Even the New York Times has noticed the disparity between rich and poor.  The following post from the Sunday April 28 Opinionator Column speaks to the vast and increasing differences in learning between the rich and all the rest of us.  Oddly enough, the things that make being poor so difficult are also the things that keep our children from doing well in school.  The author, Sean F. Reardon, a Stanford Professor, notes a large and and still growing gap in school performance between rich children and their less affluent peers.  Oddly all the changes in education policy over the last decades don't seem to have had any effect on this disparity.  Even thought all students are better in math and reading, the rich have continued to advance faster.

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/04/27/no-rich-child-left-behind/?smid=pl-share
"No Rich Child Left Behind"  

The question is what if anything should you and I do about this disparity?  Should we care that we are two different societies and that more and more power resides in an upper class that works hard to be better than or at least better educated than the rest of us?  As a socialist at heart I vote for action.

There are lots of things that the national government could and should be doing to make the field of play level for all children.  Put early parental and child education on the national agenda.  Make sure the poor have what they need to provide children with adequate stimulus and nutrition.  Make sure that schools in poor neighborhoods match those of their more affluent neighbors.   Maybe most importantly treat the poor as if they matter.  Of course, the current national government probably can not or will not do any of those things.

Luckily the community has the ability to do what the government can not or will not do.  With the exception of money, the poor have everything we need to improve children's learning.  Community organizing could provide day care and early learning in poor communities.  The same is true of parenting classes and nutritional help.  Even the money problem can be solved with community help. Yes the one percent does have most of the wealth, but you and I and 300 million others between us can do quite a bit with what's left. We can and must use our own solidarity as a shield protecting against the propaganda that tells us being poor is the cause and not the result of larger forces in the nation.  We can fix this if we just try.