Student to Student Discussion Board: Reflecting on Educational Inequalities and Racial Gaps in Educational Outcomes (2962)

Discussion Topic: Reflecting on Educational Inequalities and Racial Gaps in Educational Outcomes

Discussion Questions:  Chapter 8 (Title: Educational Inequality) discusses various educational inequalities and various sociological explanations for persistent inequality that we continue to observe. Of the explanations offered in the chapter, which do you think best explains the reasons for continued gaps in educational outcomes (referred to as the ‘achievement gap’ in the textbook)? Please explain why.

Include the following components in your submission:

Respond to each question and prompt asked above

Write at least 1 paragraph, minimum of 7-10 sentences for your original post

Use at least one quote from the textbook to support your discussion; provide the page number for the quote

Provide meaningful feedback to at least 1 classmate (minimum of 5 sentences; thoughtful responses express how you connect or relate to the post and can also add on thoughts in response to the content of the original post)

Provide meaningful feedback to at least 1 classmate (minimum of 5 sentences; thoughtful responses express how you connect or relate to the post and can also add on thoughts in response to the content of the original post)

Another students discussion post: 

The most important message/explanation that Chapter 8 offers is when Boza is speaking about Segregation. It all started in the beginning early twentieth century when racial tensions starting heightening. The first major blow to democracy is when African American people started losing the right to vote in several of the southern states. This is when school segregation was implemented and led to many African American students falling behind their peers. 

” With segregation, Black children were often left with few education resources. Their communities often had to make do with one room school houses provided by the state, or else they had to pool their own funds to build better schools. Community established schools provided some of the first educational opportunities to Black children in the South, but they were gravely under resourced”(Golash-Boza, 232). This segregation had led to many African American kids having limited resources, which led to a big disadvantage in their education. It was sad as their only options were settling for poorly equipped schools that the government provided or rely on their own communities to build better ones. These community built schools were often the only chance African American children had for education in the south. Overall, this was important because it showed how Black children didn’t have the same chances to get a education that White children got. They went to schools that didn’t have enough books or even good teachers because the government wouldn’t pay them well, etc. So because they started with less, they often fell behind in school compared to white kids, leading this educational gap to continue over time.