This course will be taught entirely online via Zoom.
This class will focus on how stagnant wages. economically and racially segregated neighborhoods and public schools, the lack of household savings, and soaring consumer debt has created economic inequality gaps that cause American workers to struggle to become middle class and achieve the American Dream.
Using the lens of the coronavirus pandemic, we will explore how laws and policies over the last 50 years have forced some Americans into a contingent workforce where they are deemed gig, contractor or temporary workers (not full-time employees) who are poorly paid and receive inadequate employee benefits. We also will explore K-12 public schools systems and why children receive radically different educational services based largely on their parents’ household income or whether they have access to the Internet and private academic tutoring. These K-12 educational deficiencies now make it harder for lower- and middle-income students to attend colleges, particularly elite colleges, that will help them succeed financially.
One class meeting consists primarily of small group discussions and course materials will be of diverse types, including media clips, excerpts from law review articles, government reports, empirical studies, news articles and blog entries. Evaluation is based on a series of short assignments and a final paper.
Dickerson, Mechele 