Cummings And Del Tabel: Chapter Analysis

In this chapter, Roach thinks of Hugh Patterson, as she also thinks about how Patterson will continue to teach even when dead. Roach supports this idea and wants to be presented for educational purposes once she passes away. She wants to become an educational skeleton and donate her body to be aesthetically pleasing. She calls the University of New Mexico Maxwell Museum of Anthropology, which is a place that accepts donated bodies for educational skeletons. She then is given a choice of watching a "cut down" or a "pour off." A cut down cuts away the flesh and a pour off dissolves flesh by boiling it. Since Roach doesn’t want to live in New Mexico the rest of her life, and because of other reasons, she declines both of these choices and the

The example of President Bill Clinton, who moved up from working class to a higher class through education, to Bill Gates who succeed without no degree. In the past decades, Americans assumed that people can move up to higher class if they have the willingness to be successful and if work hard because everyone gets the same opportunities. While, in current era, there are 5 classes which are upper, upper middle, lower middle, working, and lower classes, but people are divided in countless micro classes based on lifestyle, connections, occupations, etc. Moreover, the socio-economic status of an individual determine if their kids are going to college or not, or if they would be able to attend specific college. These evidences strongly support the thesis of the authors because it suggests that with the passage of time, the class lines became blurred and complex but these lines still divide people based on different factors.

Although most American views prosperity as an individual effort, still the society is stratified and there is no way to ignore the class factors on individuals. The educational and economical life of a child still depends on the educational level of their parents and the wealth they inherit from their parents.

Jonathan Kozol, in the chapter entitled “Other People’s Children, discusses and justifies the kinds of limitations placed on children who must attend poorly funded, educationally inferior school. Kozol argues that children in the inner-city schools are not fit to go to college and that they should be trained in schools for the jobs they will eventually hold, even though these jobs are less prestigious, lowest-level jobs in society. Kozol’s argument is based on the fact that students from the inner-city or rather from the societies that do not have enough job opportunities are not supposed to learn much because their society cannot accommodate most of the courses that are often found in the urban settings. For example, there is a point where Kozol cites one of the businessman’s statement which says, ‘It doesn’t make sense to offer something that most of these urban kids will never use.’ The businessman continues to argue, ‘no one expects these ghetto kids to go to college. Most of them are lucky if they are literate. If we can teach some useful skills, get them to stay in school and graduate, and maybe into jobs, we’re giving them the most that they can hope for’ (Kozol 376). This statement clearly indicate that the society should accept the inequalities and exercise the same inequalities even in education.

I think Montsios’ point that, “Class standing has a significant impact on the chance for educational achievement” (Monsios 193). I think this statement is very true, because it is very apparent that there is a huge education gap in the United States due to income. People of higher incomes can have the luxury of sending their kids to better schools, private or public, and have the ability to give them a college education without having to worry about the financial costs, while people of lower classes cannot have this luxury. This is absolutely ridiculous, because this country was founded on the idea of equality, and having an equal and free country to pursue opportunity. Just like the educational side of this, people also struggle with in the sense of survival and

The article states, “42 percent of American men raised in the bottom fifth of incomes stay there as adults. That shows a level of persistent disadvantage much higher than in Denmark (25 percent) along with Britain (30 percent)”. This statistic explains that 42% American men born in the lower class stays in that class when they are adults but in Denmark that percent is 25%. Another statistic is that 8% of American men born in the lower class rose to the upper class and 14% of Danish men rose from lower to upper. According to the article, the reason why we stay in the class we are born into is because the resources that are needed to move up is too expensive for a lower, as well as, middle (sometimes) class family. So, the families that are in the upper class have a more economic flexibility to send their children to private schools or great colleges whereas the lower/middle class don’t. This stymies their children from getting the same education as the children with upper-class parents. No or poor education can lead to having either no job or a low-paying one.

My own children are being raised by parents with both more money and more education. Yet I do not see my children as having significantly better opportunities than I had at their age” (9). Therefore, although unequal opportunity prevents low income segments of the population from having a fair chance at receiving merit based aid, the same argument, according to Mankiw, doesn’t apply to the one percent in relation to the middle class who all have fairly equal opportunity.

Consequently, society has prevented the poor from achieving their goal of reaching to the top. This is because our society needs the less fortunate to do the hard labor that most Americans would not dream of doing. Take the example of Barbara Ehrenreich. She as journalist didn't agree on the idea that their low paid jobs account for their perseverance and abilities. She decided to explore the wonders of low paid jobs and quickly realized that these kinds of jobs were less paying and more demanding of work. With that being, the money she earned was enough for only her basic needs and bills. In these conditions, it’s almost impossible to be able to prosper. This is

In the first article titled “Class in America” by Gregory Mantsios the discussion on class affecting the United States negatively is brought up. Gregory talks about the fact that people do not choose to be poor but they are put into situations where they cannot move up in class. Due to the fact that class creates an immense gap in communities, there are many issues linked to being categorized as the lower class. In the article Gregory states that “class affects more than lifestyle and material well being. It has a significant impact on our physical and mental well-being as well.” CITE) The author connects the idea that if you are in the lower class than you will also deal with other issues include your mental and physical health declining. Alongside this idea, the author also states “All Americans do not have an equal opportunity to succeed, and class mobility in the United States is lower than that of the rest of the industrialized world. (CITE) This goes along with the idea that once your born into a class, breaking out of it is virtually impossible. The author is also making the point that in the United States class is more problematic than other developed nations and because of this not everyone is given the chance to break free from a poor lifestyle.

This article says, “Too many of America’s most disadvantaged children grow up without the skills needed to thrive in the twenty-first century. Whether in educational attainment between income groups or racial/ethnic groups or across geographic locations—inequality persists.” This creates long-term problems within that community. Meaning people who start out with disadvantages, usually don’t have the skills that the upper class more privileged kids do which help them eventually get jobs and maintain this middle to upper class community. The disadvantages people receive bad jobs and

For middle and lower class citizens educations seems like the primary way to succeed in life. Personally believe that my last statement is true. Richard Rodriguez also believed that and wrote about his experience with education. In his essay “The Achievement of Desire” he discusses things such as;How his parents are Mexican immigrants, barely speak English, and had little to no education. His essay hit home for me because I have experienced similar things in my life but not exactly the same. He also talks about how he felt that the only way of leaving behind the image of being uneducated and at the bottom of the ladder is to educate himself. So that’s what he did. Unfortunately during his educational years he forgot where he came from and abandoned his family and culture. He also discusses Hoggart’s essay “the use of Literacy” and his educational figure who is snobby know as the “scholarship boy”. Even though Rodriguez agreed and seen himself as this “scholarship boy” he knew that he wasn’t a perfect example of it. “The scholarship boy’s parents are poor and are uneducated as are my own”(341) he says but there is a difference him and the perfect scholarship boy. He noticed that he had pushed away his family but the scholarship boy is too blind to see that and only wants to succeed in life. You see myself in Rodriguez but I hope to stop the dissociation from my family and culture before it’s too late.

In the article “The Wealth Gap Is Crushing America’s Youth” by Mandi Woodruff, the author explains how the wealth gap is effecting America’s youth by displaying charts of income inequality comparing the children of American families who were born in a low to high income. Mandi Woodruff cites a study by The Hamilton Project, who uses graphs that uncover economic data that show exactly how income inequality can impact social mobility in America.

The first key idea from the materials is that social inequities and capitalism are intertwined. In the TEDTalks, while the upper class, or plutocrats, are typically living large, the lower classes are struggling to live. Additionally, due to the unfair system, the lower-income people are more likely to drop out

The axis of inequality that will be focused throughout this paper is the social class. Social class is defined as a group of individuals who are categorized according to class (i.e. poor, middle, and upper) due to their income, wealth, power, and occupation. Social class is socially constructed by the way we view how much income and wealth a person possess (Ore, 20011a, 10). In reality it is much more than that. According to the text, poverty is not only the shortage of income, but it is the rejection of opportunities and choices that leads a person to a standard way of living (Ore, 2011a, 10). Stereotyping also contributes to it being socially constructed. These stereotypes influence us by defining who is who based on their principles in each class category. This can cause some to feel worthless.

People have different jobs, families, religion, race, sexuality, friends, and even a different allowance. Some would argue that it is the people’s fault for ending up where they are now excellent or awful. “Recent polls show that Americans are now less optimistic about their children's chances to succeed than they've been for generations” (Wessler) The belief of this could be fixed if people would focus on what they are actually trying to achieve in life. Even if the lower class is looked down upon, the middle or the upper class has many people looking down upon them as well. Just because they are at a higher place doesn’t give them