Status Attainment Theory Paper

The theory I connect with the most is Donald Super’s “life-span, life-space” theory. Donald Super devised a developmental stage theory involving one 's personal growth, acquisition of skills, and general development towards working. Super created a useful framework for conceptualizing the constantly evolving nature of career development. The theory presents the career process as one in which a person is confronted with various stages that he or she must undergo and complete before moving on to the next stage.

Students from low-income and first generation backgrounds often struggle in different academic subjects. Subsequently, students have lower expectations for themselves when it comes to academic achievement. The majority of first generation students come from low socioeconomic backgrounds. Seeing that, families work countless hours in factories and other places where they are underpaid because of the lack of educational opportunity they experienced themselves. According to Blackwell and Pinder (2014) in the United States higher education is becoming the outlet to different avenues of opportunity whether it is through social mobility or economic progress. While screening out possible topics of interest for a research proposal, one of the challenges I encountered in my field experience was the lack of college access education and funding for the families in the urban high schools. The first generation student family typically is unaware of the college process because the student’s parents have not attended an institution of higher education. Therefore, the students cannot count on their knowledge of the process. Eventually, when students reach the financial aid process it becomes difficult because parents usually cannot afford full tuition expenses and at the same time do not understand the process. In these situations, schools with a college going culture can prepare staff to provide extra support to students by developing professional training in college access, mentorship

Obtaining a degree remains one of the most important pathways to economic and social class in the United States (U.S.), regardless of rising tuition costs and the value of having a higher education coming in to question. Of the 20.6 million students enrolled in a college or university, first-generation college students represents about one-third (The Institute for Higher Education Policy, 2012). These group of individuals are more likely to encounter academic, financial, professional, cultural, and emotional difficulties (Sanez, Hurtado, Barrera, Wolf, and Yeung, 2007).

In the article “Who Gets to Graduate” by Paul Tough examines a problem about low income students are less likely to graduate from college than students from middle class or wealthier families. In the United States, school systems are not created equally. Middle and upper class students have access to safe and modern schools equipped with everything they possibly need to stay in that high rank because they came from a family who has the money to support their studies. Students from low-income families don’t have a lot of the support, stability, and money from home that higher-income students can take for granted.

“Kids who are the first in their families to brave the world of higher education come on campus with little academic know-how and are much more likely than their peers to drop out before graduation” (1). Many people believe that school isn’t for everyone, and whoever goes is privileged for doing so. Countless people in the world today do not attend college, and this is mainly due to an influence of those in their family. Perhaps they are unsupportive of higher education, their parents and family members may view their entry into college as a break in the family system rather than a continuation of their schooling and higher learning. Most of the first-generation students decide to apply to colleges, because they aspire to jobs which require degrees. However, unlike some students whose parents have earned a degree, they often seek out college to bring honor to their families, and to ensure they make a decent amount of money for their future.

Today in society the determination for a college degree lies beyond education towards future financial security. While college debt seems to be ever increasing, students from low-income families are less likely to attend college due to the financial hardship. The social class that a student’s family falls into shows correlation on whether that student will or not attend college (Peske & Haycock, 2006). However, looking at this issue from my own prospective it seems as though no matter the social class students are attending college. What more so seems to have an affect on outcomes for individuals is how there family’s social economic status effects how well a student performs in college. For a student from a low-income family nothing can seem more daunting than the overwhelming amount of debt we have to pay after college.

My junior year of high school was filled with high emotions, stressful moments, and tension about where to apply to college and where I would be accepted and ultimately attend. At a “Making the Most out of your Sixth Semester” forum that year, the entire junior class experienced lectures from the school’s college resource counselors about how to prepare for this arduous battle of college admissions. The way Sue Biermert, who is the College Admissions Counselor at my high school, opened the forum was by asking a question to the parents that put everything into perspective: “How many of you parents feel like you are successful?” Every single hand shot up from the 500 parents in the

Families of first-generation students do not know how to assist their children when it comes to exploring different careers, or searching for scholarships. These students can easily get discouraged as they do not have a role model figure to look after. In a study by Royster, Gross, & Hochbein (2015), it was mentioned (Kuh, Cruce, Shoup, Kinzie & Gonyea, 2008; Lloyd, Leicht, & Sullivan, 2008) that parents that do not have the firsthand knowledge of academic resources or college expectations do not encourage their children to challenge themselves with course that will lead them to be college bound. In addition, students may not feel motivated or supported by their families. It is important to understand that early exposures to college or career conversation do not necessary starts until their high school years.

My high school only had fourteen counselors to help the 4,263 students in attendance, this counselor-to-student ration meant that not much time could be devoted to each student to help them navigate the complex college application system (Common Core Data 2010). During my time, I never actually spoke to any of the counselors about college plans and I was not even aware that they could help in that area. The only time I met with a counselor was to choose classes for the next year and those meetings never exceeded ten minutes. Also, coming from a family that had not attended college, I was still without the knowledge of how to gain access into the realm of higher education. In the following sections I detail how the cultural capital borrowed or learned from special programs or individuals ultimately impact a student’s upward mobility

Socioeconomic status measures as a combination of education and income. Poverty levels have similarities of lower education and poor health for children’s and families. Little has been found to understand how poor, single African American mothers view marriage as a strategy to end poverty and their reliance on welfare (Deborah, H., & Domeinco, P,2008). A strong influence on academic level on socioeconomic status within the United States. The delayed of marriage by college-educated women have benefited from marriage later than other demographic groups. Higher education impacted the age and length of marriage. Likewise, women who graduated from high school or some college education have approximately 30 percent and 20 percent lower odds

Fewer than half of high school students across the country feel they’re ready for college and careers, even though these remain top goals for students. High school student feels unprepared mentally and academically applying to college. Students' decisions and way of thinking correlates what their parents and families think. Parents are one of the major factors of a child's upbringing. Children tend to listen to what their parents tell them and take this manner with them as they grow older. The child's peers, environment and institutions are also part of the major factors of their decision making as they approach adulthood.

In a state with a greater gap in income inequality, youths of low socioeconomic status would have had a 30% lower income in their career compared to that of youths of the same status from states with less inequality. Likewise, individual in the former had a 8% chance of returning to school whereas there was a 10.6% with the latter (Kearney & Levine, 2016, pp. 347). Failing to identify role models in low socioeconomic communities can cause one to fail to identify with college. However, one could also be demotivated by living close to a household of higher socioeconomic status (Kearney & Levine, 2016, pp. 348-349). It makes the prospect on financial success seem comparatively unreachable. With lower obvious income inequality, there is a greater motivation to strive in education because one can feel more competitive with colleagues whose capabilities are not so superior to oneself. Ultimately, striving to achieve success through education was, as the researchers mentioned, “most appropriately considered a cumulative measure of ability, reflecting innate endowments, environmental influences, and the result of formal and informal human capital investment” (Kearney & Levine, 2016). If an individual cannot overcome the obstacles that are cast by

In our generation today High School students are at the age of having to know what they want to do for a career and what are the components the students need to have to achieve this. When choosing a career or career choices this is a main focal point in a young person’s life. There are many practical approaches and beliefs when approaching career selecting and it can be an intensive process. A first step in a career planning process would be assessing an individual/client with evaluating their willing/eagerness in the process (Gerstan, 2013). When looking into a specific career, planning with a high school

Jody Clay-Warner and associates article “Justice Standard Determines Emotional Responses to Over-Reward” looks at a central concern in sociology, over-reward, and two justice standards’, classic equity theory and status value theory, impact on emotional responses to the over-reward. Classic equity theory emphasizes a zero sum approach, where if one person is being over-reward than another person is being directly under-rewarded. On the other hand, status value theory looks at over-reward with a larger lens, where people compare themselves to general categories of others. Clay-Warner has found that studies have been variable when looking at the emotional responses to over-reward. Clay-Warner argues that “the invocation of different justice standards--local equity versus referential--accounts for the variation in findings regarding emotional responses to over-reward”. This argument becomes the hypothesis of the journal article, answering the research question of why studies have shown different outcomes on emotional responses from over-reward. Clay-Warner explains that referential structures have more loosely connected comparisons, and therefore people have “no sense that one’s own over-reward results in reduced rewards for another”. Why would people feel negative emotions towards over-reward? Clay-Warner attributes that to justice theory, where expectations of reward override self-interest. There is an important issue with this journal article, though, as referential justice

For many people, finding a career that is both fulfilling and practical is a strenuous task. Fortunately, there is a plethora of different interventions, techniques, assessments, and inventories designed to aid those individuals in making the wisest career choices possible. But are any of those routes inherently better than the others? Or are all the differing options separate but equally effective? Donald Super’s Life Span Theory and John Holland’s Theory of Vocational Choice are just two of the many theories used for career counseling. Both methods are distinct in the way they approach career issues, yet despite their differences, there are some resemblances between the two theories as well. Comparing and contrasting these two theories will make it easier to see if one theory is better than the other for career counseling or if they are both equally effective.