Haves and Have Nots Seminar - Moody Middle School

"Unfortunately, children's ZIP codes, not their need for the service, may well determine whether or not they have access to early childhood programs." This article explains how wealth and environment impact the educational opportunities that children can receive prior to and after starting school. Also, it describes the effect of having unequal education in public schools on the future of Virginia.

"Family income also affects success on campus. Graduation rates for high-income students climbed to 54 percent for those born in 1979-1982, from 36 percent for those born in 1961-1964. By contrast, graduation rates for low-income students had improved by just 4 percentage points, to 9 percent, based on a December 2011 paper by University of Michigan economists Martha Bailey and Susan Dynarski." This article helps shed light on the growing problem of opportunity gap, by education and extracurricular activities, to the general public. This article can help someone by giving them factual evidence for the opportunity gap through studies and data collected.

"Among them: Wealthy parents are spending more lavishly on childcare, education and accessories such as toys, while families in the middle are spending roughly the same or less after inflation. And extracurricular activities such as after- school clubs have increasingly become the province of privileged kids." It helps to explain what the education opportunity gap is. It explains what happens to people on the bad half of the gap. It talks about advantages and disadvantages.

"A student at one of America's most selective colleges is 14 times more likely to be from a high-income family than from a low-income one, based on a 2010 study by Carnevale and fellow Georgetown University economist Jeff Strohl. Those schools usually admit less than one-third of applicants." This article summarizes the unfortunate opportunity gap in the USA. It expounds on how statistics show that kids from the upper-class almost have it in their DNA to get their degree, while those in the middle-class and lower class are seeing it as an aspiration. The resources and educational tools being brought about by wealth are increasing the gap between the rich and the American middle-class and lower-class

This article explains how public universities across the country have begun to decrease the amount of financial aid given to perspective students who need more help financially and have given more aid to perspective students with much higher incomes. This article also explains how lack of substantial financial aid has prevented many promising students who were accepted into public universities from continuing their education through attending college at all.

"I think education is one of the key things that we have to deal with because we don't want to stay behind," said Henrico resident Walter Johnson, whose son graduated from the division. "We need to find out what it is we can do to put everybody on a level playing field." This article talks about how there is an unequal distribution of resources in eastern Henrico, where there is a strong African-American presence. It also discusses the "achievement gap between the county's black and white students". It talks about how more opportunities are needed for these students to succeed if we want this gap to close.

"We have regressed in social mobility and income equality. For the first time in our history, we are less socially mobile than Europe. And economic inequality is manifestly real, dangerous and growing. The top 10 percent of Americans now account for half of the national income, compared to one-third a number of years ago. Journalist and author David Cay Johnston has given us a vivid measure: "The average increase in real income reported by the bottom 90 percent of earners in 2011, compared with 1966, if measured at one inch, would extend almost five miles for the top 1 percent of the top 1 percent." In a June 2013 Brookings Institution/Hamilton Project study, the observation was made that "children of well-off families are disproportionately likely to stay well off, and children of poor families are very likely to remain poor." It is widely understood that the single best predictor of future financial success is educational achievement, yet educational opportunities seem to be sorely lacking for all but the families at the top of the income ladder. High-income parents invest more in their children, widening the gap between those who are rich and poor in test scores, college attendance and graduation. A 2010 study of the most selective higher education institutions by Georgetown University researchers Anthony Carnevale and Jeff Strohl concluded that "the wealthiest students out-populate the poor students by a margin of 14 to 1."" This article talks about how economic inequality is growing and how it is dangerous for the United States. It explains how the Haves will most likely stay Haves and past that down through generation after generation of their families. Being a have not includes higher education that the Have Nots can't afford, which then leads the Haves to get higher paying jobs. The Have Nots continue with lower education and lower paying jobs which will continue the spread of economic inequality.

" The report suggests that the growing income inequality has, over the past two decades, cost the U.S. between 6 and 7 percentage points in economic growth" The article presents both sides of the question, but leans toward the more liberal answer. It says that the gap in income between the rich and the poor is a major factor in economic unrest. It claims that if more money and educational opportunities were presented to the poor, we would have a better functioning economic system.

"Rising income inequality is a national issue. Actually, scratch that-it's a global issue. But at the same time, it's interesting to look at the rise of the rich on the state level, both because it might reveal a thing or two about inequality, and because Americans never tire of petty geographical rivalries." This article talks about the income in the individual states and how much income goes to the top earners in the state.

"Since the killing of unarmed black teenager Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, by a white police officer, U.S. News examined the persistent gaps between black and white Americans, finding both the health and the justice system full of disparities. As with those areas, many factors contribute to disparities in education. Lower wealth, lower health, lower parental education levels, more dealings with the justice system and other circumstances create a perfect storm that leaves blacks without the same educational opportunities as whites." This article discusses the racial barriers that deal with the educational outcomes of students with different races. The schools are giving completely equal education opportunities but the biggest problem is the expectations that are not given. According the article, most african-american parents give lower educational standards to their children than white-americans do.

"The U.S. spends significantly more on education than other OECD countries. In 2010, the U.S. spent 39 percent more per full-time student for elementary and secondary education than the average for other countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, according to the National Center for Education Statistics." This article discusses the american education inequality. It mostly explains racial differences, but there are a few parts when the inequality between classes are being discussed.

"A key goal of education is to make sure that every student has a chance to excel, both in school and in life. Increasingly, children's success in school determines their success as adults, determining whether and where they go to college, what professions that they enter, and how much they are paid." This article talks about the inequality of school quality, including the resources that are provided at the school and the qualification of teachers. This report shows that children at a disadvantage start kindergarten with substantially lower thinking skills than the other more advantaged kids. These kids that are now at a disadvantage then continue through their education in low-resource schools, which then increases the inequality they began with.

"This post first appeared at Economic Policy Institute. In 2014 the pace of job growth picked up, a welcome development. Yet the economy remains far from healthy. The twin issues of income inequality and stagnant wage growth for the vast majority of Americans took center stage. Better late than never." This article explains many of the income inequality. Also explains the productivity of each class, and how much money they get as a result.

"By the end of this decade, two in three jobs will require some form of higher education. Yet, as the President noted, too many bright, hard-working students are priced out of college. In his address, the President laid out his top priorities - all aimed at expanding opportunity and opening the gateway to the middle class to more Americans." The president begins to talk about why the need for a college education is an important factor in being successful. This article also explains how we are going to make college more affordable so that it is more popular to have a college diploma in America.

"The findings suggest that even when blacks and Hispanics do better on the job front, they confront persistent racial divisions and disadvantages. That pours some cold water on hopes that suburbia-where public services are often better-is helping minorities get a leg up." In America, there are many racial barriers that can keep blacks and Hispanics from "getting a leg up. Studies have shown that even if these races will excel at their jobs, the walls and obstacles could still suppress any hopes of success in life. This is why income equality is such a significant problem in the United States (Shah).

"A substantial majority of Americans (65%) said in an July 2012 Pew Research survey that they believed the income gap between the rich and poor had widened over the last decade. Just 20% said it had stayed the same and 7% said it was smaller. Most of those (57%) who believed the gap had grown said it was a bad thing for society." This article discusses the general public's idea of the growing gap between the income of the rich and poor. Many do in fact believe that this difference has been increases for the last ten years. However, there are many different agreeable reasons for why people believe the rich are just getting richer. Some say intelligence is a key factor when discussing income, which is true, but richer people also tend to be greedy in a democratic point of view. Also discussed in the article were the opinions on what kind of people receive a smaller income. Two major factors included were race and amount of effort applied in educations (what level of degree/education they received).

""We're facing right now a divided America when it comes to the economy. It is true that the top 1 percent are doing great under Barack Obama. Today, the top 1 percent earn a higher share of our national income than any year since 1928," he said, quoting an oft-cited (by liberals) statistic from the work of economists Piketty and Emmanuel Saez." This article is about the problems with income inequality we are facing in America.

"Putnam's data verifies what many of us have seen anecdotally, that the children of the more affluent and less affluent are raised in starkly different ways and have different opportunities. Decades ago, college-graduate parents and high-school-graduate parents invested similarly in their children. Recently, more affluent parents have invested much more in their children's futures while less affluent parents have not." This Article basically explains what the opportunity gap is and how it affects education in America. It talks about how higher class children typically have more opportunities than lower class children. It also explains why jobs have an affect on opportunities because, the parents of children need money to send them to college, so without a good job children may not make it to college.

"The children of the more affluent and less affluent are raised in starkly different ways and have different opportunities. As a result, poorer kids are less likely to participate in voluntary service work that might give them a sense of purpose and responsibility. Their test scores are lagging. Their opportunities are more limited." This article explains the differences between the social classes of America, and their relation to education. Families who have a larger income than others tend to invest more time and money into their children. Kids who come from families who are wealthier are roughly twice as likely to participate in after school sports, and be members of nonsporting activities, also receiving better test scores and a sense of purpose and responsibility. Those with a larger amount of money are exposed to a plethora of opportunities which open doors to countless others, while those who are not so lucky do not get the same chance. Affluent individuals are more likely to raise children with other prosperous individuals in self-segregated areas where they are not exposed to those who do not share the same blessing. This is the reason for the lack of equality in the nation, as stated by the article, making the societal opportunity gap wider and wider.

"Affluent parents also invest more money in their children. Over the last 40 years upper-income parents have increased the amount they spend on their kids' enrichment activities, like tutoring and extra curriculars, by $5,300 a year. The financially stressed lower classes have only been able to increase their investment by $480, adjusted for inflation." This article talks about how higher income parents (Haves) spend more time and money invested in their children and because of this their children in the future will be as successful. This article also states how the gap will keep growing bigger and bigger.

"Americans have long looked to our public schools to provide opportunities for individual advancement, promote social mobility, and share democratic values. We believe good schools are essential to democracy and prosperity - and that it is our collective responsibility to educate all children, not just a fortunate few. Over the past three decades, however, we have witnessed a betrayal of those ideals." This article includes information about local economic inequality. It talks about how all students have a right to learn no matter what there zip code is or their parent's ability to work. It also states that the education system should not focus on how badly poverty has damaged them, education opportunities should focus on the needs of any student.

"My favorite phrase in Josh Barro's much-discussed piece this week about who's rich and who's not was this one: "$400,000 isn't a lot of money - after you spend it." Josh's argument was that while many people with household income of $400,000 - or $200,000 - may consider themselves middle class, they're actually affluent. Nationwide, fewer than 5 percent of households make at least $200,000. In New York, the share is only modestly higher." This article expresses the idea that, in today's society, there is too much of a fine line between upper, middle, and lower class. This can help us throughout the project because, in Rome, there were very obvious lines between classes, so it is helpful to compare and contrast it to America's situation.