Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Equal opportunities in education
Equal opportunities in education
An essay about equality for education
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Equal opportunities in education
Historical Trends at American Colleges and Universities The colonial colleges were among the first colleges created and were established under religious auspices. It was believed that an educated ministry was needed to establish Christianity in the New World. Harvard College was established in 1636, followed by Yale, William and Mary, Princeton and King ‘s College later to be called Columbia University and there were also others. The general colonial college curriculum included Latin, Greek, Hebrew, rhetoric, and logic. Later philosophy, metaphysics, ethics and mathematics were added. The argument later arose that colleges for agriculture and mechanical science should be established with support from federal land grants, thus the Morill Act of 1862 was created. This act granted each state 30,000 acres of public land for each senator and representative of Congress and the income from this grant was to support state colleges for agricultural and mechanical instruction. Many leading state universities today originated as land-grant colleges. It is noted that the largest and most popular higher education institutions is the two-year community college which originated as junior colleges in the late 19th and 20th century. These junior colleges were reorganized into community colleges with the broader function of serving the needs of their communities’ educational needs. The greatest growth in American higher education came after World War II with the passage of the G.I. Bill in 1944. To help readjust society to peacetime and reintegrate returning service people into domestic life, this bill provided federal funds for veterans for education. Seven million, eight hundred thousand veterans took advantage of this bill’s assistance to attend technical schools, colleges and universities. This increased growth in higher education enrollments that has continued through today. Since the 1980’s the cost of attending colleges have increased rapidly. Rising costs of for Medicare, highways and prisons have caused many states to reduce a percentage of their budget for higher education. Colleges and Universities currently face a very serious challenge: 1. The need to contain escalating costs so that higher education is affordable for most people. 2. The need to maintain high standards of instruction while educating la... ... middle of paper ... ...s assimilationists’ past. Recent Historical Trends Some recent historical trends just to list a few are movements toward gender equity, equal educational opportunities for students with disabilities, increased professionalism of education, and reduction of violence in schools. Title IX of the 1972 Education Amendments to the Civil Rights Act and the Women’s Educational Equity Act of 1974 prohibited discrimination against women in federally aided education programs. In 1975, Congress passed the Education for All Handicapped Children Act, which improved opportunities for a group of children who had previously lacked full access to a quality education. War on Terrorism On September 11, 2001, foreign terrorists hijacked and deliberately crashed commercial airplanes into the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington D.C. The attack and resulting loss of nearly 6000 lives have changed the way Americans view the world and life in their own country. This was mentioned to show how education is part of our ongoing culture, how schools have responded to crises in the past and how schools can promote democratic values and multicultural understanding in a time of crisis.
Great inequalities in the educational system between the sexes have occurred for many years and still occur today. Efforts have been made to rectify this disparity, but the one that has made the most difference is Title IX. Passed in 1972, Title IX attempted to correct the gender discrimination in educational systems receiving public funding. The greatest correction it made was in the area of athletics, but social justice of Title IX applies to many other areas as well. Title IX has an effect on women who are not athletes in many ways, including quality of education, receptivity to education, empowerment and creation of ideals.
In the year 1944, US Legislation passed the Servicemen’s Readjustment act, commonly known as the GI Bill of Rights. It is one of the most significant pieces of legislation ever produced by the federal government; one that impacted the United States socially, economically and politically. The GI Bill offers a comprehensive package of benefits, including financial assistance for higher education for veterans of U.S. military service. The benefits of the GI Bill are intended to help veterans readjust to civilian life following service to their country and to encourage bright, motivated men and women to volunteer for military duty. Many factors and contributions have gone into the development of the GI Bill, and it has changed over the years. This research paper will introduce the reader to a brief history of the formation and evolution of the GI Bill, discuss the current benefits that it offers to student populations in response to their specific needs, and introduce current implications that the GI Bill has placed on student veterans and institutions across the nation.
Today Title IX is still critical in education because women continue to lag behind men when receiving degrees in certain fields such as the math and science disciplines. 1 out of 5 women achieve the doctorate degrees in computer sciences and engineering and physics. "Schools are continue to downsize many of the affirmative action programs that are responsible for increasing access to higher education to minorities and women, a particular problem for women of color" (source c).
Allan and Davis mention the spike of college cost since 1995 has increased by 150 percent; student debt has increased 300 percent since 2003, and with education, second to the mortgage industry in the nation’s debt, America needs to redirect their attention to the future and focus on education (Allan n. pg). Budget cuts from national to state
Students who attended these institutions of higher education were typically born into a wealthy family, where the individuals already had made a name for themselves. They survived college, as disruptive students, because college was not a necessity for them to succeed in life. Referring to Harvard College, in his family’s newspaper, the New England Curant, in 1677, Benjamin Franklin wrote that it had become a “rich man’s school, a place that wealthy parents sent their sons to, where, for want of a suitable genius, they learn little more than to carry themselves handsomely, and enter a room genteely” (Lucas, p. 109). Prior to the American Revolution, higher education did not impact the majority of the people first hand. It is estimated that no more than one in every thousand colonists attended any college present before 1776 (Lucas, p. 109). This supports the idea that college was only available to those individuals who had enough money to attend college simply for the ability to move up the social ladder.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, college tuition and relevant fees have increased by 893 percent (“College costs and the CPI”). 893 percent is a very daunting percentage considering that it has surpassed the rise in the costs of Medicare, food, and housing. As America is trying to pull out of a recession, many students are looking for higher education so they can attain a gratified job. However, their vision is being stained by the dreadful rise in college costs. College tuition is rising beyond inflation. Such an immense rise in tuition has many serious implications for students; for example, fewer students are attending private colleges, fewer students are staying enrolled in college, and fewer students are working in the fields in which they majored in.
The biggest question or dispute regarding the cost of higher education is finding the appropriate monetary and economical equation to determine the percentage of personal and public responsibility. The above debate has been in question since the 1800’s when Thomas Jefferson stated; "I think by far the most important bill in our whole code is that for the diffusion of knowledge among the people. No other sure foundation can be devised, for the preservation of freedom and happiness ”. Those important words that called attention to the importance of having an educated citizenry in order to preserve democracy are until this day, words by which legislator...
“College education is only a mere rite of passage these days and a capstone to adolescent party time” (Henry). This is one of the things William A. Henry had to say about College Education, especially community colleges. William A. Henry was a critic, columnist and an author. In his career he received several prizes including the Pulitzer Prize as a drama critic for Time Magazine. He also wrote several books including his final and controversial book In Defense of Elitism which he talks about the tension America always had between elitism and egalitarianism. In those terms he sheds some light on education. Stanley Fish who published an article Colleges Caught In a Vise stating that colleges are offering an inferior product, in other words- an education that isn’t worth anything. Stanley Fish is a literary theorist, scholar, author, and was a professor in several Universities but now a Professor of Law at Cardozo Law School and a dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at the University of Illinois. What these two authors had to say about college raises a question whether community colleges should exist anymore. William A. Henry even states that community colleges should be closed and the number of high school graduates that go on to college should be reduced by about fifty percent. I agree with William A. Henry that the number of community colleges should be reduced down in our education system because first: a community college certificate has no value and oversupply of college graduates is affecting the economy. Second, community college tuition and expenses are climbing and in result continuing to offer cheaper education. I will analyze what community colleges are currently doing wrong, why they should be closed, and r...
The value of college has drastically changed over the course of a century. In the early history of the United States, going to college was a rare phenomena. The first American college, Harvard, was founded in 1636 with the intention of
With tuition rising every year, students face the challenge paying the debt achieving a college degree comes with. “Student debt surpassed credit-card debt in June 2010 for the first time in history, rising to about $830 billion — or nearly 6 percent of the nation 's annual economic output”(Clemmitt, Marcia). Not everyone has a ton of money just laying around. Being that financial trouble is the biggest problem for students, they begin to question whether college is worth it or not. In recent years, students have taken out loans to help with expenses. Most students choose to attend a community and junior college to help minimize the debt. Even after graduating with a degree, students still face the struggle of finding a job in this economic time. For higher class families this may not be a problem to them. But for the middle class and low income families, they face tougher times being that they don 't have the financial help like higher class families do. For the middle class and low income families, it makes more sense attending a community and junior college rather than a four year university.
Most colleges have become co-educational, but this didn’t occur until the late 1900’s. Some colleges like Yale and Princeton didn’t become co-educational until 1969. (“History of Coeducation”, par....
Attending college has changed quite a lot throughout the years. When it first arose, it was only accessible to the wealthy, and it was unheard of for everyone else. Only a few decades ago a bachelor degree could almost guarantee a comfortable job, and it was another advantage to any resume. In our current times, many students struggle and are unable to go to college due to the rising price tag that is not showing any signs of slowing down. A college degree is what most employers look for now-a-days, making it more essential than ever before. Unfortunately, it is becoming increasingly difficult to attain one. College tuition and fees should be lowered because 1) student loan debt is crippling for college graduates, 2) lower tuition will increase the accessibility of education, and 3) regulated tuition would lead to a
College education is a highly talked about subject among the presidents. For many years college education was not highly sought after or looked for, then when people who did go to college started getting better paying jobs than everyone else more and more people started to go to college. Since college is such a hot commodity these days the price of a college education is on a steady rise. Some experts have a very strong opinion as to why college education is on a rise and some believe that that it is not on the rise.
In the early years, community colleges generally had less than 200 students focusing on liberal arts education. This began to change as community colleges would begin to move toward more vocational curriculums in the late nineteenth century to serve the needs of the communities especially in the area of teacher training a move that would increase the access and enrollment of women in these
As colleges’ funds dry up, colleges must turn to the public to further support higher education. By raising state taxes, colleges can collect funds to help improve the school’s budgets. The state provides funds from the taxes for colleges to receive a certain amount for each student currently enrolled. All community and traditional four year colleges collect these funds in order to maintain the school’s budget. As reporter, Eric Kelderman states, “less than a third of colleges’ budget is based from state taxes”. The school’s budget is how colleges are able to provide academic support programs, an affordable intuition, and hire more counselors. Colleges must now depend on state taxes more than ever for public colleges. Without collecting more funds from state taxes, as author, Scott Carlson explains how Mr. Poshard explains to senators “our public universities are moving quickly toward becoming private universities…affordable only to those who have the economic wherewithal to them” (qtd. in.) Public colleges must be affordable to anyone who wishes to attend. If colleges lack to provide this to students, it can affect dropouts, a student’s ability focus, and cause stress. The problem of lack of funding is that colleges have insufficient funds. Therefore, the best possible solution for the problem of lack of funding would be increasing and collecting more funds from state taxes.