Education And Economic Inequality

The United States is a country based on equal opportunity; every citizen is to be given the same chance as another to succeed. This includes the government providing the opportunity of equal education to all children. All children are provided schools to attend. However, the quality of one school compared to another is undoubtedly unfair. Former teacher John Kozol, when being transferred to a new school, said, "The shock from going from one of the poorest schools to one of the wealthiest cannot be overstated (Kozol 2)." The education gap between higher and lower-income schools is obvious: therefore, the United States is making the effort to provide an equal education with questionable results.

"How Economic Inequality Harms Societies." Richard Wilkinson:. TED Talks, July 2011. Web. 26 Feb. 2015.

A gap in income leads to many socio- economic differences that are clearly visible all around us. Those who are financially well off enjoying a multitude of privileges that the underprivileged do not enjoy. Among some of the privileges are a better standard of living, better healthcare, better education as well as power and prestige. It is then obvious, why most people long to be in the higher income group. The established belief is that anyone with merit can climb the social ladder to a better standard of living. But the question we must ask is: is that possible for everyone? Is the ideology of equal opportunity for all, entirely true? The point is that lower

It is thought that the “American Dream” can be obtained solely by hard work and determination. However, when we take a closer look at the effects of the underlying factor of social stratification, we can begin to see the difficulty that arises in attempting to make strides towards success and prosperity. Social stratification is the way in which society categorizes individuals into different socioeconomic classes (Manza et al. 2015). America is one of the richest countries in the world, yet there is so much inequality observed amongst its citizens. How can this be?

Research indicates that high inequality reverberates through societies on multiple levels, correlating with, if not causing, more crime, poorer mental and physical health (Williams, R., 2011). This can be attributed to the large income gap that the U.S has currently.

Education plays a larger component in the lives of people all around the world since it gives them capital, such as human, cultural, and social capital. Furthermore, education provides populations with all sorts of skills that can improve their quality of life. However, there happen to also be inequalities of education and diverse minorities have a grueling time trying to adjust their future. Numerous studies have shown a strong correlation of socioeconomic status and education, including how difficult it is to improve one's quality of life when coming from a low socioeconomic status.

No society will ever be equal. Questions surrounding inequality in modern times are not just “Is there inequality?” but instead ask deeper questions like “How much inequality is there?” and “Where are inequalities most prevalent?” We as a society tend to be uncomfortable with the notion that ascribed characteristics such as race help determine our life chances. One of the most curious developments which as occurred over the recent years is how our social institutions have become more open to those who they previously excluded, yet at the same time inequality has increased (Kahn 2011, p. 122).

My topic was about education Inequality, This topic is very important to me because I think that education is a right and not a privilege. Throughout this research I have been trying to brainstorm deeply to be able to research all the aspects of this topic. I started with the basic VCU library research website. I was trying to find key words that can help me reach to a solid research about my topic. I also wanted different point of views from all around the Internet. From a philosopher, scientist, economist and also different individuals. The advance VCU library research helped me a lot because it had the option (AND) and (OR). I have looked at a lot of different articles, studies and books. I was trying to find what each article, study, TED talks and book had income

In the year 2020, Kevin Hanley works as a janitor. By 2050, his son is a beggar on the street. How did this happen to Kevin Hanley’s son? This story was just a fictional one, titled “The Fable of the Lazy Teenager” by Ben Stein. It is about the decline of America through the degradation of the American educational system. If the educational system fails, than we will become no better than our ancestors in that we will have no education, and therefore people would be back to the starting block positions of hard manual labor. However, according to James Loewen’s “The Land of Opportunity,” even the educational system is slipping, stating that when he asked questions like, “why are people poor?” he got woefully inadequate responses. In both

J.D Gregorio and J. Lee published “Education and Income Inequality: New Evidence from Cross-Country Data” in the early 2000s (Gregorio & Lee, 2002). This paper looks at empirical evidence on how educational factors, like higher educational attainment and equal distribution of education, play a significant role in income distribution. The authors Gregorio and Lee state that many other literature pieces emphasize education as one of the major factors affecting the degree of income inequality (Gregorio & Lee, 2002). Gregorio and Lee hypothesize that educational attainment level is important in making income distribution more equal (Gregorio and Lee, 2002). Similarly, the authors Jorn Rattsø and Hildegunn Stokke published “Regional Convergence of Income and Education: Investigation of Distribution Dynamics” (Rattsø & Stokke, 2014). This study looks to challenge the suggested relationship between income inequality and education. This was done with data from Norway in comparison to recent United States studies. Education levels are equalised across the two counties used in the dataset. The authors Rattsø and Stokke hypothesize that there is a relationship between the convergence of income distribution and educational level of attainment (Rattsø & Stokke, 2012).

The American Dream is built on one thing, social mobility. It is this that allowed one to come here with nothing and go from poor to middle class and beyond. It is what has defined us as a nation for so long and it is what drew so many of millions of immigrants to our shores. But as the social wealth gap grows larger and larger we must ask ourselves where this opportunity has gone for so many. Why is it that so many are failing to achieve this once so imaginable dream? What is causing the decrease in social mobility? Although it is tempting to say, and believe, that social mobility is a separate entity from social equality, statistics have shown otherwise. According to “The Atlantic,” research done by Elise Gould of the Economic Policy Institute shows that social inequality is the leading cause in the hindrance of social mobility.

Inequality is fast-becoming a major issue not just in the United States but globally. The idea that the top one percent of the population wield both economic and political power over the rest of the society is far from the democratic system the United States has tried to establish. This democratic system, which when tied to the American dream, allows for every US citizen to have equal opportunities at success provided it is accomplished through hard work and dedication. Unfortunately, this American dream of equal opportunities forever remains an ideal as sectors in the US economy, including but not limited to the educational sector, grieves from wide disparities between social classes.

In the United States, people like to believe and are often told from a very young age that everyone has an equal chance at success and wealth. While this statement can sometimes be the case, often times it is not. Sociologists generally agree that there are two main forces behind

The schools that cater to lower class students don’t rise to the standards that other schools are held to. Many of the schools in poorer neighborhoods have fewer resources, less standards and the parents have less education and are not able to help their children or even afford for their children to go to school. This is a big problem for children of lower socioeconomic statues, especially those that are African American.The School-centered explanation helps show that there is inequality between schools in different socioeconomic statuses. It talks about how the teachers and things that happen in school play a big part in the education of children and also the expectations of the students. The schooling suffers because of the lack of money and motivation which can cause the students to have a worse schooling than kids in higher socioeconomic statuses. The expectations of teachers is related to Labeling Theory. When the students are told that they are bad kids or that they are not smart, it causes them to act like the labels that are given to them. If a child believes these labels, it hinders their performance in school and the attitude they have towards learning. Lastly, there is also student-centered explanations. These have to do with the people and things that surround the students outside of school, like their parents, friends, and the places they live. All of these cause different school experiences for children of different classes and is a big part of how well the

Society holds many structures that mould human performance and produce opportunities for some, but inequalities for others (Morrall, 2009). These structures in society are organized by the hierarchies of class, ethnicity and gender (Crossman, 2016). Due to having a society based on hierarchies, social inequalities are inevitable. Social inequality refers to the ways in which a group or individual of a certain social position may receive unequal opportunities or distribution of ‘goods’ such as education, income, living conditions and healthcare (Walker, 2009). These unequal opportunities may be given to someone because of their ethnicity, gender, income, religion or social class (Walker, 2009). For example, people in a high social class will be able to pay for their children to go to a good private school for a good education, whereas lower-class or working class people will struggle to afford the same education.