This is a discussion! This was my teachers response to this to my post and I need it fixed. I need this by 2pm on 9/9/18. Candyce Thank you for your post! You are providing some wonderful facts and research here. One element we want to consider when structuring our introductions is how we can "hook" the reader into our paper by offering a context for the issue we will discuss. We want to make sure not to overwhelm the reader with too much information. If you were to reduce this introduction to five or seven sentences to give the reader a quick overview what might this introduction look like? Please be sure to also underline your thesis and provide a discussion of who you feel the audience in your piece is paying special attention to the questions: will the audience be on your side? Wavering? Or, will they need convincing?

This is my post! Do Children from Poor Backgrounds Perform More Poorly Than Rich Ones Introduction The society has been made to believe that the compulsory public school system is supposed to equalize the education process by providing every learner with the same and equal opportunities irrespective of their socioeconomic statuses. However, research studies show otherwise. The studies indicate that the equality in the system has never been achieved. In fact, the system is much less equal today than ever before due to the growing number of poor families. Children from poor backgrounds display substantially poor performance in their studies, especially in mathematics and reading skills by the time they reach the school-going age. Studies have indicated that the wide gaps that exist in pre-school skills continue and can extend to the adulthood life of the students. This helps explain the low educational achievement and also social life success among the students from poor backgrounds. Most studies appear to agree that the substantial differences in reading skills and mathematics performance among learners from poor backgrounds are directly associated with their parental income. Some scholars express their concern that the impact may persist throughout the adolescent life and even into adulthood life of the student (Caucutt, Lonchner, & Park, 2015; Caucutt, 2015). As Tavernize (2012) explains, education has been historically considered to be a great equalizer in the general American society because educated people were able to lift themselves and their families out of the poverty. However, Gray (2017) disagrees citing that the situation has even escalated from bad to worse today. According to Gray (2017), the gap between the poor and the rich is wider today than ever before. Based on the Sean Reardon's study in 2012, Gray tries to explain and justify the reason why the inequality level has increased. The reason is because of of the growing number of poor families. According to Gray (2017), the gap between the poor and the rich exists at all grade levels in the learning institutions and it is even growing wider today than in the early years. Therefore, it is difficult to perceive what the long-term picture for the children from poor backgrounds would look like in the coming years. As this research will show, children from the poor backgrounds are caught up in the economic struggles and are unable to compete effectively with their rich counterparts because of the unmet needs, low-quality learning settings, and unstable socioeconomic circumstances. References Caucutt, E. (April 28, 2015). “The real reason why poor kids perform worse in school- and in life.” The Washington Post. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2015/04/28/the-real-reason-why-poor-kids-perform-worse-in-school-and-in-life/noredirect=on&utm_term=.65c64d9a1b98 Caucutt, E., Lochner, L., & Park, Y. (April 29, 2015). “Why Do Poor Children perform so Poorly.” Center for International Governance Innovation. Retrieved from https://www.cigionline.org/publications/why-do-poor-children-perform-so-poorly Gray, P. (September 20, 2017). “Mend the Gap between Rich and Poor in School Achievement.” Psychology Today. Retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/freedom-learn/201709/mend-the-gap-between-rich-and-poor-in-school-achievement Ratchcliffe, C. (September 2015). “Child Poverty and Adult Success.” Urban Institute. Retrieved from https://www.urban.org/sites/default/files/publication/65766/2000369-Child-Poverty-and-Adult-Success.pdf Tavernise, S. (February 9, 2012). “Education Gap Grows between Rich and Poor, Studies Say.” The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/10/education/education-gap-grows-between-rich-and-poor-studies-show.html