Expanding Education Gap Linked to Income Inequality New research
on inequality in education indicates that over the past 30
years, increased disparity in family income levels has resulted
in unequal educational attainment for students. These findings
challenge the prevailing assumption that children in the United
States have a better chance of attaining upward social mobility
through education than students in other industrialized nations,
according to Harvard Graduate School of Education Professor
Richard J. Murnane and University of California, Irvine
Professor Greg J. Duncan. The two professors edited “Whither
Opportunity?: Rising Inequality, Schools and Children’s Life
Chances,” a new book that explores the relationship between
educational achievement and family financial status. “If a child
is growing up poor, chances that his children will not grow up
poor is a great deal better if you live in one of these other
countries,” said Murnane. Most Americans are not aware of this
“striking and disturbing patt