Student's Socioeconomic Status In Waiting For Superman

The written works of Williams, Sahlberg, Berliner, and Glass bring light to the fact that a student’s socioeconomic status (SES) is playing a large role in their academic career and this issue needs to be addressed. Children who are exposed to a stable family income, and have parents who have attained postsecondary education are more likely to succeed in the game called the United States educational system (Berliner and Glass, 2014). Nevertheless, this leaves children who are unwillingly living in impoverish situations to essentially be set up for failure. It is unfair that situations beyond childrens control are predetermining their fate in the educational system.
The issue of a student's SES is important because parents assume their child is being taken care of, and given the attention they need when they attend school. Unfortunately though, currently the American educational system is focusing on its high achieving students, to try to make them even better. On the contrary, the problem holding America back from prevailing as a country is our students who are struggling. In the film, “Waiting For Superman”, directed by David Guggenheim, (2010) the topic of America's academic standing compared
to educational powerhouses, such as Finland, is addressed. One might ask, what are we doing wrong? Berliner and Glass (2014) write, “in the United States, if we looked only at the students who attend schools where child poverty rates re under 10%, we would rank as the number one country in the world, outscoring countries, like Finland, Japan, and Korea” (p. 15). Our problem does not lie within the students who are already excelling. More attention, time, and professionals need to be working with children who are not living in the best conditions.
Throughout history, culture has always encouraged being an affluent member of society.
In most cases, to achieve that one needed to be well educated. A stigma has been created that the most successful people in society will have had the best education and the most of it. For example, in medieval times the most educated were higher in caste systems. While those of lower income did not receive an education and struggled economically. Doctor Julia M. Williams (2008) touches on the fact that a parent always wants to provide the best for their children when she writes, “we (parents) find ourselves wondering how we are going to pay for any of it, from tuition to leggings” (p. 8). Unfortunately society is still only providing outstanding education to those in prevailing zip
codes.
Immediate action should be taken in our educational system. To do so, one must determine which areas are failing academically. Then, examine the demographics of said area, so that it can be found whether students are failing due to SES or a different issue within the school district. Pasi Sahlberg (2015) writes, “(In Finland) all students, regardless of their domicile, socioeconomic background, or interests would enroll in the same 9-year basic schools governed by local education authorities” (p. 27). Our school systems need to be governed more closely, and have more qualified teachers in lower income areas so that we can be assured that all of American students are receiving the same opportunities.