Inequality in Education
~ Blogged by: Rachel and Zaheela ~
Education gives one the knowledge of the world around us and it alters our views on life in a positive way. It creates an outlook of preserving life as it results in one creating opinions and decisions that help one excel. Without education life skills do not get acquired and the chance for achievement become harder as education results in independence. Many factors make up for inequality in the education system. Inequality in education affects millions of people all over the world. Factors of educational inequalities include, economic standings, gender, race, and disabilities. Educational inequality can appear in many forms and can be described as a lack of availability or use of academic resources.
Relating this topic directly to our global goals project, gender inequality plays a large role in educational inequalities. Approximately 130 million girls are without education worldwide. This statistic is shocking and very unfortunate. According to plancanada.ca (Because I am a Girl webpage), some factors that keep girls out of school include: poverty, child marriage, poor health and nutrition, family care and domestic housework, early pregnancy, violence in schools, long distance to schools, and a lack of girls washrooms. In many countries women are still seen as the main caretaker of the family and lose their chance to become educated. Thousands of women stay home every day to complete daily household chores and care for children. They are also expected to cook for the family and education is not perceived as an important factor in their lives. Early marriage plays a large role in education inequality as the outcomes is her youth essentially being stolen from her. It can also be predicted that girls forced into child marriage are more likely to have a children at a young age. Thus, being married at a young age makes it difficult or impossible to go to school, it is even less likely for a girl to get education after conceiving and having children. This all relates back to the fact that women are still seen as caretakers. What might happen if the roles were reversed? Why do such beliefs still remain so popular around the world? Girls deserve equal rights to education and should not be thought of as nothing more than caretakers.
Another major factor to educational inequality is race and economic standings. An example can be seen in indigenous communities. Indigenous post-secondary graduation rates are as low as 35.3% in Canada. This compared to the 78% of non-indigenous post-secondary graduates is very disheartening. Studies completed over recent years have shown that, students living in a family with higher incomes have a better chance of getting a good education and tend to do better in school than, students in low income families. According to information on opencanada.org people of indigenous descent can make nearly 11,000 dollars less than the average Canadian. This is shocking as the indigenous population makes up approximately 5% of Canada's population. This may play a large role in the statistics shown in indigenous education levels. We personally believe that many people fall behind and miss educational opportunities due to economic reasons. A lot of students (especially in low income families) work to support themselves and their families, often making education less of a priority.
Females in different parts of the world often are left out of education because, they are perceived as caretakers while males are expected to work to support their family. Males often get to complete their education and gain more opportunities for better work, while women stay home to care for children and complete daily household chores. This likely plays a huge role in poverty as well. If women could have equal use of educational resources families, a family would shave a better chance at higher incomes to better support themselves and their loved ones.
Everyone deserves an equal right to education. Educational inequality needs to be resolved. The question is, how is society going to fix this everlasting issue? Race, gender, and economic standing should never affect how people are educated and should not define whether or not someone can be educated. Education is very important in the progression of one's life and we as a society need to learn to treat all equality and put an end to gender inequality.
References
Educational inequality. (2017, December 08). Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Educational_inequality
Girls'Education. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://plancanada.ca/girls-education
Google Slides - create and edit presentations online, for free. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1gkSnrvsoF75IV6t08fbQZ7uf88E_ovH2kpstLFzw5zM/edit#slide=id.g2af55feba8_0_5
Inequality Explained: The hidden gaps in Canada's education system. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.opencanada.org/features/inequality-explained-hidden-gaps-canadas-education-system/
Image from:
http://sisson67.umwblogs.org/2011/11/07/equality-in-education-starts-in-the-classroom/
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