Watkins 3/4

In the beginning of chapter 4, Watkins stated, that while technological advances were increasing “educational attainment lagged behind, resulting in the reversal of the progress made in reducing income inequality” (125). I thought this was particularly interesting because as much as we want to keep schools an equal opportunity atmosphere, we have to continually update the resources which not every school has the budget to do. It is also interesting to note that schools are not only unequal with the resources that they provide to groups of students but this in turn can force the students to be at a disadvantage when they complete their schooling. An overall domino effect that leads some students that have the same amount of schooling as their peers at a disadvantage in the real world.  Also further in the chapter Watkins mentions the work of Goldin and Katz from the book, Race between Technology and Education, where it was stated, “The K-12 system is less than perfect for many students, but it is important to recognize that schools are essentially failing particular students”(127). The particular students that are being left behind are youth who attend inner-city schools and are not college ready. How are youth at inner-city schools at a disadvantage? Can the teachers help with this at all or is this a larger issue beyond the school in which they teach? How can everyone help students graduate while providing a hope of income equality? As Watkins stated, “the more important the production of human capital as an economic asset becomes, however, the less likely it is that other educational goals… can be met at all” (130). With this in mind, what does this mean for the future of education? How could this change the K-12 curriculum? Would this mean that inequalities would rise or decline?