The "Matthew Effect" Is In Full Force

I listened this morning to a segment "In Perspective: Tricia Rose on America's growing inequality" on PBS Need to Know that was disturbing. Rose reported that according to the Congressional Budget Office, between 1980 and 2007, average household income for the bottom 80% has remained relatively constant, while the top 20 has doubled, and the top 1% has nearly quadrupled. She also noted what I mentioned in a previous blog posting about the discrepancy in the drop in median wealth for different American households (white 16%, African American 53%, and Hispanic 66%). White wealth now stands at 20x that of black wealth and 18x that of Hispanic wealth.

Rose also mentioned a study from last year that described wealth as "What you own minus what you owe" which "allows people to start a business, buy a home, send children to college, and ensure an economically secure retirement."

The "Matthew Effect" appears to be in full force. The Matthew effect is the phenomenon that "the rich get richer and the poor get poorer." Before education can address this inequality the opportunity gap for young people needs to be addressed. This is a responsibility that belongs to everyone.

Navigating Two Worlds

Research studies indicate that Hispanic learners who are most successful have learned to navigate well in the dominant culture without sacrificing their heritage culture. This can be especially significant for our lower income Hispanic learners.
There are some things we plan to do at Esperanza Elementary to specifically address this:

• Teach all students to be literate in English and Spanish so they write and speak in both languages at a high level.


• Expose all students to what well educated people in the dominant culture know as well as acknowledging the contributions of their heritage culture. The intention is to widen their horizons.


• Expose students to the lifestyle of higher income people. For instance, taking them to cultural events (plays, operas, ballets, symphonies, etc.) and to nice restaurants. This is something Salome El-Thomas did with his chess winning students.


• Expose students--and their families-- to higher education institutions. Dr. Josie Tinajero developed an excellent Hispanic Mother/Daughter Program for 6th grade girls with this being the goal. We plan to implement this program at Esperanza as well as the Hispanic Father/Son Program Dr. Tinajero later developed. There is also a program called Adelante developed by some University of Utah professors we might want to emulate.


• Find mentors for students.


• Involve students in tutoring and mentoring younger students.


• Teach them financial skills. Many of them(and/or their parents) already have an entrepreneurial mindset that can be tapped into.

Students who can navigate two worlds will be richer--personally as well as probably financially. Thus, students such as these will also enrich our community and nation.