US education and economic class

The Association of Social Class , Education and Career

A brief analysis of the effects of social class on education

The association of social class and education is more intricate and has a bigger relevance of impacting career today than ever before . It is no doubt that students from upper class who study at elite schools and colleges are ultimately better placed in jobs , than their counterparts from the public schools . Although , this achievement gap may be attributed to their education , it is the exclusive combination of class and education which sees them

through Inspiring stories of humble beginnings making it big in the US exists like that of Antonio Villaraigosa who went on to become a mayor and Tom Vilsack who went on to become a governor of Iowa . This kind of upward mobility occurs very less , than most of us believe it to be . In the US today , there is less mobility compared to what we had about two decades back . The economic mobility in the US is now lesser than that in France Germany and several other European countries . It should be noted here that the only country with less economic mobility compared to US is England . This retardation of upward mobility may be attributed to education . In 1765 President Lyndon Johnson said he believed that the country is obliged to offer every child in the US , all the education he or she requires (Haycock , 2006 . However that promise had gradually eroded in the subsequent decades . Educational systems and opportunities have seen major changes particularly in the last fifteen years . Rather than bringing a sense of equality and coverage for all its children , it has increasingly become associated with class and wealth . This aspect of education is highlighted by the fact that today low income family students with high achievement record and students from rich family with low achievement record , go to colleges at similar rates

Education in the US has been traditionally viewed as an escape route of poverty and low social standing . It has been presumed that staying at school is important to overcome modest beginning . However sociological research has shown that a person 's ultimate job and income is not only an outcome of his education , but is also dependent on the social class of the person . Thus there is no logical relationship between one 's education and resultant job and income . Among the upper class white people , who had either inherited wealth or are established professionals , their social class contributes more in determining their ultimate job and salary than their education The combination of social class and race is effective in blocking lower classes from reaching upward mobility while also protecting the upwardly mobile from slipping down . The upper class use education to avoid slipping from their upwardly position by sending their children to elite schools . A considerably high percentage of upper-class children are enrolled in elite private schools , where working class children are noticeably less (Anderson and Howard , 2006 . Among the middle class...