Current Event: Fixing Urban Schools

What are students supposed to do? If students are not given the opportunity for a good education, but have the desire for one, what are they supposed to do? Many students in high-poverty areas attend schools that provide little to no education. The education they receive cannot even be compared with the education to a middle-class school in the suburbs. This has been an issue for a long time so what is the government doing? Are they helping? Can they help? These difficult questions are all ones that need to be answered to improve the educations of the youth. According to this article "Only 5 percent of white students attend such high-poverty schools". This issue is creating more separation between blacks and whites. This does not mean that all blacks are poorly educated or all whites have high educations what it means is that whites have an advantage because very few whites attend schools where it is hard to achieve an education. To fix the problem of unequal education the No Child Left Behind Act was created.
The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) was put in place so that government could see individual test scored to judge how each school was doing. There are many people who believe this is a positive thing because schools with low test scores can be helped and improved. I ask to this opinion how are they going to be fixed? If the schools could be fixed then America would no longer have the problem of unequal education, which is not reality. The NCLB sets high standards for students to meet and not all students can meet them. That should be the first clue to the government as to why certain areas are not meeting them. The NCLB showed the difference in education standing between whites and blacks and the results showed separation. So what is there to do? Middle class schools have so many resources they do not typically need that high-poverty schools need but do not have. Many students who attend high poverty schools need special attention that they cannot have.
In the end the No Child Left Behind Act in my opinion has not done a great deal. If anything it discourages kids and does not show fair results. The government needs to take action through looking at a bigger picture. They should not blame the teachers or students behavior but more why the students behave this way. The issue of unequal education goes far beyond just education. It touches some sensitive areas like racism and I believe the government it scared of what would happen if they tried to tackle these issues. This leaves it up to the people to show that they want a proper education and deserve one.

Clemmitt, M. (2007, April 27). Fixing urban schools. CQ Researcher, 17, 361-384. Retrieved February 7, 2010, from CQ Researcher Online, http://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/cqresrre2007042700.