Are we exacerbating the gap between poor and rich kids?

Hi all,

I have tried talking to teachers about this and there seems to be a lack of knowledge about the other side of the equation from a lot of teachers. Not that they need to be aware, everyone wants to teach to their student body, but the difference in behaviors is astounding. I was wondering what insights y'all might have cause this seems to be a very serious issue with crazy ramifications on the future.

For context I just started subbing this school year in a high school district ranging from poor to upper middle/lower upper class high schools and there are huge differences between them.

In the richer high schools, kids put their phones on the wall for attendance, they are mostly well behaved outside of generic teenager stuff, but at least it's normal. I can count on almost every child completing their assignments and they seem to be much better at utilizing technology to do so. They're literate, know how to use AI and other sources to help complete work faster (and mostly correctly, could still use practice verifying information) and at worst seem like they can enter the real world with some adjustment to how aggressively neutral it is. Even then, teachers feel as if the handholding is far above what it used to be and many students are unprepared for class on a regular basis. Some basic skills seem to be lacking and many teachers feel that COVID lead to a large portion of children spending 2 years off camera, scrolling phones and playing video games because their parents couldn't sit with them during class time, leading to lecturing a bunch of boxes on a screen. They have scrapped some of their curriculum for easier assignments so more kids can keep up.

At the poor high schools, it often feels like the kids are in charge. They will literally tell me they won't be doing an assignment that takes 15 minutes and will spend the entire period on TikTok. Some will come to class to get marked present and just leave the rest of the period (I'll go back to mark absent). During prep periods there are groups of kids just hanging out, and campus security will high five them and ask if they'll be at practice for whatever sport. Teachers complain about being pressured by administration to pass kids who have a 35% in the class, or to try catching a kid up who has never even attended class so he can get a C and continue playing sports. There's regularly anywhere from 2-10 kids who I can rely on in a class of 25-35 to finish basic assignments. Sometimes in math classes, kids will be unable to tell me what 4x8 is and turn to a calculator. The second I walk away or focus on other students, they grab their phone and play some stupid Tetris looking game. They will almost all play games if they have a computer assignment, and none of them seem to utilize technology to learn anything. Poor kids are already and always have been at a disadvantage but it feels like we're getting to a point where they will never be able to catch up with more privileged kids and will spend their lives scrounging for money and looking at their phones 16 hours a day.

My problem is that I would love to blame administrations for allowing kids to put education and preparedness in the backseat, but administrations are being pressured to keep kids at school and pass them. While having more kids graduating sounds good, graduation seems to be losing its meaning. They aren't prepared for anything within society and are diluting what a high school diploma stands for. I feel like those in poorer communities who would be able to rise up and compete with anyone in the real world are being stunted for the sake of troublemakers. The fact that poor schools are lowering their standards a lot just to maintain some metrics that have nothing to do with true preparation is making a kid who would be middling at another school seem like a rockstar who will be punched in the mouth by reality the second they are around tougher competition.

Additionally, pushing college on these kids who don't understand Pythagorean theorem seems like a useless endeavor. There seems to be no sign of blue collar work being an option. While it would be amazing for these kids to prove they can compete with a kid who got tutoring and SAT classes, they just can't, and the lack of any other career path being present seems to be a detriment to their futures. As much as I hate pigeonholing somebody based on their upbringing, it's like we've stopped being realistic in the pursuit of equality.

Is this how it's always been or is it getting worse? Is there anything that can be done or are we just spinning into a society with wildly varying degrees of knowledge and production?