The education haves and have nots

My daily paper carried a story today about kids in an affluent town near me who were studying at home during the pandemic. They attend a private academy that has a steep price tag attached to it. The two students that were profiled were shown in well equipped and bright study areas — new computers, etc.. That same day, I drove through another nearby town which is known to have a high poverty rate. A large bulk of people live in trailers with many on public assistance. Heading through that town I saw a school van in a parking lot handing out free lunches to kids who otherwise would go hungry. It struck me that the COVID-19 pandemic has produced a lot more negative effects than just the illness itself. What it has done is contribute to the growing gap between students of wealth and those who haven’t got much. My guess is that not only are the students who live in poverty not getting the same shot at education, but that they will have much less chance in the long run to climb the opportunity ladder to a better life. The poor kids more than likely do not have a place to study, but they also don’t have access to technology. With schools now closed, a lot of them aren’t being reached by support people that they might have had when school was open. Not only are these youngsters missing out on proper nutrition, so also are they being starved educationally. It’s nice to say that people should be able to pull themselves up by their bootstraps, but for those on the bottom of society, there are no boots in the first place.