Educational Opportunities and Education Essay

Total Length: 1960 words ( 7 double-spaced pages)

Total Sources: 10

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Immigration in the United States

In the United States, there is a general believe that education attainment is correlated with high income. People with the college graduate diploma earns a higher income than less educated American population. More importantly, education has become significantly linked with another outcome in life that includes life expectancy and ability to get married or taking care of children. Despite the benefits associated with college education, the gap between the more educated and less educated people in the United States is becoming wider. (Greenstone, and Looney, 1). The outcome of the investigation carried out by the Hamilton Project with reference to the impact of education on people's well-being shows that education is the major determinants of securing the high paying jobs. Typically, less educated American earn a small percentage of what high educated people earn. Typically, more than 80% of school dropouts earn less than $30,000 yearly in 2010, however, the college graduates earns up to $100,000 per year, and more than 90% of the high-paying jobs in the United States require college graduate diploma. In the present contemporary economic environments where education and skills are highly prized, people with a high school diploma have a little chance of securing highest paying jobs. (Greenstone, Harris, Li 5).

Additionally, people without a high school diploma are likely to earn less from their jobs, they are also not likely to hold the jobs for a long time compared with more educated counterparts. In 2009, 50% of people reaching the working ages without the school diploma were not employed. However, more than 85% of people with college graduate had jobs. The challenges of the less skilled category of people findings jobs affect them and the community because the lack of jobs increases the crime rates as well as creating broader costs on the society.

Attaining the higher education increase the chance of getting married, improving children standard of education, and raising children out of poverty. Children of people without higher education are likely to drop out from schools. Moreover, education increases the chance of living healthier and longer life. Psacharopoulos, uses the human capital theory to demonstrate the return on educational investment. The author argues that the education is a good investment because it allows people to improve their well-being. "The model of academic success" (Schneider, and Lee, 358) also reveals that education is commensurate to the economic success. Many Asian-Americans have been able to secure high-paying jobs in the United States because they excel in mathematics than the American counterpart. Typically, a large majority of American companies continues recruiting Indians for jobs that involve quantitative and technical skills.

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Are educational opportunities equal?

Despite the benefits of education, the educational opportunities are not equal in the United States. The educational inequality is referred as difference in learning, and is attributed to the ethnicity and family background. Presently, there is a growing gap in the attainment of higher education between the American White and Hispanic-Americans. Typically, the percentage of White ethnic group with at least Bachelor degree is higher than African-Americans and Hispanic-Americans. For example, 51% of adult White population has at least a bachelor degree while 17% of adult African-Americans have at least a bachelor degree, 11% for Hispanic adult population and 16% of American Indians. Since higher educational attainment is linked to the higher income, large percentages of children born with white parents are likely receiving a better education than children born with from Africa Americans or Hispanic parents.

How are educational opportunities reproduced through structural mechanisms?

The structural mechanisms are the factors that reproduce the educational opportunities. It is essential to realize large percentages of people who make decisions about the education opportunities are the White ethnic group. Naturally, they design the educations to their advantages. For example, the communities with large percentages of the White population normally have the best public elementary and high schools in the United States. These schools generally have the best resources to impact with the best education on students. On the other hand, schools in the communities of underprivileged minority groups generally have the low facilities compared with the schools with White communities. Thus, this structural mechanism of the American society affect the educational opportunities. More importantly, America society consists of structural economic and social inequalities. Kalleberg, et al. argue that the individual attainment of educational opportunities is shaped by organizational opportunity structure and characteristics of a given society. Similarly, attainment of the education opportunities is shaped by individual education and experience. Inequality associated with the occupational status and income are based on the stratification of the American society. Thus, the outcome of the structural stratification is that people with the best education and high income send their children to the best schools, which will assist their children to climb the top ladder and earn fat income in the society. Contrarily, low-income people may face challenges in sending their children to the best schools, and these children have the highest possibility of dropping out from schools consequently affecting their income earning levels. Unless the policy makers make a drastic decision to implement fundamental changes to close the gap between the rich and the poor, the structural mechanism of the American society will continue benefitting the White majority.

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"Educational Opportunities And Education", 13 December 2016, Accessed.3 May. 2024,
https://www.aceyourpaper.com/essays/educational-opportunities-education-2163626