Perpetuating Inequality

by Stuart Shapiro

It’s well established that growing inequality is a cancer on an economy.  And with inequities in education growing, you’d think that our public sector would focus on correcting them.  Education is one of the best ways to attack the problem of inequality.  But we are moving in the opposite direction:

The truth is that there are two very different education stories in America. The children of the wealthiest 10 percent or so do receive some of the best education in the world, and the quality keeps getting better. For most everyone else, this is not the case. America’s average standing in global education rankings has tumbled not because everyone is falling, but because of the country’s deep, still-widening achievement gap between socioeconomic groups.

And while America does spend plenty on education, it funnels a disproportionate share into educating wealthier students, worsening that gap. The majority of other advanced countries do things differently, at least at the K-12 level, tilting resources in favor of poorer students.

We should be spending more on education.  But even if you don’t agree with that premise, hopefully it’s obvious that we should be spending smarter.  We’re leaving too many children behind.

By: Stuart Shapiro

Stuart is a professor and the Director of the Public Policy
program at the Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers
University. He teaches economics and cost-benefit analysis and studies
regulation in the United States at both the federal and state levels.
Prior to coming to Rutgers, Stuart worked for five years at the Office
of Management and Budget in Washington under Presidents Clinton and
George W. Bush.