Socioeconomic Status

Socioeconomic Barriers

Sociologists and educational researchers have revealed troubling dimensions of the barriers that can suppress ability and crush aspirations. Material deprivation, segregation, and stigmatization in racist and classist societies represent the most serious barriers. Among other sources, deprivation can arise from the following problems: (a) weak educational experiences in underfunded, innercity and rural, school systems; (b) poor nutrition, (c) inadequate early child care; (d) a U.S. health care system that leaves many children and their families without basic health care; (e) lack of employment opportunity for impoverished parents; and (f) economic globalization's undermining of lower-class wages and employment security, which enables corporations to move capital around the globe for cheap wages and weak employment regulations.

As for segregation, contrary to popular belief, the U.S. Civil Rights Movement did not solve the problem of partitioning populations by race and class. Despite progress made in de-institutionalizing racial segregation, de facto segregation by race, ethnicity, and class persists. Deprived children who are segregated sometimes lack the cultural capital and social networks that are especially needed by the gifted, as they discover high aspirations and develop talents for pursuing lofty dreams. Advantaged children's cultural capital provides them the insider knowledge and dispositions that are associated with the approving linguistic and cultural labels, such as “giftedness.” Segregation can also lock children into dangerous, violent, and toxic environments where the gifted and talented, [Page 817]for lack of legitimate opportunities, may turn toward criminal pursuits and gang leadership.

One other barrier posed by segregation is environmental racism, the location of toxic industries in poor neighborhoods that lack the political clout to resist. Bright children growing up in industrial areas may face the burden of environment-borne illnesses, making their aspirations far less attainable than are those of their more fortunate peers.

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