonder if they will ever finish all of the construction before winter rolls around. But, as most of us sit in our classrooms wishing we were outside enjoying the last sunny days of September, we forget how lucky we are. We enjoy plush classrooms equipped with state-of-the-art technology, motivated students and teachers who have a plethora of resources on hand.
Just 45 minutes away, many high school students in Milwaukee do not enjoy such luxury. Instead, their minds wander to the broken windows in their classrooms, wondering if they will be repaired before the cold weather arrives. Many of these students will never have the opportunity to even attend college because they have not received the necessary educational foundation.
Similarly, just a few hours away in Illinois, educational inequality runs rampant.
In fact, Illinois boasts the greatest gap in educational funding between high-income and low-income areas in the entire country. School children in high-income areas get 45 percent more resources than children in low-income areas. This just isn't right.
And, to make matters worse, educational inequality is far from a regional problem. Today in our country, nine-year-olds growing up in low-income communities are already three grade levels behind their peers in high-income communities. Half of them won't graduate from high school. Those who graduate will, on average, have the reading and math skills at the level of eighth graders in high-income communities.
And so, as we sit in our classrooms letting our minds wander — counting the days until the next football game, deciding what to wear on Halloween and for many of us seniors, debating what we should do with the rest of our lives — I encourage you to take a second to think about the school children sitting in desks in low-income schools across the country, wishing they had the opportunities we have here at the University of Wisconsin.
Since its inception 16 years ago, UW-Madison students have served as corps members in Teach for America. It is an organization that aims to eradicate the educational gap in America by enabling recent college grads of all majors to teach in schools located in low-income rural and urban areas across the country.
If you want to find out more about how you can help solve the crisis of educational inequality in America, please stop by the informational session on Tuesday, Sept. 12 at 7 p.m. in the Memorial Union (TITU).
Molly Greer (greer.molly@gmail.com) is a senior and the campus campaign manager for Teach for America.
Anonymous (September 12, 2006 @ 10:40am):
The problem isn't money. The "disadvantaged" kids cause their own problems. Nobody is forcing them to join gangs and rob liquor stores. I say, let them wallow in the filth they have created.
Anonymous (September 12, 2006 @ 3:44pm):
Re: 10:40,
Glad to see the small minded xenophobia is still alive and well in all parts of Wisconsin north of Madison and Milwaukee. Let me ask you this, did being "advantaged" turn you into the giant d-bag you are, or is that just the filth that you have created for yourself?
Anonymous (September 12, 2006 @ 6:33pm):
The first writer is right on. No one is forcing them to do wrong or not do well in school, its there own choice and a predominant minority one. For some reason many minorities do not do work for school and make fun of the few who did, this is true in high school in Milwaukee where I went. Clearly the second writer is one of these "sad people" that we should feel bad for but they are too fixed on ridiculing somone that is right.
Anonymous (September 12, 2006 @ 8:55pm):
If the parents don't give a damn then then children won't either. No amount of money can change a bad attitude or eliminate indifference to education.
Kansas City schools wasted truely enormous sums of money proving that money won't solve the problem.
Anonymous (September 19, 2006 @ 12:24am):
As a recent alum, I'm ashamed that these comments are coming from UW students. The author is discussing the unequal OPPORTUNITIES, not about decisions that children and their parents make. Tell me what makes you think that some children should have a significantly higher chance of succeeding right from the get-go? Yes, it happens, but it should not be the goal of our country's education system or we might as well not have any schools at all. If you had ever worked in a school or maybe talked to some children that go to an under-funded school, then you would realize that there are millions of children in our country who LOVE to learn, but people like you don't believe that they should have the same advantages that other children have.
