The homework debate will rage on in many different school districts, but L.A. Unified has taken the first step in allowing students from different socioeconomic statuses and family lives to compete on a level playing field.

Authors Avatar by mason2882 (student)

James Mason

James Mason

Dr. Judy Castillo

EDF 3604 Sec 903

28 March 2012

How Are You Affecting Your Child’s Education?

Every good parent wants their child to be more educated, cared for and successful than they were themselves.  With these good intentions, parents use a variety of ways to try and help out their offspring get a head start on the rest of the children their age.  Some parents will read to their children while others will enroll their child into daycare programs for socialization.  Unfortunately, other parents do not have the funds or time to do such a service to their children.  How can you find time to read to your child when you have to work two or three jobs just to pay the bills?  These are the hard questions that have no best answers.  Certain aspects of your life that cannot be changed may put your child at a disadvantage.  To try and help rectify this social issue, L.A. Unified School District has taken the drastic measure of reducing how much homework can count for a student’s grade.  The reduction in how much this homework will matter has sparked a debate between what is more important for the students; doing their homework or work/family time.  It is true that a parent’s socioeconomic status and family life have an effect on a child’s education, but will this reduction in the worth of homework be enough to help overcome these factors?  

        If public schools are free to everyone, how can a parent’s socioeconomic status determine the quality of education that their kid will receive and how will reducing the weight of homework help alleviate this issue?  First, we must look at the disparity in income that is prevalent in America.  According to the U.S. Census, the disparity between the quintiles in covered that household incomes has grown between 2000 and 2007.  The lower three quintiles have all seen a decrease in income limits while the two highest quintiles have seen gains (Spring 51).  At first glance, this may not look very relevant to education.  However, you must look at where these people are living.  Since property tax is a significant source of funding for schools, this kind of detail makes all the difference in the world.  The National Center for Education Statistics performed a study that “districts with the highest percentage of students from families below the poverty level spend $10,191 per student” while “the most money per student – $10,768 – is spend in school districts with the fewest students from families below the poverty level” (Spring 53). 

Join now!

So what does this mean?  According to a report from the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation, “states rely on locally generated dollars to cover a significant part, often more than 50 percent, of education funding.  This reliance on local funding benefits wealthier locales with strong tax bases” (Thomas B. Fordham Foundation 21).  In layman terms, the school districts that house the wealthier students receive more funding than the schools that are more closely associated with low income families.  The better funding allows these schools to provide education in a variety of ways and can implement their lessons with technology.  This gives ...

This is a preview of the whole essay