If the United States could somehow guarantee poor people a fair shot at the American dream through shifting
education policies alone, then perhaps we wouldn't have to feel so damn bad about inequality — about low
tax rates and loopholes that
benefit the superrich and prevent us from expanding access to childcare and food stamps; about private primary and secondary schools that cost as much annually as an Ivy League college, and provide similar
benefits; about moving to a
different neighborhood, or to the suburbs, to avoid sending our children to school with kids who are not like them.
Further, providing
education assistance through various credits and deductions, each with slightly
different eligibility rules and
benefit amounts, makes it difficult for families to determine which
tax preferences provide the most assistance.