In the last month
or so, the class had spent a good amount of time on the article “What Kind of a
Problem is Poverty?” by Michael B. Katz. The article goes into depth about 6 types
of problems —persons, places, resources, political economy, power, and market.
From our discussion, an interesting question arose as to whether education was
a resource problem. I was one of those
that ardently believed that education was a resource problem. However, I did understand the debate
surrounding the topic, because it may not fall within the Katz definition of
what a resource problem is. Katz largely
emphasized that a resource problem was a lack in money. Further, Katz stated that a resource problem
is the absence of also “key resources,” which he brings up as food and basic
needs.
Although Katz
doesn’t bring education up under “key resources,” I think in today’s society
education is valuable key resource that largely influences the amount of money
that you can possibly make (salary) and other opportunities. In the article that I found with the New York
Times titled “Class Matters. Why won’t we admit it?”, the author describes the
undeniable relationship between education and class. The article even describes
how certain schools and education policies like “No Child Left Behind” are
currently addressing how important it has become to provide a good education,
especially for the lower income classes. An interesting fact provided by the
article was that students of lower income and social status had lower test
scores. The author even believes that it’s the fact that it’s the large
inequality and high poverty rate in America that contributes to America’s
education system being ranked very low in comparison to other countries. Given this, it seems that education is an
essential resource for those who seek to get out of the lower classes.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/12/opinion/the-unaddressed-link-between-poverty-and-education.html?pagewanted=all&action=click&module=Search®ion=searchResults%230&version=&url=http%3A%2F%2Fquery.nytimes.com%2Fsearch%2Fsitesearch%2F%3Faction%3Dclick%26region%3DMasthead%26pgtype%3DSectionFront%26module%3DSearchSubmit%26contentCollection%3Deducation%26t%3Dqry904%23%2Fpoor+and+education
I cannot agree more with your argument. Education does seem to have a strong correlation with inequality and stratification of the society. In terms of Katz, education may not have regarded as a tools for the 6 types of problems, rather than the problem itself. And, I do find education as a tool to the problems, source of problems, and cure to relieve the symptoms of poverty and inequality. It definitely seems to serve many functions, which makes education unique in its category itself.
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