Social Class and Education Essay example

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.

Education does not just take place in schools. Classrooms are places where many forms of discourses come together. Students and teachers with various forms of knowledge and ways of communicating interact together and unfortunately some ways of knowing and communicating hold more value than others. Sometimes researcher should stop looking at the bigger picture; capitalist economies and the true nature of society should become more of a focus in education research. You cannot hope to understand why students from lower socio economic areas do poorly compared to students whose parents are more affluent unless more is done to understand the prior.

The socioeconomic status of an individual’s parents has always been one of the clear-cut forecasters of the individual’s academic success and educational accomplishment. The correlation between family socioeconomic uniqueness and student accomplishment is one of the most forceful patterns in educational scholarship; however the reasons and means

The significance of the topic is to elucidate and educate others on how crucial it is for teachers and principals to understand the backgrounds and dynamics which surround students of the lower class population. This research paper will reveal the encumbrances children encounter in their daily walks of life. Out-of-school factors to be discussed will include family economic status, culture,

|This socioeconomic class has high expectations placed on them to do well. This can have both a positive and negative affect on students in this class. The reason for that is because they are given special treatment so they may not work for they grades they are given. Or on the other hand they are given more work to enhance their ability to get into a good college. | |How does tracking positively or negatively impact this socioeconomic class? |Tracking negatively affect students in this class because they are not considered to be as smart as students from higher classes and need given the opportunity to show their abilities. |Again tracking has a negative impact on this class. Since they are in a lower class they are considered possibly mentally challenged. And is not given much attention by the teachers. |This class is divided by tracking. Some students may excel while other do not progress as much as expected. This means tracking impacted this class both positively and negatively. |Tracking to this class is a positive. Students are placed in gifted classes, which help them get to college a little easier. |Tracking is a definite positive for this socioeconomic class. They are put into advanced classes to excel their education, which moves them in college with ease. | |How is financial support for schools serving this class different from or similar to from the other socioeconomic classes? |Public schools must provide the

Rendon (1994) points out “students from underrepresented backgrounds often experience isolation, a lack of self-efficacy, and a lack of a sense of belonging in college contexts”(p. 48). Furthermore, one needs to take it one step back and realize that most students of color are much more likely to attend schools where most of their peers are poor or low-income. Therefore, socio economic status (SES) determines the education a person receives throughout K-12. Walpole (2004) also describes how “low SES parents are more likely to define success as a secure full-time job after graduating from high school. College attendance is not an expectation and often means enrolling in a community college or technical school when it does occur” (p. 47). When a student reaches the

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 affect of low socioeconomic status is still influential among high achieving students, with the likelihood of achieving a bachelor’s degree increasing with socioeconomic status on students that scored in the upper quartile of an eighth grade math exam (Lee et all., 2008). Race is still an indicator of academic achievement, but its direct and indirect effects are less strong (Lee et all., 2008). Students of majority race (White and Asian) complete high school at a rate of 93%, while students of the non-asian minority complete high school at a rate of 85% (Lee et all., 2008). The gap between students of differing socioeconomic status was far wider, of 44 percentage points, as compared to the gap between races and high school completion rates, which is 8 percentage points. Differences in gender also shows discrepancies, with 31% of females receiving at least a bachelor’s degree and only 26% of males receiving at least a bachelor’s degree.

Since urban areas, and subsequently urban high schools, have a high population of low-income residents, it is important to explore how this aspect of their social status has affected these individuals historically. According to Mantsios (2006) a majority of the United States (60 percent) hold less than 6 percent of the wealth. What is more, one in eight people live below the federal poverty level Mantsios (2006). This is important, because class level is strongly correlated with educational outcomes and success, which can be explained by class domination Mantsios (2006). Essentially, people who are born into wealthy families versus poor families have more opportunities provided to them on the basis of their class status or familial connections Mantsios (2006). Take for instance the example Schmidt (2007) given of white students with mediocre grades getting into Ivy League

Thus, globalization forces researchers to understand the influence of mobility, in addition to education, on social class (Banks & Banks, 2013). This articles I chose to investigate social class and its implications for educational outcomes are Social class and the hidden curriculum of work by Jean Anyon and Reappraising the importance of class in higher education entry and persistence by John Field and Natalie Morgan Klein.

The education in the United States today has main focuses, such as educational attainment, which is how far a student can get in school depending on family income and race/ethnicity. Family’s race and income can affect the possibility of someone’s attendance in college. The rate for dropouts in schools is highest for Latinos and Native Americans and lowest for Whites and Asians. As for income, families with high income are more likely to attend college than families with low income. Gender also effects educational attainment. There is a gender difference today that females are more likely than males to graduate high school, and finish college and obtaining a degree. The UnitedStates is considered a credential society, which indicates if a person has the knowledge, degree or skill

One of the concerns regarding social justice in education is that there are marginalised groups within society do not having equal access to the learning and life opportunities that they deserve. The concept of social justice stresses that every individual within society is entitled to have equal rights and opportunities. This means that an individual from a lower class background deserves the same opportunities as a person from a wealthier background. It is about becoming aware and recognising that there are certain situations where the application of the same rules to unequal groups can sometimes lead to imbalanced results. It is therefore crucial that the government create a curriculum that can empower every student regardless of their

the students and be prejudiced. Teachers should not see social class as a problem or an excuse as to why

Moreover In many countries the connection between family wealth, family background and education opportunities is still very powerful. Because people from high class in society tend to receive advantage to support them self in term of long period educational career and qualification better than low class societies, Due to the power of wealth. (Shavit and Blossfeld, 1993). For some reason when the education people enter the labour market. Because education qualification that a person acquiring seem to be advantage for that person if the qualification of education is high. In addition education qualifications seem to be relating to the social background of each person and their later social class background. Therefore the education qualification might be one the reason that support social inequalities and decrease social mobility.

Higher education has always been, by definition, not open to all and non-compulsory. As Archer (2003) points out, the fact has led to higher education having a particular potential of reinforcing inequalities and the university system long playing a key role in the reproduction of social-class inequalities. In the boundaries of educational research, issues of class have been mostly addressed to the compulsory schooling context, leaving non-compulsory higher education aboard. There has always been a common trend that working-class children tend to achieve much lower rates of attainment and are less likely to continue on to post - compulsory education. As noted by Archer (2003), Bates and Riseborough (1993) have framed out how young people from different social classes do not attend the same