The Effect Of Income Inequality On Education

The United States is known around the world as the land of opportunity and where anyone can make it with hard work and dedication. Sadly, this perception of the United States is a belief, not reality. The culture in the United States loves the underdog, a person who defies all odds and becomes successful. This obsession with the underdog illuminates through all parts of the American culture. From presidential candidate, like Donald Trump who tries to position himself as an underdog, to business owners, emphasize their humble beginnings and their achievements to reach the top with hard work. The land of opportunity is now only giving opportunity to the wealthy. The increasing income disparity is causing an educational inequality in the future generations resulting in an ongoing cycle that increase the advantages of the wealthy.
Barrack Obama gave a speech on income inequality and stated “The combined trends of increased inequality and decreasing mobility pose a fundamental threat to the American Dream, our way of life, and what we stand for around the globe.” Greg J. Duncan is a distinguished professor at University of California, Irvine and who wrote a paper discussing the income inequality and its effect on education. He found that since 1970s the gap between reading and mathematics skills has increased dramatically in low and high income families (Duncan 2014). A student who comes from a high income family increases one’s SAT score by 125 points compared 75 points for a student coming white family. Family income has more to do with one’s academic success than one’s racial