The Connection Between Income and Educational Achievement

Ok, so everybody knows that many urban communities suffer from a lack of resources in their neighborhood schools across the United States and moreover, there is a general consensus that this largely affects our children.  We also know that statistically, those with higher incomes invest not only money in their children's educations, but also time. 

Here's an excerpt from an article in the New York Times published in February 2012 that asserts this:

"One reason for the growing gap in achievement, researchers say, could be that wealthy parents invest more time and money than ever before in their children (in weekend sports, ballet, music lessons, math tutors, and in overall involvement in their children’s schools), while lower-income families, which are now more likely than ever to be headed by a single parent, are increasingly stretched for time and resources. This has been particularly true as more parents try to position their children for college, which has become ever more essential for success in today’s economy.

A study by Sabino Kornrich, a researcher at the Center for Advanced Studies at the Juan March Institute in Madrid, and Frank F. Furstenberg, scheduled to appear in the journal Demography this year, found that in 1972, Americans at the upper end of the income spectrum were spending five times as much per child as low-income families. By 2007 that gap had grown to nine to one; spending by upper-income families more than doubled, while spending by low-income families grew by 20 percent."                                                                     Click here for the full article.

Ok, so we understand that in our community -- many of our children are raised in single-parent households where, often -- the parent or guardian is working two or more jobs to make ends meet and rightfully don't have the time to devote to cultivating their child's aptitude and achievement.

So what's the answer to the education crisis?  Mentors.  Plain and simple.  If every successful person (Business Owner? Entrepreneur? Corporate America Exec? Non-Profit Exec Director? College Graduate/Student?) in this world would be accountable to mentor a young person in urban America to succeed - we could effectively put a huge dent on the crime epidemic in urban communities, the drug war in the inner cities...even fix the economy!

So...please weigh in on this discussion with your comments.


 - Michelle London-Bell, MBA
   Dallas Urban Media, LLC