Education

We are still a long way from gender equality in the United States. Women currently make less money than men, even when working the same job. And when it comes to getting the top jobs, women are less likely to make the climb. 

But there's one area where women have not only caught up with men, they've pulled ahead: education.

We're starting to look into why certain kids are getting suspended from school more often than others, namely African-Americans, Latinos, students with disabilities, and low-income white students.

It’s not because these kids are worse than others or have taken misbehavior to new levels.

Instead, disturbingly, it’s because these kids are who they are---African-American, Latino, in special education, or low income. Closing the gap in achievement won’t happen if kids from different backgrounds are disciplined differently based on race, income, or other factors.

But even more disturbing, is the rise in preschool suspensions. Pre-K suspensions from state-funded program are three times higher than for K-12. 

  The census pushed a report yesterday called "The Decline in Private School Enrollment."

It's unclear just how many  kids are opting out of private schools for a cheaper option nationally, but it looks like the number has fallen from about half a million to 900,000  since 2002 (it is the census, so as good as the numbers and analysis will be, it's always a few years behind-the most recent numbers are for 2010). In Michigan private school enrollment went down by 20,000 between 2008 and 2010.

The report says a couple of things have led to the drop. Catholic schools have taken quite a hit because of sex abuse and subsequent cover-ups. And, because Catholic populations have been suburbanizing, where there are less Catholic schools or maybe they are less needed.

Preschools in this country are segregated. The segregation is based not on race, but on class.

No one sat down and made a plan for segregated preschools. It just kind of happened.

You can trace it back to 1965, with the launch of Head Start. It was created to help kids in poverty. Public dollars were set aside to make sure that these three and four year-olds could get an early education. For kids from the middle class and above, there was private preschool, paid for by parents.

Nearly 48 years after Head Start launched, that's the way it is today — separate preschools for separate income levels.

But there are some exceptions, like the preschool at the YWCA in Kalamazoo.  Some of the kids here come from families who spend as much as 400 dollars a month for full-time preschool.  Some come from families that are homeless.