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Stigma In College Essay

536 Words3 Pages

A college degree is a sought after goal for many Americans today; however, college has taken on a stigma that is created by the upper class students. College is seen as the best time of one’s life without the worry of educational outcome and a place to experiment with sexual relations and drugs. The upper class has created the illusion that college is easy and does not need to be the main focus. Many upper class students are not aiming at a college degree for the same reason as the other students. Students who come from less privileged backgrounds often are in college looking for upward mobility when they are go into college. These particular students tend to be what Armstrong and Hamilton (2013) call strivers. Strivers tend to have heavier course loads, work at least one job, and are excluded from the party scene for financial reasons (Armstrong and Hamilton 2013). Each class is prepared for college in ways that are fitting to the goals they need to accomplish. The middle class is socialized to question professors and feel …show more content…

They may state that students of the other classes will find a way to be a part of the party culture if they wanted and that a single class would not be able to create the stigma without the others being a part as well. These arguments are invalid, however, because the type of partying that is needed to be done to create such a strong stigma would involve a huge financial dependence. The middle class may be a small part of the party scene but it would be nearly impossible for them to create a stigma that is so strong in the oligarchy that college has become. The upper class holds the power in colleges through their involvement in sororities and fraternities as well as the likelihood of generous donations on the behalf of their family to bail them out when needed. The middle and working class do not have the luxury of ruining their potential upward

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