Nearly 50 million U.S. elementary and secondary students have headed back to school this week for the start of a new school year, the Huffington Post reports. These children and young people will head to class carrying backpacks and an immeasurable, invisible weight — their parents’ hopes that they will acquire valuable skills and knowledge and, armed with a good education, move upward on the ladder of economic mobility. But not all of these students will get a fair shot. Low-income children born today in Canada and a dozen European countries stand a better chance of improving their lot in life than low-income children born in the United States. Mounting evidence shows that the American Dream is increasingly out of reach, and that geography too often determines one’s destiny. Studies show that neighborhoods and schools with higher concentrations of poverty provide fewer opportunities for their residents and students…