In late 2018, Kanye West met with Donald Trump to discuss the political climate of the United States and how the two of them could actively work together to change the current system. These issues discussed included the 13th amendment, Yeezys, and even the 2nd amendment. They also talked about school systems: “We have to mix curriculum”, and “students should play basketball while doing math”. What could go wrong? While this arbitrary example was displayed in a satirical manner, it still opened up a more extensive dialogue about education in America. America prides itself on its progress on every level including its ability to guarantee its constituents the highest level of education. Yet this has been contested by every action the government has taken to increase accessibility to this instruction. Since the start of the American Colonization era, education has always been shaped in a thousand different ways. Unfortunately, as history repeats itself, the flaws within the American government like inequity and inequality are reflected in every section of the government, especially education. The absence of reform for the system that every student is forced to live through, regardless of the situation, is the initial flaw that has backtracked the process for an adequate educational opportunity for every single American. The cause of this was due to many policies, people, and even geographical income opportunities. With this, education opportunities for every citizen have to be of the utmost importance. Issues such as redlining in American history should not influence our current system as reformation is mandatory for all systems.
Fascinated by River Oaks, a wealthy area in Houston, I often go on jogs just to see the alluring houses. Geographically, I live just 2 miles away from this paradise, yet financially, our neighborhoods are worlds apart. This is due to a process called redlining, or the deliberate raising of prices for services from the federal government to minority-dominated communities. This discriminatory policy has caused disastrous consequences for communities like mine. As public schools are funded through property taxes in Texas, wealthier areas have the ability to funnel more money into their public schools, while minority communities are limited, leaving schools without adequate resources and representation. Education is supposed to be the escape, yet these problematic policies keep children trapped. The logic behind this issue is elaborated by Texas Tribune on February 15th of 2019 when they corroborated “To cover their base budgets, districts first use local property tax revenue, and the state pays the balance. And as local property values have grown, the state’s share of public education has shrunk.’’ The issue with this entire line of logic is the fact that the numbers have not been adjusted for decades, this means that these same schools have been getting the same number of federal and state funding for the past twenty to thirty years which only further exacerbates the monopolization of these larger more funded schools in comparison to rural schools who have been suffering ever since. The reason that the issue of funding through property taxes has been so bad is primarily based on the fact that within the status quo as state shares are going down the local shares are going up which only has disastrous effects. Constant neighborhood discrimination has been an ongoing issue, especially the concept of gentrification. But when everyone analyzes gentrification no one asks how everything could have started. Disparity across the United States has existed in a bubble that has hurt countless people in countless different areas and times of their lives.
Once the time comes for the US government to accept responsibility then that will guarantee that educational opportunity is granted to all as a natural ability. No matter what happens in the end, access to opportunity should always be a right and not a privilege. Therefore no matter the circumstances no past experiences should influence the livelihood of this many people especially when it comes to disparity and education accessibility thus making an evening out the playing field the number one priority.