There is a wide spread believe that America is a place full of opportunities to achieve educational and economic prosperity for those who work hard enough. Even though, this is sometimes the case, there is corruption and unfairness within this concept that prohibits certain individuals from advancing up the social ladder. According to Ferris and Stein (2014), “…the degree of mobility [people] achieve can depend on a persons ethnicity, class status, or gender rather than merit” (209). Opportunities to advance to a higher social status can be denied and made more difficult to achieve due to discrimination or prejudice based on ethnicity, religion or a subgroup someone belongs too. Those who have more power over another individual can control and
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Furthermore, another structural factor that may affect vertical social mobility is the quality of education received. Whether public or private, educational systems have very similar curriculums and merits that everyone should meet. Nonetheless, the lack of resources and qualified teachers make receiving decent education a difficult task. Similar to the school in the poor inner-city neighborhood, I went to a high school that was constantly looked down upon due to the location and low resources it had compared to the neighboring high schools. There were moments when I wished I had attended a different high school because I wanted better professors who were devoted to actually teaching and a school that had resources for all students to utilize. I felt as if attending a school that had a reputation for low merit would affect my chances of furthering my education. As Ferris and Stein (2014) mention, “How children perform in school usually determines whether and where they go to college, what professions they
Furthermore, another structural factor that may affect vertical social mobility is the quality of education received. Whether public or private, educational systems have very similar curriculums and merits that everyone should meet. Nonetheless, the lack of resources and qualified teachers make receiving decent education a difficult task. Similar to the school in the poor inner-city neighborhood, I went to a high school that was constantly looked down upon due to the location and low resources it had compared to the neighboring high schools. There were moments when I wished I had attended a different high school because I wanted better professors who were devoted to actually teaching and a school that had resources for all students to utilize. I felt as if attending a school that had a reputation for low merit would affect my chances of furthering my education. As Ferris and Stein (2014) mention, “How children perform in school usually determines whether and where they go to college, what professions they