Rich vs Poor Essay

The Ameri female genitalia Dream, the melodic theme that e real citizen can be successful if they roleplay hard, is believable to the item that every disciplinechild going to rail has the same opportunity to analyze the skills needed to adopt in order. But if the opportunity for students to attain a adequate development is imbalanced, then the alikelihood of success be get ins very fragile for some students. Today, unlikeness has become a serious problem among pitiable students and their wealthy peers across the country, and the fancy of becoming a successful photograph is moving farther out of reach for them. In order to succeed in animateness, one dep obliterates on his or her adolescent ache time and years in college that desperately lean on the socio scotch military position of the p atomic number 18nts and non only the quality of education. The achievement gap amid the mystifying and the distressing is constantly growing wider, and if nonhing is done to a id unworthy student nation the gap provide continue to increase resulting in economic consequences and possibly crime among low-income adolescences who cant cope with naturalise life because they need to support for their family.The problem America faces is the relationship of an underprivileged socioeconomic background linked to sad child development and education. For the longest time, education has been the major lane to success in the United States. Ones life depends a lot on the skills attained from school and from family background, and the miss of opportunities influences the development of children and their succeeding(a) endeavors. Contrary to the philia-class and speeding class children, many a nonher(prenominal) underprivileged children are deprived of these equal opportunities. In fact, children from low-income families get very little chances to deal a normal education at all, and laster(prenominal) education like college and private schooling is essentiall y an unattainable dream that they can imagine hardly it never actually comes true. Due to the insufficiency of resources and finances the initial opportunities of people from low-income families are consistently worsenedned than opportunities of the bide of American children.Reading Richard D. Kahlenburgs 5 Myths About Who Gets Into College, he states that a 2004 Century Foundation bring found that at the closely selective universities and colleges, 74 percent of students come from the completeest quarter of the population, while sound 3 percent come from the bottom corner (495). Correspondingly, SAT pees unravel an important role in beingness admitted to a pricy university. Students who come from areas with high impoverishment rates and come from low-income families usually score, on average, 784 points decline than the much privileged and fortunate student body (Kahlenburg, 495). Even when students from low-income families score high on standardized testing and myst ify admittance to a university, their families urinate trouble supporting their childrens education financially. Consequently, these children are basically forced to work to earn enough money to keep his/her family alive, so ultimately college is a very difficult education level to attain. Naturally, most people are equally as intelligent, but in society today it matters what environment one lives in and what quality opportunities are presented depending on friendly emplacement. For most people summer is a time to relax, but if you want to keep up with your classmates whitethornbe its time to pick up a book During summer break at that place is a third estate decline in learning that students experience, and this is called the summer slide.Three researchers from Johns Hopkins University named Karl Alexander, Doris Entwisle, and Linda Olson, researched this issue honest by performing longitudinal studies on Baltimore students from 1st grade by dint of age 22. During the academ ic year, lower-class children achieved the same indication levels as their middle and velocity class peers, but children from lower-class families diminished in recital skills once summer started. Children from more affluent families squander more opportunities much(prenominal) as summer school, tutoring, and other programs that low-income children cannot afford. It is concluded two-thirds of the ninth grade yarn achievement gap can be explained by unequal memory access to summer learning opportunities during elementary school (Karl Alexander, Doris Entwisle, Linda Olson). Another recent study resulted in similar conclusions to the one completed by the researchers of Johns Hopkins University. In an resurrect written by McCombs, J. S., Augustine, C.H., and Schwartz, H.L, they acknowledge that during the summer students in elementary school lose approximately a month of knowledge and skill, and flat worse off, lower-income students can lose up to two or threemonths. And so low-income students fall disproportionally behind in reading while their middle and speeding income peers may even gain skills in reading because of the summer activities operable for them.The worst part of it all is that summer learning loss is additive and as time progresses, low-income and higher-income students performance starts to segregate, thus contributing significantly to a wider achievement gap. If you notice, in Karl Alexander, Doris Entwisle, and Linda Olson study, they talk about lower-class children achieving the same reading levels as their middle and upper class peers in a presumption academic year. This goes to prove that it is not so much the school and poor teaching that causes such an increase in the achievement gap betwixt the rich and the poor over the last few decades, but the modal value people make use of their summers and time spent a panache from school regarding socioeconomic status. Not only does this apply to summers and time from school, but exc essively a childs success in life greatly depends on his or her family background the years before school even starts. Children swallow the ability to effortlessly learn a new verbiage or a subject in school because of their cognitive skills that work much better than in later years. So it is apparent that they receive the best environment and treatment from their parents in order to start kindergarten on the right track.What can we do about the problems lower-class children in archeozoic years face in relation to poor societal status and low-income? One effective way to narrow the achievement gap among the rich and the poor would be to make sure all students have admittance to a committed, cognitively motivating environment in the nurture of their own home and in preschool locations, so no matter where the children are they can feel safe and secure in these child- friendly areas. In order to do this, we need an economy that can provide poor families with sufficient incomes/wa ges. More jobs, more affordable health care, and child-care programs are to a fault necessary to increase the average income of lower-class individuals and supercharge the socioeconomic status so many suffer under. Another good idea to upraise the lives of young children preparing for the educational world, are programs like the Nurse-Family Partnership where nurses help low-income, send-off-time mothers raise their children and learn skills needed to become a good parent and pause their children the best start in life possible. Getting a good start in life and being ready for Kindergarten years is a very crucial among peersbecause, currently, the preparation gap for school considering middle and upper class students is much greater than lower-class students who do not have the resources necessary to catch up to their affluent pupils.Consequently, another solution that may tighten the gap between low-income students and high-income students, regarding preparation for early years of school, would be to start public education at an earlier age. At first the cost may appear to be quite expensive because of the extra years of schooling needing funding, but the social benefits of a decreased inequality gap could outweigh the costs of the extra years in the long run. In fact, it would not only reduce the inequality gap, but it would excessively upsurge the amount of women remaining at work after pregnancy, resulting in an increase in GDP as well. The best manner in reducing educational inequality is to guarantee that all children begin school on an even note. Schools do not have the power and the finale alone to fix the gap so it the state, federal government, and American citizens to raise these issues on top of the list of economic duties. Without a proper education, students breathing in lower-class areas dont have the necessary tools that will help them escape the life they would otherwise resort to, crime, if school were not to work out.The Corner A Ye ar in the Life of an Inner-City resemblance by David Simon and Edward Burns is a good example of why improvements in education opportunities and achievement for low-income cities need to be made. Through the eyes of the hotshot DeAndre McCullough, we are introduced to the brutal, threatening conditions of inner city life, which many low-income students suffer from callable to a number of socioeconomic problems they face. As a result of being a victim of these conditions, DeAndre has lost all indigence to think about his future, Maybe hed think more about his future if it were clear he had one.(David Simon). He has accepted the fact that his life could end at any moment, ultimately resulting in a loss of purpose. This credenza is reflected in others with similar situations, they turn to the streets because In this place only, they know what they are, why they are, and what it is that they are supposed to do. Here, they almost matter(David Simon). Children who are not innate(p) wi th the privileges rich peers have realized, have a superior between connexion the street life to get by or follow an educational route but unfortunately in society today, the first choice is more promising.However, with proper motivation andbetter learning facilities, young teenagers like DeAndre dont have to make these assumptions. The achievement gap between the poor and rich is continuously widening due to the fact that low-income children cant break out of their parents social status very easily while wealthy children have all the resources necessary to be prosperous. concord to Stanford professor Sean Reardon, the difference in average academic skills of children in low-income and high-income families is roughly 30 to 40 percent larger among children natural in 2001 than among those born twenty-five years earlier (Reardon). Low-income students usually end up practiced keeping their parents socioeconomic status because they cannot afford to at track down nice schools and acquire all the outside resources and extra help necessary vise versa, families with high income have a greater chance to send their children to sufficient schools and tend to have safer learning environments than low-income individuals. It is the poor staying relatively still throughout the twenty-five years regarding increased income, while the middle/upper class sort accumulates a lot of money, which, in turn, increases the income gap between the two groups. The increase in the income gap between poor and rich parents means that there is an increase in the achievement gap between poor and rich students.In recent years, a lot of focus has been put on preparing young children for next level education like Kindergarten and elementary school, because ensuring curing is very important for a proper learning experience. However, lets take into account all the negative aspects that normally play into the socioeconomic background of students in low-income families 1) Low-income level of parents, 2) parents unemployed or have token(prenominal) wage jobs, 3) either parents never went to college or never even holy high school, 4) single mother/ father in prison (Willis, 2007). Low-income students from these kinds of families have a small chance of social mobility and will likely just follow in the footprints their parents left behind. Adolescences dont have the motivation to try in school because they know where their life is going to be headed regardless.Many poor families would love to get off of welfare, live on the beach, achieve a better socioeconomic status, etc. but separationism between low-income families and middle/high income families forces the two groups to live in areas identical to their income level. So even if poor students want to gain a sufficient education, they will have a lot of trouble getting it because poverty follows them wherever they go. As we already know, education opportunities of children from low-income families are consistently wo rse than those of the middle and upper class. Such a situation is very formidable for the future of children because, currently, education is one of the major conditions that lead individuals to progress and a successful career. In fact, without good education, these children will not have good job opportunities and, therefore, the competitiveness in the labor market will be extremely low. And not only does poverty link to poor education, it alike strongly correlates with meager health benefits. Poor health is affecting the low-income population due to low paying jobs having bad health insurance and not giving individuals enough money to get better insurance.Middle-class and wellborn societies are given better health benefits than the poor, less fortunate because they have more opportunities in attaining jobs with good health benefits. As a result, the overlook of educational opportunities deprives them of future job opportunities and health benefits, and children from low-incom e families are stuck in a kind of vicious circle, from which only few can bugger off the way out. The opportunities presented to the middle-class and upper-class population are a lot more abundant and superior quality. The Federal government and the state governments need to find a balance between the two economic groups and offer better schooling to the less fortunate so they can catch up to the standards of the better educated collection of individuals and families. This inequality of achievement between the social classes is leaving the poor in the dust as the middle and upper class individuals take advantage of all the necessities of a good education. die CitedAlexander, K. L, Entwisle, D., & Olson, L. (2007). Lasting consequences of the summer learning gap. American Sociological Review, 72, 167-180. Hernandez, D.J. (2011) Double risk of exposure Highways creation linked to the economy. Baltimore Annie E. Casey Foundation. Kahlenburg, Richard D. 5 Myths About Who Gets Into Col lege. Read, Reason, Write An Argument school text and Reader. New York McGraw-Hill, 2012. McCombs, J. S., Augustine, C. H.,Schwartz, H. L, Bodilly, S. J., McInnis, B., Lichter, D. S, & Cross, A. B. (2011). Making summer count How summer programs can boost students learning. Santa Monica, CA RAND. Reardon, S.F. (2012). The widening academic achievement gap between the rich and the poor. Community Investments Summer 2012, 24(2), 19-39.