The Rich Get More Educated and Richer

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Education is a major component in an individual’s future success in today’s society. The traditional model that we are taught to follow is to achieve good grades in High School so that we are able to get accepted to a good college in order to obtain a good high paying job. However, if the major building blocks of our education are somehow hindered by sociological influences, it would be correct to assume that our future success would also be affected. An example of a situation in which sociological aspects impact that education system can be found right here in the city of Lowell. According to the United States Census Bureau, the median household income for the year 2012 was about $51,714 annually compared with the average income throughout Massachusetts which was about $66,658 annually. Additionally in the year 2012, the statistics for the persons below the poverty level was 17.3 percent, significantly higher than Massachusetts average of 11.0 percent. Lowell is known as an urban environment and a city full of many different and diverse types of people. However, the city of Lowell does contain a large population that are, by today’s standards, considered to be living below the poverty line. ("U.S Census Bureau")

In order to understand how these sociological concepts have an impact on the education of the children of Lowell as well as their future success, it is important to understand exactly what these sociological concepts are and what their presence entails. Firstly, we must define the concept of stratification- in the case of the education systems in Lowell there is a clear case of social stratification. Social stratification is “the structured inequality between groups, this can be based on economic status, gender, race,...

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