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HEART DAY SEPTEMBER 29th
Wednesday • September 24, 2025 What’s inside - “Cruise Night Feature” Page 5
The Weeds of Inequality in Education by Abraham Bowie Abe is a sophomore at Unity Christian Academy who’s an aspiring entrepreneur. He finds writing as a way to express his creativity through short stories and recently became a playwright. “Kids in disadvantaged neighborhoods end up behind the starting line even when they get to kindergarten.” This is a direct quote from Sean Reardon, a professor of poverty and inequality in education at the Stanford Graduate School of Education. According to his perspective, inequality is like a weed. A weed is any wild plant that grows in an unwanted place, especially in a garden or field that prevents cultivated plants from growing freely. The time has come to reverse the effect of inequality to equality. “Until we get equality in education, we won’t have an equal society,” said Sonia Sotomayor, a Supreme Court justice. Sotomayor acted on this because she believes that we all have a role in creating equality in education. Understand that inequality prohibits cultivated young learners in America from flourishing in their educational endeavors. A study on educational inequality conducted by the Ballard organization revealed that kids from lower-income families do worse academically across various subjects. According to assessments conducted by Ballard, low-income adolescents typically lag behind their peers by an average of three academic years. By the time they enter high school, the poorest children are regrettably frequently up to five years behind their wealthier peers in reading proficiency. Because of this, low-income pupils lag 20–26 percentage points behind high-income students in reading and math performance. This issue must be addressed and resolved immediately by tax relief and income support or transfers (programs like
welfare, free health care, and food stamps). Students with low income have more severe issues with education than those with high or medium incomes because of the unequal distribution of resources, such as school funding and access to tutoring that higher-income schools provide. The result of having restrictions on education is: missed opportunities and reduced critical thinking. I propose increasing funding for students from high-poverty and low-income families and concentrating government resources on the current problems. The U.S. Department of Education conducted a study in 2015 that assessed how the wealth gap between affluent and poor schools grew over ten years, from 2001–2012. Furthermore, a paper published by the American Research Institutes reported that 34 of 50 states showed no statistically significant change in income achievement disparities from 2003 to 2017. Finally, research from the Illinois report card shows that 65.6% percent of students in South Holland are low-income students and Illinois low-income students percentage is 49.8%. Perhaps structural problems and financing gaps in education are the root cause of the widening economic, achievement, and educational discrepancies gaps. Possibly granting more financial support for teachers, such as higher salaries and benefits, can help to improve commitment. Invest more resources in low-income, underfunded schools, such as hiring more special education specialists and counselors to help with inequality and low income in education. These issues with low-income struggles for students have been here for decades now. Each year, schools do not receive adequate support or investment to assist low-income students -thus not breaking the cycle of inequity. Another factor to consider is the ones who teach us. A study on teacher quality in low-income schools by the National Library of Medicine determined that low-income teachers of low-income schools have significantly higher afternoon cortisol levels, lower self-reported health, higher body mass index, and higher teaching stress. Compared to their high-income school district counterparts, factors
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such as limited resources, challenging student behavior, demanding workloads, and insufficient support can contribute to burnout and worse employment retention. But what if I told you that these educators are revolutionizing education in low-income schools? Merrimack College says that teachers at low-income schools have a tremendous impact on student lives, inspiring their students while they learn their lessons. From my perspective, teachers love teaching students, making them great, and helping them with life. However, teachers have a lot of stress due to workloads and student behaviors. I see it as extremely vital to care for your teachers because they are the ones who teach you and prepare you for the next stage of education. In conclusion, low-income students struggle with different issues than higher-income students because of the funding gap between schools. Furthermore, inequality in income hasn’t changed significantly in 34 out of 50 states. Additionally, low-income students can be behind by 3-5 years academically compared to their peers. Teachers in low-income schools have significantly more stress because of limited resources. An element to destroying the weed of inequality is donating to the organizations of Ascendium Philanthropy and the William T. Grant Foundation. Enhancing commitment can be achieved by providing teachers with greater financial support, such as increased pay and benefits. Increase funding for underfunded, lowincome schools by, for example, recruiting more special education teachers. Tax relief and income support or transfers (programs like welfare, free health care, and food stamps) can stop the weeds of inequality. In summary, income inequality is a powerful and harmful issue that we must address. Embracing equality is vital, so, let’s all work towards realizing that goal. This essay is part of a series of perspectives written by students at Unity Christian Academy in South Holland. The topics cover some of the most pressing issues of our times and the opinions are of the writers themselves. We are grateful to UCA English Educator Hannah Morgan for organizing this partnership.
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The Injustice of the Criminal Justice System by Simon Ezra Blom Simon is a student at Unity Christian Academy in South Holland, IL. He is passionate about soccer, basketball, volleyball, and working hard in school. He is 15, and spends most of his time with his family or friends, mainly his twin brother, Jonas. At age 16, Korey Wise was wrongfully convicted of assault, sexual abuse, and rioting during the Central Park 5 case in 1989. He was tried as an adult and sentenced to a maximum of 15 years. He spent 14 of those years in prison until he was exonerated for being falsely accused. Arguably the most pivotal years in his life were stripped away from him, wasted, because of the injustice of the criminal justice system. And it’s not just him. According to writing from Joshua Rovner, this happens to about 228 black teens out of 100,000 every year. Black teenagers in the U.S. are much more likely to be incarcerated than their white peers. In addition, they tend to be arrested with much more frequency, wait much longer for trial, are tried unjustly, and face more serious charges for similar offenses. This is because of the racial injustice and prejudice of the criminal justice system as a whole. Although this topic is often cautiously toed around,
or even blatantly ignored, it is more important than ever that we bring to light the corruption and injustice for the black teenagers and their families who are devastated by this process. Because of the prejudice within the criminal justice system, Black youth wait far too long for trial – sometimes years – they are also pulled over more, arrested with more frequency, are tried unfairly, and incarcerated at a higher rate. According to research by Nazgol Ghandnoosh, Ph.D. and Celeste Barry from the Sentencing Project, which is a non-profit organization dedicated to researching and advocating for criminal justice reform, black youth are more likely to receive harsher sentences than white youth for similar offenses. This unjust practice applies to all types of crime, however big or small. For example, say a black teenager needs some food, so he takes something from the gas station. Suppose a white teenager does this same thing for whatever reason. The black teenager might get arrested or go to jail for years, whereas many white teens get let off with a warning or fine. In fact, according to the New York Times Editorial Board, in 2016, two teenagers were charged in the same county with armed robbery, with the white teenager getting off with a plea agreement and probation, while the black teen was sentenced to 4 years in prison. Black teenagers in the U.S. are much more likely to be incarcerated than their white peers. As stated by Joshua Rovner, as of 2021, Black youth were 4.7 times more likely to be placed in juvenile facilities as their white peers. In addition, this can significantly affect people when they get
out of prison, often causing them to turn to crime anyway, which would have all been avoided if they were treated fairly. So not only does it affect their lives, but it affects the community they live in. From the beginning of the process to the end, the system is set up for African American teenagers to fail. Being pulled over by a prejudiced police officer could result in an arrest, and some people spend half their life in jail for a crime they are later found innocent of, and now their future is tainted and it is almost impossible to find a way forward. A change needs to be made at every step of the discriminatory journey, and the beginning of that process is to spread awareness and bring more of these circumstances to light. We should urge those around us to change this way of life in order to better all of our lives and our communities. Many people don’t discuss this topic, although it is becoming increasingly important, especially as it impacts the future of those who are shaping the future of our country. This all goes to show just how unjust the criminal justice system actually is. Ways to combat this include speaking against specific injustice, raising awareness, and being present for families affected by systematic injustice. Whether this is personal or not, we all have a part to play. This essay is part of a series of perspectives written by students at Unity Christian Academy in South Holland. The topics cover some of the most pressing issues of our times and the opinions are of the writers themselves. We are grateful to UCA English Educator Hannah Morgan for organizing this partnership.