Inequality: Education and High Income

There are gaps between the rich and poor. The world has income inequality, inequality of opportunity such as education, and environmental inequality. In Toni Cade Bambara’s short story, “The Lesson” she talks about social status and economic inequality. Most people do not have the same equal opportunities to be successful because of numerous social issues. The main social issue that Bambara wrote about in her short story is economic inequality is a big social issue in society.

But this social issue inspires people to make a change and not keep repeating the cycle. Why does economic inequality exist? What causes inequality of opportunity? This paper seeks to define these questions and how it is important in society and its impact. To fix the main cause of inequality it must be taken care of early on in a child’s education. People that do not have a high income should be more supportive of programs that effectively involve, low-income students in school, and programs such as Head Start.

These different types of programs in a child’s life can provide students with an early start in school and decrease privileged students. Tackling and fixing these problems from an early start is a primary solution that can create a small effect of great outcomes to solve the problem of educational disparities at the root of the cause. People can solve these types of problems in society as a community. People must change their mindset and actually support and work together for a better educational system.

It is hopeless to try to create a change without first changing and questioning the way society thinks and functions. The way the educational department is established is not providing the results it should be having with students, and the way it is designed is not benefiting students equally, in fact, it is leaving many students behind. It is only by changing the way the education system functions that the people can create a better system more suited to improving the learning conditions among everyone equally.

There are many reasons why inequality can be caused in society. It is caused by a person’s skin color, or the simple fact a person’s growth in overall income. Inequality is caused by just being born into. For example, if a person is born into a family that has wealth and assets they basically got a head start, verses someone that is born into a low income home. Families with wealth can pay for better education for their children which will open opportunities for them. On the other hand, people hat are born into a disadvantage home that cannot afford better education will most likely stay with a disadvantage. Education makes a difference whether a person has a high paying or low paying job. In Bambara’s short story “The Lesson” Sugar says “this is not much a democracy if you ask me. Equal chance to purse happiness means an equal crack at the dough” (Bambara, 362). Sugar expresses that people with high income buys toys that cost more than their home income. The people that can afford toys that cost $300-$1,000 obviously have a good job which came from a good education.

But if schools in low income communities do not educate like schools in high income communities, the low income schools do not have the same opportunities as the high income schools. Sounds like environmental inequality. People get what their environment hands them, which is bad education, low paying jobs and small income. Equal opportunity is a law that all people should be treated the same. It is not an equal opportunity if a person cannot go to a better school to get a better education to make a better income because they do not have enough money for that better school. Inequality of outcomes often goes hand in hand with inequality of opportunities, as poor people endure various forms of social exclusion, including unequal access to education and health care, high rates of youth unemployment of precarious work and an absence of social recognition. ” (F Bourguignon) They say important jobs go to people most qualified, which is reasonable but if a person with a high income could afford a better education that a person that could not afford a better education the job would automatically go to the person with the higher income.

Does not seem fair, and it is probably hard to break that cycle. Economic inequality is a big social issue in society. Economic inequality is known as the gap between rich and poor, income inequality, and wealth differences. There are many reasons why inequality is caused such as, educational issues, skin color, or even wealth. Nevertheless, inequality does make people want to change. In Toni Cade Bambara’s short story, “The Lesson”, she expresses about a social problem in the world called economic inequality.