Even McDonald's, one of the lowest paying and least rewarding jobs, requires a high school diploma to be considered for employment in any area of work. .
With the above statistics, one would expect urban students, on average, to have poorer economic outcomes. It has been well-documented that people who have less education or who come from disadvantaged circumstances have more difficulty finding and sustaining employment. When they do find work, their earnings are most often lower than people who have higher education. It has been discovered that former students of urban schools "are more likely to be unemployed and living in poverty than those who had attended either rural or suburban schools" (Lippman 37).
These statistics provide evidence that something is definitely wrong with urban school systems. The children that attend these schools have no choice but to receive a less adequate education. What determines the quality of a student's education? The answer to that question is teachers. Teachers are the biggest and most effective part of a student's education. If a student has a teacher who is not qualified to teach that class what is the chance that the student will learn what is needed in that particular subject? Not a very good chance; that is why society sees such poor education coming from urban schools. The low test scores, completion of high school and a student's economic outcome is able to be improved by having certified teachers teaching. .
Having qualified teachers is a huge and positive step in fixing the quality of education an urban school gives to a student. No one seriously questions the proposition that well-prepared and skillful teachers are more desirable than poorly prepared and less skilled ones. "The majority of big-city science and mathematic teachers lack training in their subjects" (Hill 50). How uncomfortable that statement must be for the parents who have to send their children to urban schools knowing in advance that their child is already at a disadvantage because they attend a certain school.
