Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Blog #10: Economic Equality and Educational Equality

During class, the question of nations having equal opportunities in the global economic arena and the question of equal education in the United States played off each other in an interesting manner. While they are, in fact, two very different situations, the discussion allowed the class to see how they were more similar than one would have originally suspected. Just as not all students in America get the same basic education, thus hindering them in their futures, not all nations have had the same economic backgrounds. I feel that the inequality between the economic preparedness of nations, especially those whose economies have been dilapidated due to the effects of colonization is unfair, just as those student’s who attend the underfunded schools are affected by that injustice.

Following the metaphor of American public schools to the global economy, those nations that have survived colonization and those students who have survived underfunded public schools have faced large challenges and assistance to those countries and students is just. The after effects of colonization can be clearly seen today. The disparity that runs rampant in many countries that were colonized is largely due to the lack of continuous economic growth. In order to help equalize the economic potential of these types of nations, a few things would have to come together simultaneously. Global funds would need to be reallocated to the nations who face the greatest economic strife, just as funds need to be reallocated towards those schools that are most underfunded. Said funds would, of course, need to be monitored and kept out of the hands of the corrupt. The funds would ideally go towards services that would help restore the nations economy such as the development of trade schools for men and women, the development of manufacturing facilities inside of the country and general education for all. An emphasis needs to be placed on people of the nation buying and utilizing those resources that the nation itself possesses. Why mine your own tantalum (mineral used in cell phones) only to export it to Europe, China or the U.S. to have it sold back to you in the form of a cell phone? Why not produce your own cell phones with your own minerals thus allowing for much more of the profit to remain in the country and increase overall economic strength. This can be tied back into the metaphor of American public schools by stating that if you provide better funding to schools, the students will receive a better education allowing them to move higher up on the economic totem pole. This will statistically allow them to contribute more to the school system through taxation because they’ll be more likely to get a better job, house etc. This will then allow for the funding of schools to increase.

Inequality isn’t a good thing in schools and it’s not a great thing in the economic world either. Yes, there may be pros that could be argued, but, as I stated before, I like what Paul Wellstone said, “We all do better when we all do better.”

1 comment:

  1. Sarah, I really enjoyed reading you blog post because I answered this question in a very similar way, except I compared this to the college process. I agree that the most effective way to solve this problem would involve changing the way we think about it. I think that a lot of times these issues involving inequality are so frustrating because those trying to solve the problem simply have a completely different mindset than those actually dealing with the problems. To us, your example of a nation using its own resources to create its own cell phones seems obvious but to others, it may not. I'm glad you addressed education because I believe it's the way out. It's impossible for students who are presented with less opportunities to understand the importance of these opportunities. Your ideas remind me of our class discussion about the US being a better place to be poor. Although this might be true, the idea that "if you work hard you can have anything" is more complicated and challenging than people are led to believe.

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