The American mythology continues to insist that education is the path to the middle class for those struggling to escape the grip of poverty. However, the education that poor, urban students in public schools receive is demonstrably insufficient to make them competitive with their more advantaged, middle and upper-income peers. There is much talk today, for example, about the importance of STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) careers for the future of our youth and of our country. Yet, mathematics classes in high-poverty high schools are twice as likely to be taught by a teacher with a credential other than mathematics as are mathematics classes at low-poverty high schools. Similarly, for science classes at high-poverty high school, teachers are three times as likely to be credentialed in areas other than science as those who teach science at low-poverty high school.
-What are your thoughts on the above statement?