Communities living in poverty have ensured that their youth finds value into, their education despite the financial situation they are in. The only issue with this, however, is the government’s selfish deed of denying access to sufficient funding in their schools. The effect on their education because of this- insufficient materials, low testing scores causing a decrease in graduation rates. One example of this injustice to the students’ right to education is through “Good School, Rich School; Bad School, Poor School”. Semuels declares, “In Manchester, students had individual Chromebook laptops, and Sims had up-to-date equipment, like projectors and digital whiteboards. In New Britain, students didn’t get individual computers, and there weren’t the guidance counselors or teacher’s helpers that there were in Manchester”.
In other words, funding is being spent on those who don’t live in poverty, to begin with. Of course, having technology be accessible is a plus but is it a benefit when students have to constantly take turns to learn? The issue at stake here isn’t only the lack of supply and staff, but also the discriminating choice of providing aid to those who live in privilege. Another way these students in poverty are being discriminated is the effect of the insufficient aid causing their testing scores to drastically depreciate. The obvious effect of this, low graduation rates. Also, Semuels proclaims “Connecticut recently implemented a system called NextGen to measure English and maths skills, college and career readiness. Bridgeport’s average was 59.3 percent and New Britain 59.7 percent; Greenwich, by contrast, scored 89.3 percent and Darien scored 93.1.
Graduation rates are lower in the poorer districts, there’s more chronic absenteeism. Here, the results are deemed too obvious that the lack of funding in poor districts is affecting students’ chances to even start a level ahead in life. Graduation rates in poor districts are not because of children not knowing how to learn, but the government not knowing how to support their struggling people. This is the discrimination affecting youth’s human right to preserve an education.
