In a traditional school, students typically are lectured in class by a teacher when, by definition, there’s very limited opportunity for discourse. Yes, you read that right, very little opportunity for interaction when the student is together with their peers and their teacher. They are then assigned homework that they will do by themselves at home at precisely the time when human interaction is most needed. Despite the crippling limitations with this process, it works quite well for middle income students because they have the support system at home to explain salient points they might have missed during the lecture. Not so much for kids of low-income parents. Essentially, middle-income students have the support system at home to close the knowledge gaps as soon as they are formed. Middle-income students do not carry those gaps from session to session or grade to grade causing them to fall further and further behind as time goes by. Low income kids, on the other hand, carry those gaps with them all the way to the working world – and that’s if they can find a job.
