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The High School Experience Essay
Experiences during high school
Experiences during high school
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The education system that I went through in my high school career felt like an experience that every child underwent. I saw other teens, as well as myself, struggle to complete the assignments and projects given to us by our teachers. We had a hard time reading and writing essays that evolved over learning a philosophical insight. We gave it our best effort to convince our parents or families to “chip in” money into our lives, so that way we can buy school supplies. The reality that I lived my entire high school career was brutal in every way. I lived in a poor neighborhood, and the school I attended was of low quality. During high school, I learned that not all students went through the same experience as I did. Some students have an easier time in high school, while some students including me have a brutal time. The difference between students’ experiences evolved over the inequalities of wealth. Wealth plays an important role in education, and it interrelates with crucial learning requirements, such as test scores, cognitive development, academic performance, grades and GPA. High schools are sometimes judged by the test scores that their students reflect. New York Times journalist and Stanford professor, Sean F. Reardon, claimed that many of the tests that critique high schools are heavily focused on mathematics and English reading skills. He also said that not only is it tests that high schools give to their students, but also college-level tests, such as the SAT, ACT and EAP. With those tests comes a diversity of scores, which forms a barrier on students. This barrier is recognized as dividing students into two separate categories: “rich and poor students” (Reardon, 2013). Reardon said that this barrier has been affecting t... ... middle of paper ... ...colleges. Works Cited Bergland, Christopher. “Tackling the "Vocabulary Gap" Between Rich and Poor Children.” Psychology Today. 16 Feb. 2014. Web. 18 Mar. 2013. Duncan, Greg J., and Richard J. Murnane. “Economic inequality: The real cause of the urban school problem.” Chicago Tribune. 6 Oct. 2011. Web. 18 Mar. 2013. Grove, Allen. “High Grades or Challenging Courses? Which Matters More?” About.com. Web. 19 Mar. 2013. Lowrey, Annie. “Wealth Gap Among Races Has Widened Since Recession.” The New York Times. 28 Apr. 2013. Web. 18 Mar. 2013. Lui, Meizhu, et al. The Color of Wealth: The Story Behind the U.S. Racial Wealth Divide. New York: The New Press, 2006. Print. Reardon, Sean F. “No Rich Child Left Behind.” The New York Times. 27 Apr. 2013. Web. 18 Mar. 2013. “Social Inequality and Educational Disadvantage.” Russell Sage Foundation. Web. 18 Mar. 2013.
Racial segregation has been a tactic used to isolate certain populations from success, while concentrating wealth amongst specific communities. San Francisco is a quintessential example of how an exceptionally affluent city is able to segregate poverty-stricken individuals from one of the worlds most prosperous economic regions Since the inception of the tech boom two facts have become evident, the wealth of Silicon Valley has risen exponentially, and the black population has plummeted. In a city where the top five percent of workers earn over $400,000 annually, 20 percent of the population still earns less than $30,000. From a monetary standpoint the numbers alone are staggering, but when taking into account racial components, health disparities
Neill, Monty. "The No Child Left Behind Act Is Not Improving Education." Education: Opposing Viewpoints. New York: Greenhaven, 2005. 162-68. Print.
To find the accumulated wealth disparity between whites and blacks Oliver and Shapiro first had to start with an analytical distinction between wealth and income. After all, simply glancing at Forbes Magazine’s list of top income earners for 2011 appears to indicate that the once prominent socioeconomic disparity among whites and blacks has vanished. Over the past decade, famous black individuals such as Oprah Winfrey, Michael Jackson, Michael Jordan, and Magic Johnson have all topped the charts as the highest income earners in America. At some points in recent history, blacks have even accounted for half of the top ten highest earners, an outstanding feat considering blacks account for only about 13% of the USA population. This picture painted by the list of highest income earners however, only tells half the story. Contrary to Forbes’ highest income list is Forbes’ profile of the 400 wealthiest Americans. This list contains few if any African Americans. Therefore, to explain this disparity a clear distinction had to be made between what is wealth and what is income.
Something I have always known since I was a little kid is that the educational system in this country is a complete fraud. American schools claim to live by the ideal of No Child Left Behind, but millions of students get cast aside each and every year. In schools these days, it is obvious which students are the elite—those that are raised up and motivated to go to college—and the ordinary student— those that are somewhat ignored throughout their schooling and are lucky if they even earn a GED. As a recent graduate of high school, and a product of this country’s educational system, I have had the opportunity to develop my own opinions regarding the myth of education in our society. Based upon my observations going through the school system, and the various arguments posed by several authors in “Rereading America”, I strongly believe that schooling in this society caters solely to students in the elite category while ostracizing students that do not live up to the elitist ideal.
Many people believe that “having an economy that places a greater value on skills and education is a good thing” and that is the thing that is needed to improve people’s lives and futures (Baicker, Lazear). If what our economy is trying to do a good thing they why are so many students still suffering? The main issues are the low-income education that many students have. Many schools are getting money from the government but that is not enough to pay for everything students need. Educational standards have continued to increase throughout the years but that does not help the students who are unable to pay for the better education. These students who cannot pay for the better education are stuck barely getting by with a low education. A low-education can affect many areas of regular schooling. The students who are at low-income schools do not know what type of disadvantage they have compared to other students across the country. These students believe that they are getting the best education, but there are many students who are getting a better education at a school that has the funds to pay for everything their students need. Low-income students are suffering due to the environment they are in at school and they continue to suffer throughout their life due to it. These students will continue to suffer unless something is done about the low-income schools and improve them for the future. Improvement has to come from all areas, not just one aspect of schooling but from all aspects. Although education has improved along with technology many low-income students still suffer from the vast inequalities. These inequalities will take many years to find a way to fix and even more years to actually fix, until this happens the students will...
The ability for all children from varying walks of life to receive a well-rounded education in America has become nothing more than a myth. In excerpt “The Essentials of a Good Education”, Diane Ravitch argues the government’s fanatical obsession with data based on test scores has ruined the education system across the country (107). In their eyes, students have faded from their eyes as individual hopefully, creative and full of spirit, and have become statistics on a data sheet, percentages on a pie chart, and numbers calculated to show the intelligence they have from filling out bubbles in a booklet. In order for schools to be able to provide a liberal education, they need the proper funding, which comes from the testing.
Standardized testing scores proficiencies in most generally accepted curricular areas. The margin of error is too great to call this method effective. “High test scores are generally related to things other than the actual quality of education students are receiving” (Kohn 7). “Only recently have test scores been published in the news-paper and used as the primary criteria for judging children, teachers, and schools.”(2) Standardized testing is a great travesty imposed upon the American Public School system.
America’s school system and student population remains segregated, by race and class. The inequalities that exist in schools today result from more than just poorly managed schools; they reflect the racial and socioeconomic inequities of society as a whole. Most of the problems of schools boil down to either racism in and outside the school or financial disparity between wealthy and poor school districts. Because schools receive funding through local property taxes, low-income communities start at an economic disadvantage. Less funding means fewer resources, lower quality instruction and curricula, and little to no community involvement. Even when low-income schools manage to find adequate funding, the money doesn’t solve all the school’s problems. Most important, money cannot influence student, parent, teacher, and administrator perceptions of class and race. Nor can money improve test scores and make education relevant and practical in the lives of minority students.
In affluent school districts which in most if not all cases are predominantly white students have “the best teachers, most up-to-date textbooks and computers, and superior academic facilities.” School districts made up of mostly wealthy and white students have the money to pay for superior resources and staff. However, struggling schools in equally struggling school districts do not have the money to pay for better resources and staff to improve the education of economically disadvantaged and racial minority students. Students inside of these economically disadvantaged school districts are left at a large disadvantage when it comes to competing for a higher education with wealthy white students with a high quality education. These disadvantaged students are left to fend for themselves without the support system and quality resources that are afforded to wealthy white students when looking for future opportunities such as applying for college. African Americans and other minorities restricted from buying homes and building equity has kept them in a state where they have little to no chance to improve their condition. Even if the people in low-income neighborhoods are very talented and have a large amount of potential they have no way to exercise and build on that potential because they don’t have an opportunity to attain an
Race and education are two very important topics that seem to have a very great effect on each other. We live in the land of opportunity, and this land provides “The American Dream”. However, the American Dream must come with equal quality education for all people regardless of their race. Education is one of the major obstacles today that stands in the way of giving everyone the same opportunity that they deserve.
Education is a key aspect in everyone’s life that helps them prepare for future job opportunities and a higher standard of living. Unfortunately, education is harder to access for some individuals, and easier for others. For instance, many low-income families have trouble taking their child to school as a result of a lack of transportation. They also might not be able to make it to school or do homework after school because of family issues, such as having to take care of a family member or having to work after school hours. While these inconveniences are commonly found throughout the middle and lower class, this issue does not seem to occur in the higher-income families. High-income families can obtain advanced education opportunities, including attending elite private schools, while generally, low-income families cannot. In addition, impoverished individuals that decide to get a higher education after college can sometimes be drowning in debt once they get out of college. Conversely, the wealthy only have a small amount to pay off, if any at
This paper explores the way social inequality affects schooling. In a classroom setting, one student can be treated unequally just because of their race, ethnic background or religion. Taking notes from Purcell- Gates and Boykin, A.W. & Noguera, P., the topics of ethnicity and the achievement gap will be discussed in the event that all students should be treated equal. Also bringing in the topic of the “No Child Left Behind Act” introduced by former president George W. Bush in 2001 and was signed into law in 2002. For a long time, social inequality places a negative effect on schools around the country. The common urban verse suburban educational battle has been going on for way to long and there is a fix that needs to be made.
Currently, relatively few urban poor students go past the ninth grade. The graduation rates in large comprehensive inner-city schools are abysmally low. In fourteen such New York City Schools, for example, only 10 percent to 20 percent of ninth graders in 1996 graduated four years later. Despite the fact that low-income individuals desperately need a college degree to find decent employment, only 7 percent obtain a bachelors degree by age twenty-six. So, in relation to ...
With their increased wealth, the rich, from 19762 to 2006, have increased their spending on enrichment activities for their children by 151 percent, compared to only 57 percent for poor families (O’Brien). This gives rich children an advantage over poor children. This gap is further extended in public education. Rich children often go to better schools that provide opportunities that children in poor schools do not receive. This is “an educational system that provides such privilege to some students, while willfully and purposefully denying it to others” (Strauss). The current education system allows rich children to succeed while it tells the poor children that “they are inadequate instead of educating them” (Strauss). Even when poor children achieve in school, they are just as likely to succeed later in life as rich children who have dropped out of school (O’Brien). This creates an atmosphere where the education provided to the poor is woefully inadequate when compared to that hoarded by the rich. This, in turn, continues to place poor children in a situation that keeps them
To me, equality of opportunity in public education is where every single person deserves and is entitled to an equal chance to obtain a good education, grow and make positive progress throughout their time in school, and be successful in reaching their full potential later in life. These people should be treated identically, not differently due to their gender, ethnicity, or socioeconomic status.