Today,
Eduardo Porter of the New York Times published an article explaining the changes being wrought on the American school system of today, particularly in higher education.
The article cites worrying statistics. Although the U.S. has historically provided accessible secondary education to students of a wide variety of incomes, in recent years the rate of educational attainment in our country has fallen behind other developed nations. Nearly 60% of Russian 25 to 60 year olds, for example, have surpassed the education of their parents. In the U.S., the rate is about 30%.
Even though it is possible to interpret these numbers as other countries "catching up" to the educational standards of the U.S., it remains disconcerting that low-income american families are disproportionately choosing not to attend college, since
income has increasingly become a factor in college attendance.
What are the solutions to this? Is it true that the public school system disadvantages poor students by locking them out of wealthier high school districts? Why aren't the people who would most benefit from college attending college?
5 comments:
Personally, I think a big difference between the US and these other countries is the emphasis placed on higher education. Yes, lower-income students tend to choose not to go to college because of financial reason, but it also has to do with living in environments without a lot of college graduates and encouragement to pursue higher education. When you add the crippling amounts of possible debt, going straight into the work force and making money immediately sounds a lot better than paying to go to college for 2-5 years
I agree with Regina that the idea of role models is very important. However, I think another important step is expanding community colleges and technical schools. These types of schools are cheap, take less time, and allow for better paying jobs than a high school diploma.
Though having more students attend college would be great, I think those that don't wish go to a four-year university should have other affordable options.
I would like to add something about the perspective of a Russian college student. Many young Russians dream of immigrating to the United States and working where there is more opportunity than in their native country. Doing so is extremely difficult to accomplish, naturally. Hence the 60% surpass their parents. This is the same for China, for India, or any other country in that regard. Many birthright American citizens (not all, but many from my experience) don't realize how privileged they are in that they never had to fight to be on American soil, and their values are a reflection of that. Whereas an immigrant, or somebody who wants to be an immigrant, places that much more emphasis on "making it." (Also, fun fact: in Russia, a public university is seen as a public high school or a public elementary school in that it does not cost to enroll and study. However, getting accepted into any university is so much more challenging than getting into one in the United States.)
I'm intrigued by Katie's last point - that "those who don't wish to go to a four-year university should have more affordable options". Sure, there are plenty of options like middle college and community college, which can ultimately help you save money and spend a shorter time paying for an expensive university education in the long run, but an important factor in many American students who choose to go to 4 year universities is the idea that is impressed on them that claims if they don't do this, they will never be as successful or live up to their potential in life, or won't make enough money, and therefore can not be happy. All we really want is a good education and the opportunity to live our lives the way we want to without these kinds of pressures and, let's be honest, very contradictory pieces of advice. Get a good education so that you'll get a good paying job. But make sure that you love your job and place less importance on the money. Thanks everybody for the absolutely clear advice, I'll be sure to make a good decision that will decide the rest of my life while under no pressure at all from parents, teachers, peers, and many high expectations.
I definitely agree with Oma and Elena that social pressures are enormous factors in influencing one's college attendance. To be honest, I find it very hard to read an article about higher education these days without receiving a disheartening statistic about college tuition increasing by some ridiculous amount.
Perhaps the solution to increase attendance in low-income Americans, then, would be to send a message that there are plenty of scholarship and financial resources for nearly anyone to attend college. I think college PSA's ought to be as prevalent as anti-drug or anti-piracy PSA's. The trouble, of course, would be finding companies to fund such PSA's.
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