The Effects Of Free Secondary Education On The Middle Class

According to Friedman globalization was classified into three time periods. Globalization 1.0 (1492 to 1800) was considered to shrink the world from large to medium due to countries globalizing for resources and imperial conquest. Globalization 2.0 (1800 to 2000) was considered to shrink the world from medium to small because of companies globalizing for markets and labor. Globalization 3.0 (2000 to present) is shrinking the

The definition is excellent in describing the system that is present today. Friedman pointed out that markets around the globe become intertwined into one web of connectivity, where one company in North America can easily interact and do business with an individual in Asia, and create profits. However, the inter-connectivity I believe in has more to it. Going beyond what Friedman stated, I argue that the globalization of world markets not only helps the existing large financial centers of the world, but also smaller, and often times, newer markets. While I do not agree with the outsourcing of jobs, the factories moved to lower wage countries is a benefit to people working, and living there. It offers employment, and a life to the workers that they would have never had if the factories were never sent there. It helps the poorer nations in developing an economy, and become part of the global market. Friedman said that Supermarkets can destroy nations (473), but its power could also aid the poorer nations to grow and even maybe, join the global

In the past, President Rutherford B. Hayes was the first president to address free public education in 1877 (Sanders A.23). Hayes simply believed education was the basis for full political and economic participation, and full participation was the basis for a prosperous economy. Therefore, education should be free and available to everyone regardless of their background (Sanders A.23). By the 1950’s, a family with only one breadwinner could graduate from high school and move straight into a decent-paying job with good benefits, buy a house, raise a family, and pay for their children’s education. Unfortunately, that American dream is not a possibility for most Americans today (Sanders A.23). To get to the middle class, the pathway is through a higher education; however, with the rising cost of a higher education and cost of living, it is becoming more and more

The United States is currently experiencing increased income inequality and a large gap between rich and poor that continues to grow. After the Wall Street meltdown in 2008 and the recession that followed, economic recovery has been extremely slow and the inequality of America’s income distribution seems to be intensifying. Since the recession, the top one percent of earners in the US has experienced notably higher percentages of income growth, while the incomes of the middle class have become frozen with little to no significant increases. This has led to a substantial concentration of wealth. Many Americans have become skeptical and concerned about the chance of upward mobility in such an unbalanced economy. Education inequality is

So far Thomas Friedman has identified three eras of globalization. Globalization 1.0 lasted from 1492 (when Columbus set sail to the ‘new world’) to 1800. Friedman describes this as when we “shrank the world from a size large to a size medium” (9). This era began discovering new lands and set up trade with outside civilizations. Globalization 2.0 lasted from 1800 to 2000 when the world transformed to a “size small” due to the industrial revolution and the expansion of multinational corporations. And finally, globalization 3.0 when the world went flat because of remarkable technological advancements. Other nations, including those in the third world category, are finally able to access vast amounts of knowledge, and their previously closed off economies are now open to provide more work for their people. The economies of these nations exploded from a large labor force and exportation, but the American economy didn’t do as great. From 2000 to 2014, the share of adults living in middle-income households fell in 203 of the 229 US metropolitan areas. Global commerce has been dominated by transnational companies that do not care for individual countries, but rather cheap wages and productivity, which undeveloped nations have. Jobs that require high school diplomas, or are plain simple, are either sold off to another country or automated. Automation is the replacement of human beings with robots or machines in order to reduce salary expenses and

In the past, people’s dream of working hard, affording a nice house and providing for your family was easily attained. Today, to get a good-paying job, requires having a high school diploma, a college degree, and at least two years experience in that field of work. Except for a high school diploma, these qualifications are extremely difficult to meet as a child coming from a lower income background. In the past, jobs did not always require a college degree. An individual would get a low level job in a big company right out of high school. Through hard work and ambition an individual could get promoted and receive a higher wage. All of those steps lead to big

People can no communicate, create, and transfer information within a split of the second. Friedman mentions "Globalization 1.0 and 2.0 were driven primarily by European and American individuals and businesses" (Friedman, 631.) What he means is business, and individual are interacting and integrating between one another in the Western and European world, but since; Globalization 3.0 is approaching at a rapid pace. Friedman stated (because it is flattening and shrinking the world, Globalization 3.0 is going to be more and more driven not only by individual but also by a much more diverse--- none-Western, nonwhite---group of individual" (Friedman, 631.) Even though India was the reason he came to the conclusion the world is flat, but during that time, China, Japan, and many other country are doing the same thing. This new era will be power by global market which is striving on competition, and those who can't catch up will be left behind.

Education reform can be taken to educate the public on what exactly wealth inequality is and its effects on the United States’ economy. Changes such as expanding public education to all members of the socioeconomic ladder, further regulating charter and private schools, and ensuring the children of tomorrow are learning what is really happening in the United States through current events education can help solve the obfuscation of wealth inequality. Providing lower-cost education to members of the middle and lower classes could fight the decline of social mobility in the United States caused as a result of wealth inequality. Although education reform will certainly cost the United States in the short-term, long-term effects such as higher wages, improved health, reduced dependency on social welfare programs, and increased volunteerism are well worth the initial costs. Although investing in education is a viable option, there are other ways to solve the problem of wealth

However, it is nearly impossible for us to make progress towards this end when we are bogged down by centuries of social injustice and deeply ingrained power imbalances. We continue to push this idea of The American Dream, where anyone, no matter their circumstances, can pull themselves up by their bootstraps and become some self made man archetype. In reality, people are afforded drastically different opportunities on the basis of their socioeconomic status, race, and gender. For many Americans, the quality of their education is decided by their zip code. Here in Alabama, for instance, our 1901 Constitution mandates that education funding come from property and sales taxes, which are directly related to the income of the families zoned for a school. This means that in rural and otherwise underprivileged counties, there is little to no funding for these schools which puts these children at a significant intellectual disadvantage, from kindergarten on to the rest of their lives. You can’t pull yourself out of the cycle of poverty if you are never given the means or opportunity to succeed. We have a corrupt system that benefits the interests of a small, privileged elite over the working class majority, and that, at the end of the day, places the value of economic capital over that of

We can see the effects of globalization in three major periods of time. The first starts in 1492 and goes all the way to 1800. This was a time where countries become more global with the rest of the world. Globalization 2.0 was from the 1800 to roughly 2000. This was a time of companies developing the global marketplace. Globalization 3.0 is a period of time we are in today. It will level the world and will be a period of individuals and small groups globalizing. “This era is not going to be

In this chapter, Thomas Friedman looks at how cultures and societies will have to deal with and adapt to the changes that globalization brings to the way of doing business. It affects whole companies and individuals. He gives the perception of the world is flattening by comparing the Industrial Revolution to the IT Revolution that is happening right now. The flattening process was identified by Karl Marx and Frederich Engels in the Communist Manifesto, published in 1848. Marx’s writings about capitalism state “the inexorable march of technology and capital to remove all barriers, boundaries, frictions, and restraints to global commerce (Friedman 234).”

The world’s middle class is growing while America’s middle class stays the same. United States has a smaller middle class compared to other countries like China, Canada, Australia and Switzerland. Rich are getting richer and poor are getting poorer and the middle class either stays how it is or gets smaller. Every modern country’s goal is to cut poverty and grow the middle class. In order to grow the middle class we need to increase the minimum wage. The minimum wage has been raised from 7.25 dollars per hour to about 9-10 dollars per hour. With minimum wage increase we encourage workers to get out of poverty and have an ability to improve their financial status. Another reason why United States has a “poor” middle class is that higher education puts kids into debt while higher education in other countries is tuition free. Students in debt are not likely to become wealthy anytime soon which raises a question if higher education is even worth it. Making higher education affordable is a key to grow the middle class. The other reason that might be affecting the middle class being small is medical insurance not being available for the most. Not everyone can afford medical insurance. Government needs to provide affordable medical insurance to improve the middle class and cut down poverty. Last but not least, opening a business is a hard task for low and middle class. While rich open up businesses and expand, lower class is struggling. Having some economic aid from government

According to Thomas Friedman’s article Globalization can be defined as “the inexorable integration of markets, transportation systems, and communication systems to a degree never witnessed before – in a way that is enabling corporations, countries, and individuals to reach around the world farther, faster, deeper, and cheaper than ever before” (Friedman). The United States is the strongest country that controls the market in the world; therefore, the United States is trying very hard to keep its important role in the worlds market on the same level by focusing on the international market instead of growing the domestic market. This problem helps the inequality to be presented highly in jobs and other rights that will lead to affect other countries’

Thomas Friedman mentions that world is growing flatter. When he says that world is flat, he means that world is becoming more economically fair and levelling opportunities and wealth among all the nations. With easy access to information and availability of opportunities irrespective of one’s locations is providing for people from many different countries with an equal chance to succeed economically.

The political system works in a way to make everyone equal and provide individuals with similar opportunities. Many citizens of the United States complain due to the logic of poor individuals’ purchases, but still are required to benefit these people with their hard earned money. A possible solution would be giving more money to school funding, which in correlation would increase to higher levels of education and success in career fields. The majority of the poor population that is currently government funded will never be encouraged to work due to the benefits we provide them. By doing this, individuals of wealth will show more respect towards