The Impact of Community Income and Parental Involvement in Quality Education by Sarah

The Impact of Community Income and Parental Involvement in Quality Education by Sarah - January 2021 Scholarship Essay

The question, “Is education a right or a privilege” should be easy to answer. Yes! According to the US Constitution, all children have the right to be given an equal educational opportunity no matter what their race, ethnic background, religion, citizenship or sex. However, whether all of those children have the opportunity for the same quality of an education is a far cry from fair - thus making a quality education more of a privilege than a right. It is clear, community income and parental/legal guardian involvement have a major impact on the education quality children in the US receive.
Community income has a major impact on students' resources and the quality of teachers resulting in a better education for all. Typically, families who live in a wealthy community have the financial wherewithal to provide children better at home resources. For example, children in wealthier communities may have access to computers and the intranet (a much needed educational tool during the COVID pandemic). Additionally, these same children may be afforded the opportunity to receive tutoring for subjects in which they lack understanding. Further, these same students are taught by teachers who are typically paid more and have access to additional funding for resources within the brick-and-mortar building (i.e. chemistry lab equipment, calculators, projectors, computers, etc.). Not to mention, schools located in wealthier communities typically have teacher aids and support staff (nurses) that are often not found in other communities. All of this leads me to say, the children in wealthier communities are much more prone to a better quality of education.
While legally, parents need to provide basic necessities - housing and food - for children, some children are fortunate enough to have parents/legal guardians who are actively involved in their education. These parents not only ask, “How was your day? But they also sit down and help their children with their homework. These parents also ensure children have adequate sleep, physical movement and mental stability all of which affects the quality of education children have. It is these parents who are home after school, working with, and supporting, children on a daily basis. But as we all know, not all parents are as involved as others thus providing yet another example of why a quality education is privilege not a right.
As you can see, the right that all US children have to an education has been turned into a privilege because of the communities in which they live and the involvement of their parents/legal guardians. . Our society’s obsession with wealth has made it hard for kids coming from non-privileged backgrounds to obtain a quality education. It has also been made clear that children with involved parents have a better chance at a quality education. As we come out of this pandemic, the need for more equal educational opportunities has never been more clear. Now’s the time to look at how community wealth and parental involvement can step in the way of the US Constitutional right to an education.