Answer to Question 1
1 . Inequality in public schools versus private schoolsoften there is a perceived competition between public and private schools for students and financial resources. Almost 90 percent of U.S. elementary and secondary school students are educated in public schools. Among parents whose children attend private secondary schools, an important factor for a majority of the parents is the emphasis on academics that they believe exists in private as opposed to public schools.
2 . Unequal funding of public schoolsone of the biggest problems in public education today results from unequal funding. Most educational funds come from state legislative appropriations and local property taxes.
3 . Inequality within public school systemsanother major problem in public school systems is the inequality that exists within local public school systems. This is illustrated in a study conducted by education scholar John Devine regarding the New York City public school system.
4 . Racial segregation and resegregationin many areas of the United States, schools remain racially segregated or have become resegregated after earlier attempts at integration failed. In 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled (in
Brown v. The Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas) that separate but equal segregated schools are unconstitutional because they are inherently unequal. Efforts to bring about desegregationthe abolition of legally sanctioned racialethnic segregation, or integrationthe implementation of specific actions to change the racialethnic and/or class composition of the student body, have failed in many school districts throughout the country. Some school districts have bused students across town to achieve racial integration. Others have changed school attendance boundaries or introduced magnet schools with specialized programs such as science or the fine arts to change racial-ethnic composition of schools.
Answer to Question 2
b