Educational Inequality In America

Education is one of the most significant parts of success, yet many Americans are living in poverty because they were never able to receive an education that would allow them be successful members of our society. America has the technology and financial resources to give all of its citizens an exceptional education, but lower class citizens often fall through the cracks of the education system. From a very early age, poor children learn what social class they belong to based on their experiences with educational inequality. Felice Yeskel, a writer who examined the impact that education has on social class, stated that “Educational inequality starts early in life, beginning with uneven access to high-quality, center-based early childcare. It

Many of the Americans living in poverty would be interested in attending college, but are unable to due to the rising costs of tuition. While the colleges do have to earn money in order to pay for the expenses that running such a large institution entails, the amount of money that they charge each student is entirely too much. The government should intervene and create a way to provide the same college education at an affordable cost. This would allow more people living in poverty to attend college and earn a degree, which would open a lot of doors for the poorest citizens in the country. As Yeskel discussed in her essay, “the importance of college for upward mobility has grown; a college degree now equals a high school degree in years past” (Yeskel 6).The social class system is exceedingly difficult to overcome, and it can become even more challenging when the lower class citizens are uneducated and not given the tools that they need to succeed. Our government needs to reform the education system in America, which would allow the poor members of our society can get an education and eventually provide for themselves. While our nation should continue to provide financial and moral support for people living in poverty across the country, we should also be providing education and job opportunities so the poor can

Many lower class people face some sort of discrimination while searching for employment opportunities. Numerous people in America do not realize that discrimination comes in many different forms and can be based on race, social class, and even age. An abundance of lower class African Americans have an especially difficult time finding jobs, due to the stereotypes that other people have created about them based on their race and social class. One of the most common stereotypes is that “African Americans lack a work ethic” (van Doorn 144). Many people feel that African Americans that are living in poverty choose not to work or are not good workers, so they refuse to hire them. Sadly, discrimination based on race is still very common in America. Lower class citizens commonly experience discrimination based on their age as well. The united states is a country that values people that are youthful, so people living in poverty that are elderly often have difficulties finding an employer that is willing to hire them. The majority of the jobs in America that do not require an education are jobs that require a lot of manual labor, such as factory work. It is extremely unlikely that people of older ages would be able to carry out many of the physical tasks that the jobs require. Therefore, employers avoid hiring them because they cannot