How Does Wealth Affect Children's Success?
Is it true that wealth has a determining factor on one's success? Is it simply easier for a person with a wealthy background to be more successful? In order to answer these questions, we can analyze children's academic success within different socioeconomic classes. KIPP Academy is a public charter school that is located the South Bronx, one of the poorest neighborhoods in New York City. What is different about KIPP is its success rate. In Malcom Gladwell's book, the Ouliers, he discusses KIPP's success, claiming that, "by the end of eighth grade, 84 percent of the students are preforming at or above their grade level" (parenthetical citation). KIPP is able to achieve this success through their rigor. Children that attend KIPP spend fifty to sixty percent more time learning than average public school students. KIPP children even spend an extra three months at school during the summer. This shows that with more time and opportunities, people from lower socioeconomic backgrounds are able to reach high levels of academic success. However, why do children from poverty need to spend more time to reach the same level of knowledge as wealthier children? A study
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conducted by Johns Hopkins University tracked children from Baltimore public schools. They divided up test scores by socioeconomic class and gave each student a test in June and September for five years. Analyzing how much children learned throughout the school year, they found that the students coming from a lower socioeconomic class learned more throughout the school year than the children that came from wealthier homes. However, children from lower socioeconomic classes started to face a problem when summer came. The children from wealthier homes came back to school over the summer and their scores increased. However, the children from poorer families came back to school and their scores dropped. Malcom Gladwell summarizes this by claiming that, "poor kids may out-learn rich kids during the school year, but during the summer, they fall far behind". The problem becomes that wealthier children have much more opportunities to learn and grow over the summer, while poor children have limited opportunities.
The American Camp Association's reports show that 78 percent of their campers came from high and middle income families. Slate magazine claims that the average cost of a day camp is 271 dollars per week; with summer lasting for two months, this can eventually add up to a couple thousand dollars. Clearly, for lower income families camp can be viewed as a extraneous expense that is simply not affordable. Therefore, their children do not receive the wonderful opportunities that the wealthy children receive. Children from wealthy backgrounds are more likely to be successful simply because their wealth allows them to receive more
opportunities.
conducted by Johns Hopkins University tracked children from Baltimore public schools. They divided up test scores by socioeconomic class and gave each student a test in June and September for five years. Analyzing how much children learned throughout the school year, they found that the students coming from a lower socioeconomic class learned more throughout the school year than the children that came from wealthier homes. However, children from lower socioeconomic classes started to face a problem when summer came. The children from wealthier homes came back to school over the summer and their scores increased. However, the children from poorer families came back to school and their scores dropped. Malcom Gladwell summarizes this by claiming that, "poor kids may out-learn rich kids during the school year, but during the summer, they fall far behind". The problem becomes that wealthier children have much more opportunities to learn and grow over the summer, while poor children have limited opportunities.
The American Camp Association's reports show that 78 percent of their campers came from high and middle income families. Slate magazine claims that the average cost of a day camp is 271 dollars per week; with summer lasting for two months, this can eventually add up to a couple thousand dollars. Clearly, for lower income families camp can be viewed as a extraneous expense that is simply not affordable. Therefore, their children do not receive the wonderful opportunities that the wealthy children receive. Children from wealthy backgrounds are more likely to be successful simply because their wealth allows them to receive more
opportunities.