It is a real shame that when you are born determines whether you will be successful in life or not. A new born baby’s financial status determine whether they will go to a good school or college. If a family is wealthy and willing to spend money on your education, then you have a greater chance to become successful later in life. Someone who is born into a poor family who doesn’t have enough money to put you in a good school won’t have as equal of an opportunity to become successful later in life. Class standing at birth is an unfair and unfortunate way to categorize new born babies on their future in the social spectrum.
Unfortunately, Class standing is determined at birth. Not all Americans have equal opportunities to succeed. People who are born into families that make six figures are more likely to succeed and be privileged. (“Class in America”) they are more likely to go to a good school and become successful later in life. Statistics show people jumping from rags to riches is very rare. Although the media shows us stories of people jumping from one end to the social spectrum to another,
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“Study found that only 4% of children from low-income families achieve a college education, compared to 45% of children in higher-income families”. People don’t have an equal opportunity to succeed because not everyone is not fortunate enough to get an education and go to college. Cultural environment and surroundings undoubtedly impact the eventual success of a child, as they determine available opportunities and govern how a child will perceive their social standing. The area people live in is a big factor on what kind of education they will get and whether the will get a good education and go to college or drop out and run the streets. Education is a very important factor in everyone’s childhood. Children should have the same quality education no matter where you live or what part of the social spectrum you live
People have dreams, and sometimes those dreams can be destroyed. Many times this devastating event happens because of either money or social class. In S.E. Hinton’s The Outsiders, the Greasers understand and realize they belong to the working class and that mobility up the social class ladder is nearly impossible. With the money disadvantage of the working class, even the most plausible chance to move up the social class ladder cannot.
More value is placed on children and families with more money, while working-class schools often receive incredibly poor education. As Anyon states, "Differing curricular, pedagogical, and pupil evaluation practices emphasize differing cognitive and behavioral skills in each social setting and thus contribute to the development in the children of certain potential relationships to physical and symbolic capital, to authority, and to the process of work." (151) When pupils at lower-class schools are only instructed to memorize and not to think for themselves, they're set up to be at a large disadvantage to those who've received an upper-class education and learned how to draw their own conclusions and really assert themselves. This disadvantage manifests primarily in the types of jobs available to such students after graduation, and subsequently, the social class that they'll fall into given their income level. Working-class students are more likely to get blue-collar jobs, while students from the professional or elite class will land higher up the corporate ladder.
Lower-class families frequently do not have the educational background to equip their children with the needed social skills to pursue success. He states, “his mother permits that casual incivility because she wants him to learn to assert himself with people in positions of authority… this kind of interaction simply doesn’t happen with lower class children (106-107)”. Wealthy and middle class parents are more often able to introduce social and analytical skills into their child’s life, which cannot be learned in a classroom. This enables the skill to interact with authority figure capable of making unintended opportunities occur. In the school environment social classes are irrelevant because they are all presented with the same education that allows them to learn at the same pace.
Upward mobility is one of the traditional American ideals aspired to by all economic classes. Unfortunately, the idea of climbing the social ladder has become more of a dream than reality for most people. Jacob Hacker, in “Winner Take All Politics,” asserts that “The American Dream portrays the United States as a classless society where anyone can rise to the top, regardless of family background” (29). In this case, Hacker is referring to the class status of all Americans, disregarding race; while I have concluded that this is true for all groups, racism and discrimination add extra layers of difficulty in the attempt to advance economically and close the wealth gap. He then proceeds to explain how the lack of intergenerational mobility is
In James W. Loewen’s “The Land of Opportunity,” he states that social class affects the way children are raised. He discusses the inequality in today’s society and how the textbooks in high school do not give any social class information. The students in today’s time are not taught everything they should be taught. He states that your family’s wealth is what makes up your future. Loewen discusses that people with more money can study for the SATs more productively and get a better score than someone who has less money.
After conducting an interview, Dan W. Rea understands stereotypes from a different perspective after an interview with Pedro Noguera. Noguera, a student who experienced poverty first hand in Boston, states, “...we should not conclude that simply because a child is poor they won’t be able to learn as much or that they can’t be as smart or as intelligent. There is no evidence to support that”. Not only are the students having opportunities stripped away at home, opportunities offered at affluent schools are not available at schools in low-income neighborhoods. The country refuses to expand the budget for these areas.
But I totally disagree whereas many middle-class citizens are now lower class because many of them were never taught the important of finances which ultimately led to too much consumption. I believe that when living in poverty and in poor neighborhoods or areas it really pushes children to strive to be better. In retrospect, our upbringings do play a huge part in who we will be but not where we will be. It ultimately comes down to will we fight for happiness and financial success or be defeat by turmoil and poverty? Everyone has a chose to rise to greatness or tumble to
Being born into a particular family determines how well off you are. Class in America determines the people that influence you, and the better opportunities you are exposed to. In Gregory Mantsios writing of “Class in America” you can understand the many differences between class and how one might have better success. Mantsios shows three profiles of three different people born into different classes. One of the profiles shows how the lifestyle might be born into a wealthy family.
They follow in their parents footsteps and even sometimes go into the same occupations as their parents. Individuals who are born wealthy have a much higher chance of becoming
The American dream is a dream of a land in which one can prosper with ambition and hard work. This idea has created many illusions for some because in reality the American dream is proven to be something that is rarely achieved. No individual is guaranteed success or destined for failure, but it is apparent that women, people of color, and those born into poverty will face greater obstacles than others, despite being a greater part of the American population. An author that tackles the issue of class in the United States is Gregory Mantsios. In his essay, “Class in America-2009”, Mantsios aims to prove that class affects people’s lives in drastic ways.
Plato writes, “For the most part you will produce children like yourselves; but, because you are all related, a silver child will occasionally be born to a golden parent, a golden child to a silver parent, and so on.” We see exactly this in American society. A study done in 2015 titled “Economic Mobility in the United States,” shows us that children who are born into families of poverty, are more likely to remain in poverty or maintain a low income as an adult compared to a child who is not.
An education, no matter what a child decides to do with it, is the most vital ingredient to growth. A proper education can result in an increase of knowledge, success, and confidence; it builds personality, improves a child’s social skills and most importantly, it prepares them for the future. Now despite this being essential to any young child’s life, there are too many children to count that are deprived of such the crucial, basic right, of a proper education. The reason for this is the racial segregation that still exists in America today. Many tend to falsely assume that such a thing ended during the Civil Rights Movement and these few would be incorrect because segregation in education is very much alive and increasingly becoming worse
I know of plenty successful people whose families were of very low class, but they managed to attain intergenerational mobility to upward social mobility. Life chances are things we really cannot control. Certain things are going to happen that may prolong our chances for success and to be of
No matter the socioeconomic background or family structure, they exhibit similar wants and desires. Education becomes an equalizer for their lives and provides
I was born into lower socioeconomic class (SES). My parents migrated to the US from Mexico with nothing to build a better economic future. After several years, my mother became a resident and could work legally in the country to provide more for our family. We have faced financial uncertainties throughout my life, but now we have moved to lower middle class, where we have a roof over our heads and a meal to eat every day. I grew up in neighborhoods and had peers in my similar SES class, so I did not realize the extent of different classes in America since my community appeared to have similar resources, struggles, and way of life.