What "Counts" as Educational Policy? by Jean Ayon

    My initial thought after reading this section was what year was this published? because there are policies and references to several figures, it was hard to tell if the information was current.  Jean Ayon mentions "today" multiple times throughout her writing so I was curious find out when this was posted.  After further research it appears that this article was posted around 2005, which answers most of my questions.  Lots of themes in this reading seemed to be dated such as "Paying women the same amount men are paid for comparable work would, according to one analysis, reduce poverty by 40 percent, as such a large percentage of poor people are women in low-wage jobs."  After looking into the most recent study on the wage gap it has successfully decreased in the last 20 years.  As of 2024, females now make 85% of what males make.  When this article was written (about 2000s) women were making 76% of what males make.  Another article explaining this further can be found here.

    I find this statistic shocking.  It is almost hard to find words knowing that some companies don't care about the quality of candidates but instead pay their male employees higher for the exact same position.  I am not one to state my opinion, but this is not even an opinion, there should be no wage gap.

    As I mentioned before, my workplace was mostly women (until two left recently) with two males, one being the boss.  I have been meaning to discuss my pay with my boss because after January is when we get our annual raises.  This year my raise was half as much as it was last year.  My female coworkers was almost three times as much as my last year's raise.  We are still unsure what our male coworker makes but we are convinced he makes the most.  I am disappointed in general but I think I would consider leaving if I found out everyone else received a "normal" raise amount...

But relating this back to school problems...

    Like the article explained, without a wage gap the poverty rage would decrease.  It is important for all students to have the resources they need, especially in elementary school.  It is so important to be able to attend school with a lunch/money, clean clothes, sneakers, and a backpack with supplies.  In some cases, students' families don't have the "extra" money to spend of supplies or new shoes.  If this article is correct, if the wage gap no longer exists, less people will be considered "in poverty," and more students will have the materials they need in and outside of school.  

    It was also noted in the reading that it is common for students who come from poverty don't make it all the way to their high school graduation.  Some families can't afford for their child to go to school when they are old enough to have a job.  After researching about poverty levels within the United States, it is odd that many articles have a wide variety of "statistics" I couldn't find a trustworthy graph to place below.  I believe that the "easiest" start to improving schools could be closing the gap.  

    “However school quality is defined — in terms of higher student achievement, more school resources, more qualified teachers, more positive teacher attitudes, better neighborhood or school conditions, private vs. public schools — the least advantaged United States children begin their formal schooling in consistently lower-quality schools. This reinforces the inequalities that develop even before children reach school age”  

    I am always finding myself wondering why are you doing this like this, when it makes more sense and is more efficient to do it this way? I think most problems these days come from people not caring enough about anything.  In their defense, if your pay isn't reflective of your work, I wouldn't want to try extra hard either but I still would put in the effort (just not too much extra.)  I have found that during my times working in my local school district, that a lot of teachers and staff simply don't care enough.  I find it so hard to understand why certain people chose certain jobs when it is clear they don't enjoy it.  A simple example is someone who doesn't enjoy children to work at an elementary school!  Being in a school with teachers who care about the curriculum and about the students is so important because you never know what their home life is like.  Especially when certain students may be coming to school from a variety of homes, it is important to provide comfort to them.  It really isn't hard to be nice.  If everyone just did the right thing, it would make the world a better place!

"Be the role model for your students they may not have at home."

This blog post felt like a bit of a rant, there's a lot in my head and this reading reminded me of so many different thoughts!