Income Segregation In U.S. Affects Education Quality For Poor And Minority Students According To A Study

There is no doubt that abundance in monetary resource gives us the advantage in providing a better life for our family and children. A new study suggested that there's one thing that rich parents can do for their kids that gives their children the edge in terms of education over the others.

The Thing That Makes All The Difference

According to the Washington Post, a sociologist at the University of Southern California, Ann Owens, emphasized that the best thing that those rich parents can do for their kids is to buy an expensive home with a nice neighborhood and high-quality school districts. "Forty to fifty years of social-science research tells us what an important context neighborhoods are, so buying a neighborhood is probably one of the most important things you can do for your kid," said, Owens.

The data of the research published in American Sociology Review has revealed that rich parents buying pricey homes influenced the rise of income segregation in U.S. in the '90s. Rich people are less likely to share the same neighborhoods with those average and low-income people. The interesting find of Owens in her study is that the rise of income segregation has something to do with kids in the family.

In her long duration study, the income segregation rose to 20 percent from 1990 to 2010. She found out that it is twice as high to those families with children who are under 18. This simply means that those family with no children are likely to live in a diverse neighborhood.

The Inequality In Students

Her research suggests that childless family has different priorities and expenses compared to those with children. It's common for high class neighborhoods to have high quality school districts which is an amenity that residents have to pay. So for those family with no children to send to school, they find it useless to pay for a premium that they can't benefit in their current status.

So rich parents are not just buying a good neighborhood but also the public schools in the area with the best standards that's beneficial for their children. Because of income segregation, the education quality of those minority and poor students are affected.

Income segregation clearly shows a correlation with good quality schools. Owen has the idea that the opposite might work. She said, "We always think, well, we're never going to have integrated schools as long as we have such highly segregated neighborhoods. I want to point out maybe we'll never have integrated neighborhoods if we have segregated schools."

According to Owens, comparing herself five years ago, she becomes more hopeful in doing her studies about this issue because it at least talks about segregation and inequality in the society.