Summary Of Chapter Four Of Our Kids By Robert Putnam

Within the reading of chapter four of Our Kids by Robert Putnam one key point of his argument is that it really matters where kids attend school and who they are attending school with. The overall growing class gap is extremely evident within the American school system. However, schools are not responsible for the creation of the opportunity gap because the gap already exists before schools are put into the picture. While this may be true, the schools that kids from affluent families are attending are significantly different than schools that children from poorer families are attending. This could be a product of the fact that affluent and poor families are usually not living in the same areas. Adults with enough money are able to choose to buy houses in areas with good schools for their kids. The success of children is also affected by who they are going to school with because kids are strongly influenced by their peers. Therefore, if a child is in an extremely competitive school environment they are more likely to work hard and succeed. A negative school environment where kids don’t feel safe and no one is trying to learn

Participating in extracurricular activities, such as playing a musical instrument, playing a sport, or being in a club, has been found to provide many benefits and teach children skills that they do not learn in the classroom. This may seem like a good thing however, participation is unequal across social classes. Poorer kids are much less likely to/capable of participating in extracurricular activities. Richer kids have the time and money that poorer peers don’t and can use those resources to acquire valuable soft skills through extracurricular activities. Therefore, this only adds to the class based opportunity gap because affluent kids are able to attain these benefits while poorer kids are denied of the