Class In America The College Dropout Boom Analysis

Many people claim that America is the land of opportunity. A country where everyone is told that anyone has the ability to achieve anything as long as they work hard and have dedication. At the same time it is relatively easy to see people from lower class families struggling with the higher education system. There is a large gap between the upper and lower classes of America regarding who is getting into college and actually graduating from these institutions. This is exactly what authors Gregory Mantsios and David Leonhardt are describing in their articles Class in America and The College Dropout Boom. Upper class Americans have far more opportunities and advantages in higher education compared to the lower class in the United States …show more content…
What are the issues? In his article Class in America, Mantsios states that, “Wealth and poverty are viewed as one of several natural and inevitable states of being: differences are only differences. One may even say differences are the American way, a reflection of American social diversity.” (178). The issue, Mantsios explains, is that someone has to be in the bottom part of the population due to a kind of natural selection within our class system. As a result of this, the lower class citizens are not being taken into consideration when it comes to equal opportunity in America. If the people in this country will not even admit that there is a problem, then how can the people even begin to fix the discrepancies within the social class system. In spite of the fact that Americans do not wish to talk about social status, there is a monumental contrast between the rich and the poor.
There are definite class structures within the United …show more content…
The class system an individual is in should never be a deciding factor on if they pursue a higher education or not. “A bachelor 's degree, not a year or two of courses, tends to determine a person 's place in today 's globalized, computerized economy” (Leonhardt). A college education plays a major part in each and every aspect of any future career. It affects the career one strives for, provides a better financial situation, and even the type of environment one chooses to raise a family in. All three of these are important reasons why colleges need to start changing some of their policies concerning financial aid and admission requirements. According to Leonhardt, elite colleges fear that admitting a large number of low-income students could mean more fewer spots for the children of alumni. The school 's conclude that this would cause less money for them on account of a lower status ranking. The colleges are not concerned about furthering someone 's education, instead they are more bothered by how much money they bring in and what number they are on a list. The lower class does not have the same chance to succeed and it drastically affects the education received by them in the United