The Importance of an Ongoing Education
It is said that a college education is necessary for a successful future, but an important question to ask is who might actually be getting the needed higher education? Statistically, upper income families that have graduated from college are more likely to raise kids that succeed in college, unlike lower income families. Studies show that children from upper income families have more opportunities in school, opposed to lower income students. This “gap” between social classes is growing more everyday. There are two articles that discussed these studies and showed very few Americans between 25-34 successfully graduated from college. One author, Peter Sacks, wrote Educating the Hierarchs College and Class in America. This article discusses that wealth and social class play into the success of the “haves and have not’s”. Sacks also discusses the divide between the educated and uneducated. Eduardo Porter is the author of the article, Education Gap
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Eduardo Porter feels that before even starting school that the kids are already behind in multiple core subjects. “On the day they start kindergarten, children from families of low socioeconomic status are already more than a year behind the children of college graduates in their grasp of both reading and math.” (Porter) Whereas, Peter Sacks believes that the reason for low income youth being so far behind is that they are not given the same opportunities to succeed, like the upper class kids are. “Not all children have an equal chance at the starting gate. Inequality is compounded when educational institutions allocate opportunities based upon rules of the game that reward children from well-capitalized families in a zero sum game that excludes children who weren’t born so lucky.” (Sacks 83) Author’s, Porter and Sacks, paint a picture of just how big these education gaps may
Many middle to lower class families cannot afford to send their kids to school and with Ivy League schools like Harvard and Princeton giving out generous financial packages to their student, who mostly come from wealthy background. The poorer students are on the losing end because they are not given the opportunity for aid. As Terry Hartle, the senior vice president of the American Council of Education, says, "Smart poor kids go to college at the same rate as stupid rich kids." What this is saying is that the wealthy families have vastly more opportunity to succeed in the college system even though they have equal or lesser smarts. Well respected schools such as NYU are now admitting students based on the financial fit not by merit.
A college degree is a valuable asset that could ultimately lead to a productive life in society due to the received education, but people without a college degree do turn out more than adequate in regards to societal success. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, of the forecasted 30 fastest growing jobs between 2010 and 2020, five do not require a high school diploma, nine require a high school diploma, four require an associate 's degree, six require a bachelor 's degree, and six require graduate degrees to get the jobs (College). In an article called “College Education” by ProCon.org,
“What’s the key to success in the United States?”(Steinberg,2010), author Jacques Steinberg starts off his article “Plan B: Skip College” with a powerful question that has been asked by many Americans. Majority of Americans first thoughts would be higher education. The ideology that obtaining a degree is the best and sometimes only way to be successful in the American economy. This has been instilled in numerous children growing up. Steinberg states “perhaps no more than half of who began a four-year bachelor's degree program in the fall of 2006 will get that degree within six years according to the department of education”(Steinberg,2010). Students who tend to not excel in high school often take longer, or at times finish a higher education at all. These
Recently there has been a lot of debate about the importance of college education. Students are asking if it’s worth the debt to attend a four year university or community college. Some are thinking what are the benefits of a degree is in the workforce. With college tuition increasing and state fundings lowering, low income students are struggling to attain a higher education. College institutions should have a role to provide students higher education and equal opportunity to students to increase social mobility yet intergenerational reproduction of privilege has produced inequality in education.
The first determinant of one’s fate is their family’s background. Almost none of the children from low-income families made it through college. With the expenses of college today, I’m actually not surprised by that statistic. Of the children from low-income families, only 4 percent had a college degree at age 28, compared to 45 percent of the children from higher-income backgrounds. "That 's a shocking tenfold
Most people that have “upper class” title have means to a better education. Most educations come with very high cost, which can make it harder on someone that is in the lower classes. It might mean that the college a person chooses may not be a good fit for them. But some extended education after high school is better than none. A college degree, can give someone a better opportunity to a better career and a way to earn more money. Unfortunately for most Americans, the majority are stuck in either the lower to middle class. In 2014, a middle class income for a family of four ranged from $48,000 to
With the growing importance of higher education, more people than ever are attending college. According to a middle-class parent, “[Higher education] seen as a means of developing a career and getting secure employment.” (30, Higher Education, social class and social mobility) Moreover, “parents believe that their children need a university education to get on in life… over the past decades (parents) fearful that without a degree their children will be in danger of downward social mobility. (32, Higher
“The socioeconomic achievement gap in education refers to the inequality in academic achievement between groups of students. The achievement gap shows up in grades, standardized test scores, course selection, dropout rates, and college-completion rates, among other success measures” (Ansell, 2017). Typically, when discussing the achievement gap, educators are comparing the academic progress of African-American students or Hispanic students to the progress of white students. More-often-than-not the white students will have more educational achievements than their non-white colleagues (Ansell, 2017). The most widely accepted theory as to why students with higher socioeconomic status (SES) do better academically is high parental involvement, access to economic resources and access to highly qualified teachers (Huang, 2015. Pg.6). Students of low socioeconomic status often live in poverty. This means that the student may not have sufficient school supplies or even someone at home to help him with his homework. There are numerous children in the United States’ school systems that are failing due to the achievement gap. These students are at a disadvantage because the school systems and teachers do not notice or even care about their home life and how it comes into play in their education. It is important for our nation to not only understand the achievement gap but take steps toward correcting it.
Many wealthy people didn’t graduate from college. For example, the creator of Facebook Mark Zuckerburg, Microsoft founder Bill Gates, Media mogul Oprah Winfrey, and Twenty-one time Grammy winner Kanye West. All these individuals make a life of college dropout. They make their life sound enticing, we must remember that they are exceptions rather than the norm. A college degree is a common goal for families and a baseline requirement for jobs In the United States. A recent Pew Research study found that 94 percent of parents expected their children to go to college. The college attendance has not always been the case. During the 1940s, college was mostly a privilege of the wealthy. The most college students were white males; women and people of color were often barred from entry. The change began during WW2 ended, however, that began to change. The first major change involved the G.1 Bill in 1944. Students and their families make tough decisions when they think about attending college.
Society believes that a college degree is a requirement into entering the middle class. According to the essay “Should Everyone Go to College,” by Stephanie Owen and Isabel Sawhill higher education is not a great investment for every student. In my opinion, Stephanie Owen and Isabel Sawhill are right, college is not a good investment for every student because everyone’s circumstances are different.
Education is today more critical than ever. College has become virtually a precondition for upward mobility. Men with only a high school diploma earn about a fifth less than they did 35 years ago. The gap between the earnings of students with a college degree and those without one is bigger than ever.
College Education Education allows one to improve in the world and creates many marvelous improvements to the world. Education teaches one understanding of new technologies, the ability to determine what’s right or wrong, and helps one to make better choices in one life so that one may pursue he/she’s dreams of happiness. To better achieve in life, one needs to get better education and for that, one needs to complete high school and college. In “Where College Fails us” by Caroline Bird, Bird talks about how college is not for every student and say that college is only for those who are hard workers and believe college is the only way to be successful. On the other hand, Barber, in his “America Skips School” argues that American children are learning many wrong lessons outside of school and that society does not care.
In the article, “For the Poor, the Graduation Gap Is Even Wider Than the Enrollment Gap” by Susan Dynarski explains how the lower and upper class enroll in college at different rates, as well as graduate. A program was started known as the Educational Longitudinal Study. A study of dividing quartiles based on their parent’s educational background showed that parents with lower incomes were more likely to contain unskilled jobs compared to the higher income family containing manager positions. However, after 13 years, studies showed that only 14 percent of the less fortunate students and 60 percent of the fortunate students achieved their bachelors. By their late 20s tests also showed that 74 percent of wealthy students achieved their four-year
In this society of scratching and winning mega Jackpots or investing in your talent and earning more than a brain surgeon will ever earn in a life time, many parents today worry that their children might abandon education in search of alluring horizons that promise wealth without a college diploma. If the young people would stop to think about it, only a very small percentage of the population have such luck coming their way. College is and will always remain important because somethings, some experiences in life not even money can buy but a college can make you experience and reason like a diplomat. Ultimately, what is at stake here is the young people who have abandoned reality for utopia. Student loans and lack
Throughout the history of civilization, education has been an important tool in shaping an individual as well as the society that the individual is a part of. In the older civilizations, only the elite upper class had access to education. This kept these people at the top of the social ladder, and suppressed the common people who did not have access to the same education as the nobles. We have come a long way since then, with every child having access to a free high school degree. However, there is still some inequality in this modern education system that has similarities to the old injustices. In this day and age, a college degree is a great start for a young adult starting to enter the work force. According to a study conducted by Pew