Question

How would you address systemic educational inequality between private and public school districts? Identify South Carolina and/or national policies that contribute to the inequalities.

Answer 1

Addressing educational inequalities between public and private schools is crucial as it can create economic and educational gaps in educating students which is a basic right of each individual.

Some of the strategies that can be followed to minimize this gap-

1) Maintaining equal investment among both the schools can help minimize the economic gap that can hamper the education of students.

2) Directly supporting the students and parents to ensure equal health, nutrition, access to resources so that students that have economic setback do not face inequalities concerning their education. This may involve giving access to books, infrastructure, and other resources.

3) Organizing various reading and class activities in the school to know their problems concerning the gap and addressing those issues to ensure proper education of students.

4) Policy and guidelines changes may help us to minimize this gap between two settings of schools- public and private.

In South Carolina, private schools may not be under various federal regulations in comparison to public schools. Moreover, private schools can freely design their curriculum and they are not subject to budgets set by state. However, public schools may be obligated by regulation to teach or education each student who is enrolled in the school. These schools must accept the students regardless of factors such as caste, race or SES of the student. Public schools must also follow the guidelines set by state which can vary from state to state.

The requirements of graduation is set by the school itself and is not under or works under any state regulations. Also, it is not mandatory for private schools to provide education to children with special needs. Moreover, they can ask any student to leave if the academic growth of any student is not acceptable or the behavior of the student is disruptive.

Thus, there can be some systemic educational gaps or inequalities associated with both forms of school settings due to difference in national policies that may create the differences. However, this gap should be addressed to ensure that each student gets equal access to education.