The American Public Has Termed Education As The Great Equalizer Essay

There was a time when America’s education system was top-notch according to the culture and society. With time, a myriad of things has changed, but unfortunately what has not evolved is the American education system. The country is still following a system which was not designed for the current global economic climate. Equality, as positive as it sounds is not as sufficient when it comes to education. The system treats students equally yet expect a similar culmination and outcome. Every child has his individuality and distinct abilities; one cannot judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree. Conversely, a few of the prominent reasons why the education system is failing are overcrowded schools, the rise of technology, and following the same old school hours.

The law of supply and demand is an economic theory that explains how supply and demand are related to each other and how the relationship affects the price of goods and services. It's a basic economic principle that states that when there is an oversupply of a good or service, prices fall. When there is high demand, prices tend to rise. (Investopedia, 2015)

     Will Durant, a businessman and the founder of General Motors, once said, “Education is the transmission of civilization.” Unfortunately, education is still one of the most deliberated and controversial issues in the United States. Thus far, the privilege or right to receive education has not attained the level of equality throughout the nation; poor districts obtain less educational funding while rich districts obtain more, creating an immense gap between the quality of schools in poor and rich areas.

America has spent more money supporting our operations in the Middle East than we will ever spend on education for our children. Doctor Barber makes the statement clear in the title of the article that we are introduced into “brand learning” in schools. So are we citizens or consumers? Can we be both and still be successful? The article states that poor schools are propositioned by Channel One as I mentioned earlier, and that this type of propaganda spans out into universities as well. Doctor Barber poses the question, what type of soda machines are in your school. At the University of Oklahoma we have a Starbucks, Wendy’s, Sbarro’s, and many more. Overall I think Doctor Barber’s assumptions of America’s students is we are living life in neutral, not because we are lazy, but because we are a product of what our education systems and our government are making us. He suggests that we could be pushed into overdrive if we obtain an education and learn through others languages and cultures. We can push on if we can avoid or block out some of the advertising propaganda that we are force fed as children.

In the article “Bring on the Elites!”, Joel Stein shares the widespread view that education is essential to future success. Based on this view, some perceive the population growth in America and resulting increase in the number of students attending public school as positive, since the benefits of education now extend to more people. However, this trend points to a pressing problem in the education system. Without funding for sufficient facilities or teachers to accommodate additional students, administrators repeatedly push schools past capacity to the detriment of both students and staff. In economic terms, there is excess demand in comparison to supply, resulting in disequilibrium for the consumers. The current system is turning education into a commodity meant for mass production.

From an early age, individuals in America have tried to do everything in their power to reduce the inequalities of gender and race; however, the inequalities of education have proven to affect the future of the country the most. Education is a fundamental human right that is indispensable to both the well-being of an individual and society. To many people, it is considered a great equalizer in America, improving the lives and opportunities for children from a young age. Nevertheless, the great equalizer is constantly threatened, affecting the developments of these opportunities. The unequal distribution of wealth affects students of all ages in the education system. In order to reduce education inequality, the funds allocated to the low-income neighborhoods in a state should to be increased not only to decrease the gap between rich and poor and decrease the amount of poorly paid teachers, but also to provide schools with enough resources to ensure success.

Supply and demand concepts are all around us. Take for example a shoe factory. From a macroeconomic perspective everybody needs shoes. This type of product is a necessary and not a luxury product. So, there will always be a higher demand of shoes. The company will always try to find the best price to sell the shoes so that the demand increases. The price of shoes is also determined by the production cost of the shoe since it needs to be higher than it. Producing the shoes does not only depend on the company itself but on other macroeconomic indicators. For example, if oil prices increase, the company will need to increase the price of the shoes since it would cost more to pay the suppliers for delivering the materials needed in the production process. Also, as the law of supply says, when supply increases, the price increases. If the supply

The outlook of the United States’ future is in jeopardy. The reality is that the United States is falling behind the world and will continue do so due to its education system. The standards of U.S. education have stagnated while globally, the competition has become fiercer and more bent upon producing the best students. The U.S. government pays for $10,995 for a student. South Korea spends $6,723 and consistently gets higher scores than the U.S in math, reading and science. These are unacceptable results. In business, one should try to maximize profits while minimizing costs. The U.S. education system not

Most Americans believe that the United States public education system is largely based on the principles of work ethic and equal opportunity. We are taught that a strong work ethic is important in achieving good grades, and that these grades are crucial to attending elite universities and earning scholarships. The aforementioned features are key components of the dominant American ideology; a way of seeing that feels natural and inevitable. Although major institutions such as schools legitimize a societal reward system based on merit and hard work, also known as a meritocracy, the U.S. public education system evidently contains tremendous inequality, much of which is maintained and produced through the institution itself. Furthermore, structural factors such as cumulative advantage, which explains how those who are successful gain additional success, offer an explanation for the inequalities in the school system that manifest unexpectedly and cannot be solved by money. Through the legitimation of the dominant American ideology and the process of cumulative advantage, the U.S. public education system perpetuates social inequality within the classroom and provides additional power to those already born with better life chances.

about because of how much it has changed from the past to the present. Education first was

In the United States there has always been a proud sense of freedom. However, there are many situations in this free country that are still not free. Educational policy has been a difficult issue to address. Education wants to provide for all students, which most of the time means segregating students with certain needs so they can be individually met (Raines, 1996). “In short, society has improved their access to equal education by decreasing their freedom to associate with their peers without disabilities” (Raines, 1996, p. 113). In order to insure students with disabilities received and education the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act or IDEA was implemented in 1978. (Hasazi, Johnston, Schattman, & Liggett, 1994). However to prevent segregated classes the LRE or Least Restrictive Environment mandate was

And despite increasing public pressure for some type of educational reform to restore competition, public school educators have almost unanimously opposed school choice and vouchers. Because they currently enjoy a protected position by being insulated from competition in education, teachers also have an incentive NOT to teach students to think clearly about educational choice. Teaching students to appreciate and understand the role of competitive, market forces would undermine an agenda of increased funding of public education. If students and parents were taught to appreciate the principles free markets and competition, they would become increasingly intolerant of inefficient, statist bureaucracies and would demand competition and choice in education.

We, in the United States of America, live in an inarguably market-driven economy where he who has the most or the best usually wins. Whether its the most wealth, the most power, the most influence, or when speaking of education, the most opportunity; starting out on top has life altering advantages. Many Americans would argue that Education is a common good, a stepping-stone through which students can make something better of their futures. Therefore, should society set up a system to create winners and losers in education? There are also those who believe that serving children, stakeholders, and our communities can come from market-based reforms. So where did we come from and in what direction are we headed in the future of education?

The consumers and producers behave differently. To explain their behavior better economists introduced the concepts of supply and demand. In short words, the law of demand states that with price increase quantity demanded of a good or services decreases, and the law of supply states that quantity of a good produced increase if the market price of that good increases. Of course, it is just general rule and does not explain all varieties of factors impacting the supply and

Like the law of demand, the law of supply demonstrates the quantities that will be sold at a certain price. But unlike the law of demand, the supply relationship shows an upward slope. This means that the higher the price, the higher the quantity supplied. Producers supply more at a higher price because selling a higher quantity at a higher price increases revenue.