In: Economics
Discussion 6
It should be 10-15 lines long. 2 paragraphs.
If education is a vital tool to bridge the wealth and opportunity gap between low and high income communities, why are schools struggling with resources? What should be done to better inform elected and government officials of the need to invest in schools? Do schools really need more funding or is there a mismanagement of resources? What can we do?
Swaby, Aliyya. (2018, March 16). Will Texas schools finance panel tell schools to do more with less? Some members think it's predetermined. The Texas Tribune. Retrieved from https://www.texastribune.org/2018/03/16/school-finance-efficiency/ (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.
School funding are associated with demand to raise teachers' salaries, but the situation is more complex. Many teachers, especially in urban schools, are working with at-risk students with very few of the necessary resources to support them. Also, while demands for knowledge and skills are growing, the gap in eduactional opportunity between low and high income communities is still widening. Schools expenditure levels correlate positively with student socioeconomic status and negatively with educational need when a school size and grade level are controlled statistically.
Education has both instrumental and intrinsic value for individuals and for societies as a whole. All societies benefit from productive and knowledgeable workers who can generate social surplus and respond to preferences. Furthermore, democratic societies need to create citizens who are capable of participating in the project of shared governance. The correlation between educational attainment and civic participation is strong and well-documented. Eduacated citizens have more opportunities to obtain and excercise civic skills, are more interested in and informed about politics, and in turn, are more likely to vote.