This can involve property rights, status, or unequal access to health care, housing, education and other physical or financial resources or opportunities.
Structural inequality is believed to be an embedded part of the culture of the United States due to the history of slavery and the subsequent suppression of equal civil rights of minority races.
(8)[3] Critical race theory is part of the ongoing oppression of minorities in the public school system and the corporate workforce that limits academic and career success.
[4] Specifically in the structuring of schools, the concept of tracking is believed by some scholars to create a social disparity in providing students an equal education.
[5] Consequently, the information taught as well as the expectations of the teachers differ based on the track resulting in the creation of dissimilar classroom cultures.
Not only the classes that students take, but the school they are enrolled in has been shown to have an effect on their educational success and social mobility, especially ability to graduate from college.
For example, there are far fewer first time freshmen within the University of California (UC) system who graduate from schools where the majority population is an underrepresented racial minority group.
[7] Issues of structural inequality are probably also at fault for the low numbers of students from underserved backgrounds graduating from college.
In a 2013 study by the National Center for Educational Statistics, only 49% of students from low-income families that graduated from high school immediately enrolled into college.
[12] In the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation supported survey, researchers discovered that 6 in 10 students that dropped out was due to the inability to pay for the cost of attending themselves and without help from their families.
Additionally, teachers from HN schools report less access to technology as well as lower technical skills and abilities (p. 246).
Even when teachers in low-SES schools had confidence in their technical skills, other they faced other obstacles, including larger numbers of English language learners and at-risk students, larger numbers of students with limited computer experience, and greater pressure to increase test scores and adhere to policy mandates.
[16] Other structural inequalities in access to technology exist in differences in the ratio of students to computers within public schools.
The LRE means that children with disabilities must be educated in regular classrooms with their non-disabled peers with the appropriate supports and services.
Assistive technology which supports individuals with disabilities covering a wide range of areas from cognitive to physical limitations, plays an important role.
Epstein (2006) stated the "Two years after the victorious Supreme Court decision against segregation, Oakland's"... "school board increased Oakland's segregation by spending $40 million from a bond election to build..." a "... High School, and then establishing a ten-mile long, two-mile wide attendance boundary, which effectively excluded almost every black and Latino student in the city" (p. 28).
In the early 19th century, policymakers recognized districts relying on property tax could lead to significant disparities in the amount of funding per student.
[22]: 64 Thus, policymakers began to analyze the elements of disparity and sought means to address it, numbers of teachers, quality of facilities and materials.
To address disparity some states implemented Flat Grants, which typically allocate funding based on the number of teachers.
Some analyst characterized the program as a hoax because its structure allowed wealthier districts to exceed the target per-pupil revenue level.
[22]: 66 An identified inequality that negatively affects health and wellness among minority races is highly correlated with income, wealth, social capital, and, indirectly, education.
There has not been significant changes in the major factors of income, wealth, social capital/psycho-social environment, and socioeconomic status, that positively impact the existing inequality.
[24] The level of education which one receives also tends to be correlated with social capital, income, and criminal activity as well.
Then these individuals will live in traditionally poorer neighborhoods, thus sending their children to underfunded schools ill-prepared to gear students towards higher education and further perpetuate a cycle of poor districts and disadvantaged social groups.
The tracking phenomenon in schools tends to perpetuate prejudices, misconceptions, and inequalities of the poor and minority people in society.
Schools provide both an education and a setting for students to develop into adults, form future societal roles, and maintain social and organizational structures of society.
[28] Corporate America has an interest in maintaining the use of standardized tests in public school systems thus protecting their potential future workforce that will be derived from the high-tracked, successful high income students by eliminating, through poor academic achievement, a disproportionate number of minority students.
Research has found that factors such as appearance, language, behavior, grooming, as well as academic potential, are all considered in the analysis and decision on group placement.