One of the main social problems the USA is currently facing is the problem of the widening gap between the inner city population of large American cities, which mainly represent ethnic minorities, including African Americans, Latin Americans and others, and the rest of the American society, especially representatives of the middle and upper-classes. In such a situation, many children living in poverty stricken neighborhoods of the inner city are deprived of an opportunity to change their social status and improve their socioeconomic position. At the same time, the solution of this problem may be found in the field of education, which should become truly available to all Americans.
However, taking into consideration numerous socioeconomic problems of the population living in the inner city, it is obvious that children living in low-income families cannot receive a higher education. Therefore, special social programs should be introduced to open new opportunities for children in poverty stricken neighborhoods to get education and, thus, get an opportunity to change their life for better. In this respect, information technologies can be very helpful because they allow developing distant learning which may be incorporated in the aforementioned social programs.
On analyzing prospects of the development of the social program aiming at the available education for children living in poverty stricken neighborhoods, it is primarily necessary to dwell upon the current situation and educational programs available to them. In this respect, it should that, today, low-income families cannot afford higher education for their children nor they can afford education in private schools, for instance. Instead, children living in poverty stricken regions have only one option ”“ attend public schools. This is exactly where the problem arises and the gap between children of the inner city and children of middle- and upper-class families widens. Unlike children living in low-income families, children of middle-class and upper-class family can attend private schools and get better education. As a result, the barrier between low-class children and the rest of American children become unsurpassable when they grow up because without a solid academic basis they cannot get a well-paid and prospective job. Hence, they are doomed to poverty and the life in the inner city which simply becomes a kind of ghetto for them.
In such a situation, the social program can be really helpful for them if it manages to close the educational gap between children of the inner city and other children. In this respect, it should be said that the program should be supported by the government as well as by private organizations and individuals. The program should involve educators who could provide children living in the inner city with the education of a qualitatively higher quality compared to the education they get in public schools. Taking into consideration the scope of the problem, it is obvious that the social program cannot provide sufficient amount of educators for all children living in low-income families. In such a case, the program would simply replace the existing system of public schools.
Instead, it is necessary to create several educational centers where educators can work, develop specific curriculum based on the needs of children of the inner city. But the main point of this program is the fact that it will be a distant learning program. To put it more precisely, educators working in the educational centers will interact and communicate with children in the inner city easily with the help of modern technologies, such as Internet or even modern audio-visual telecommunication systems, though the latter can be too expensive. In such a way, teachers can communicate and interact with children regardless of their physical location.
At this point, the problem of the availability of Internet and IT to children in poverty stricken neighborhoods arises. This problem can be solved by means of the creation of special classrooms in the public schools, which children can attend regularly and get their education, which may enhance consistently the education they receive in public schools. It is worth mentioning the fact that student may have individual programs of learning depending on their educational level, knowledge, age, etc. All students who are willing to participate in such programs and who live in low-income families should be enrolled in the program. In such a way, they can receive more knowledge, develop new skills and abilities due to the participation in the program.
Moreover, potentially it is possible to extend the program and assist to those students who participated in the program during their school years to get the university education on the same, i.e. distant, basis. Today, students can study online and the program can assist students to get higher education. At this point, it is even possible to provide the most gifted students with special grants to buy essential equipment to study at the University online.
Thus, the introduction of the social program aiming at the improvement of the education of children living in the inner city can close the gap between these children and children of the middle- and upper-class families. Moreover, the program will enlarge their job opportunities.