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Socio economic status and academic achievement
Studies showing that socioeconomic factors greatly impact educational achievements
Socioeconomic status and academic performance
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Growing up in a more privileged environment things may come easier to one. But one should not be surprised of those that are in a less fortunate situation that are not able to reach certain heights, compared to someone from a more privileged back ground. Even if one is not in the best environment, they are able to make a choice to keep fighting for a better life. In the podcast “Three Miles” that is exactly the attitude described from a girl name Raquel, on the other hand Melanie froze her life doing what she thought she deserved. Though Raquel and Melanie had similar backgrounds in that they were raised in the same poor neighborhood and attended the same indigent high school, in the end Raquel was able to succeed in her life after getting denied a Posse scholarship, whereas Melanie worked in a supermarket for ten years, feeling that was as good as it was going to get. Raquel and Melanie were considered very bright, motivated and driven students. Both girls were from the same neighborhood, and …show more content…
After Melanie disappeared, she started working at a supermarket and has worked at the same supermarket for the past 10 years of her life. She says she felt as if the trip to Fieldston High School was meant to teach the University Heights kids that they were being educated the they will never be as privileged as the kids from Fieldston would be (“Three Miles”). Many may think that Melanie just quit and gave up on her life, but in reality, the trip to Fieldston negatively impacted her life. As for Raquel it was the complete opposite. Raquel was also denied the Posse Scholarship. Instead of giving up she overcame that obstacle and went on to study at Bard College, graduated, got a job as a paralegal, but is now working as a teacher. Despite having the same background and coming out of the same neighborhood and high school, these girl’s life turned out to be completely the
After reading Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt and The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, I observed that both these texts share a few similarities in the way the authors portray the difficulties their characters have to face, in order to get to where they are now. After researching a few rags to riches stories and using Slumdog Millionaire and The Pursuit of Happyness as my primary sources, I found out that successful individuals from harsh backgrounds shared similar complications, yet they had the will and perseverance to get to where they are now. They faced difficulties such as dealing with poverty and hardships of everyday life, struggling to overcome the effects of addiction and abuse. They found ways to overcome these difficulties through things like having some form of education, and utilizing their knowledge, to manipulate opportunities to their advantage in order to bring about success.
Certainly, being born into a privileged family have their advantages. Unfortunately, for those who are born into poverty may struggle for their success, but it is not impossible. The podcast “Three Miles” is a great example of that. Comparatively, on the surface Melanie and Raquel are two individuals coming from the same unfortunate circumstances. Although, both girls were introduced to the same pen pal program their outcomes would travel different courses. Initially, the purpose of this program is to give students from poor neighborhoods a glimpse inside their wealthier counterpart’s lives, from another school. Raquel and Melanie’s backgrounds were similar, because they were afforded the same opportunities, but they turned out differently. Raquel was driven while Melanie is unambitious.
Opportunities came and went, but no one seemed to care about the challenges African Americans were facing. Success was complicated due to the fact that unfair chances are given and no one could be held responsible because of this. Thus, Harlon L. Dalton and Toni Cade Bambara conclude with the idea that success is hard because of unfairness towards certain things for example, opportunities and equality. However, in Dalton’s essay the myth states everything to be true and correct while he points out the key differences in making the statements false. Toni Cade Bambara uses the viewpoint of a young girl in her story named Sylvia to show the impact of how success changes the lives of every African American and how it represents inequality. In addition, success is not as easy as the myth claims it to be, it illustrates that African Americans are not given an equal chance, and the odds are stacked against them. Some might argue that opportunities are for everyone and they are equal, though this is a good point it is not accurate. Many problems like race is just one factor that took a while to solve, so it cannot be said that chances are equal. The subject of success is important because it is not easy to achieve, especially when chances are not even and distributed properly. African Americans had to fight their way towards getting
People from lower classes try to achieve success but tend to struggle depending upon their foundation. The problem that people don’t want see is that we all want to become successful, and have the capability to do so but are just restricted by the lack of income.
The day she turned seventeen she moved out because she wanted more independence and wanted to be closer to her friends, contrary to her parents wishes, she moved 15 miles away from home. Brianna moving out was bound to happen, she just decided to sooner than other people. Quickly after she moved out Brianna realized that going to a regular high school was tougher than she had imagined and she ended up dropping out. Brianna also realized that finding a place to call home was also difficult, she was moving from place to place. Wanting to push forward Brianna joined an opportunity high school, which is equivalent to online schooling and eventually graduated. Not only that, Brianna eventually found a steady place and was living there comfortably. Everything seemed to be going uphill for Brianna or at least that is what her friends and family had the impression of.
When you think about your high school years, I’m sure we all have exceptional and dreadful memories. I’m sure all of us remember who was voted most popular, best dressed, who were the misfits of the school. If you want a glimpse of the different social classes in high school watch Mean Girls. Cady Heron is a freshman who for most of her life was home schooled and lived in Africa. Upon her first few days of school being the “new girl” she doesn’t quite fit it, until one day she accidently receives an invite from Regina George the most popular as well as the most hated girl in school to sit with her and friends at lunch. Soon after, she pretends to like them and hang out with them for inside information. During her investigation, she turns into
The podcast I listened to on RadioLab is called “An Equation for Good,” which portrays a long conversation between three different guests Richard Dawkins, Oren Harman and Carl Zimmer and the producer is Lynn Levy. This podcast was very interesting to me because Robert Kulwich shared a story about his discussion about natural selection with Richard Dawkins and eventually natural selection gets known as “the total horror of this suffering in nature” (Levy, 2010). From this remark, I quickly realized that one of the main points of this podcast is to enhance our understandings of natural selection by realizing that it exists. Most importantly the introduction was strong and creative because it drew my attention as the music was pleasant and effective while listening intensively.
For example, both Soma and Dontay both struggled with their grades within the first semester due to lack of support, which is not exactly surprising due to the statistics the documentary discussed such as 90% of lower-income students dropping out and only 21% of lower-income students will actually transfer from a community college. With lack of extra finances and support from families it is of no surprise that these two students struggled, though not all of the students struggled. Cecilia and Jess both graduated and found jobs, Cecilia even when back to school for her Masters, both ladies completing college and remaining successful once they
Hardships are a terrible, but normal part of everybody’s life. No matter the hardship, anybody can recover. After viewing the information, it give an idea of how bad each of them had it.When Jeannette from The Glass Castle escapes the depths of Welch and her parents, her life was smooth sailing afterwards. When you have a life as very upsetting as hers, It is expected for more struggles to happen later in life. Not everybody will be as fortunate as her and continue forward with no regression. When Lily from The Secret Life of Bees ran away from home with no clue where she was headed, other than a town written on a picture. Liz from Homeless to Harvard: The Liz Murray Story had drug addicted parents and no plans on continuing an education. She reached a life changing decision and started going to school again. This lead to her ultimate goal of going to college, and at one of the most profound ones in the United States. If these three girls can overcome the intense situations they endured, anybody can.
The story began when La Vaughn was just fifteen. La Vaughn described her school life and her two best friends, Myrtle and Annie. Myrtle and Annie had been her friends all throughout her childhood, but now, it seemed that the three friends were drifting apart as their common interests changed. Both Myrtle and Annie had become very involved in a religious youth group that La Vaughn had no interest in joining. La Vaughn felt that the leaders in the religious ...
However, she never really experienced the actual life of living in poverty as the majority of people living in poverty experience. Barbara, an educated white women had just that on other people living in poverty, because of the color of her skin and education level that is more often than not restricted from people living in poverty. She was able and more qualified for jobs than other people living amongst the status she was playing. She also was able to more readily seek better benefits than people living in poverty. When she first start her journey in Florida she had a car, a car that in most cases people living in poverty do not have. She was also able to use the internet to find local jobs and available housing in the area that many people living in poverty are restricted from. Another great benefit she had was the luxury of affording a drug detox cleansing her of drugs deemed bad. Many people living in poverty do not have much extra cash laying around much less fifty dollars to afford a detox for prescription drugs. She also had the luxury to afford her prescription drugs, another option that many people living in poverty do not have. Another element that made Barbara’s experience not that genuine was the fact that she was not providing for anybody other than herself. Twenty-two percent of kids under the age of 18 are living below the poverty line (http://npc.umich.edu/poverty/#5) , Barbara did not have to provide for pets or kids which would of changed her experience altogether of living in poverty. Not to belittle Barbara’s experience, but many factors of what life is like living in poverty were not taken into consideration during her
The hardships that she and her classmates went through changed the outlook of all races. Not only did the Nine students inspire future students at Little Rock but those in surrounding districts, those in surrounding states, those across the South, and those across the country.
Connie was born into a very poor family. She described herself as living in poverty for the first eighteen years of her life. She often went without food, shelter or financial support. Connie’s mother worked extremely hard to support the household; she worked shampooing hair for only $50 a week. Connie’s father did not work at all, he was in charge and demanding yet put no effort into any aspect of the family. Connie was the first in her family to graduate from high school. It was more common for women to become pregnant, and marry young than finish high school. College was not even an option for Connie because of a lack of means. Subsequently, she followed in her mother’s footsteps; and the cycle of poverty and worked low paying, unfulfilling jobs for many years. "All Americans do not have an equal opportunity to succeed, and class mobility in the United States is lower than that of the rest of the industrialized world " (Mantsios 200). It is very difficult to get out of the cycle of oppression, when the system is created to keep the poor in the same socioeconomic status. Connie stayed very poor until she was about eighteen years old.
The next step up the ladder of normality is the lower class. Unlike the natives who don't look to fit into the normal set by American middle class, American lower class are constantly looking for ways to improve. PBS ran a very interesting special on classes within the United States. In the special, "People Like Us," was a section devoted to a woman named Tammy and her family. Tammy is a typical lower class citizen; she lives in a trailer in a small town, trash piled around, and no car to drive. After being on welfare for eighteen years, Tammy got a job at a Burger King restaurant 15 miles away. Tammy wants to become better; in fact she wants to go back to school. "I'm hoping to go to college and be a school teacher. That was my goal from the time I was five years old up until now." Even though Tammy wants to move up a class, she still realizes to which group she belongs.
Having a family of low socioeconomic status inevitably leaves me to reside in a low-income neighborhood which makes it more likely for me to witness the tragedies, adversities and hardships that people go through [not excluding myself]. Being conscious of this kind of environment, and these kinds of events, creates a pressure on me for having the aim to achieve social mobility in order to escape the aforementioned environment so that my own children could witness one less abominable aspect of life. Moreover, my family’s low socioeconomic status does not authorize me the privilege of being raised with the concerted cultivation method that kids of high socioeconomic status are more prone to being raised in. My family did not have the financial resources that granted us access to extra classes or lessons of instrumental classes, swimming practices, karate practices, or any other extracurricular activities that people of high socioeconomic status would be able to afford. This invisible fence that prevents me from these extracurricular activities enables me to having more appreciation towards the hobbies and talents that other people have. Plus, the fact that my family’s low socioeconomic status acts as a barrier from enjoying expensive luxuries in life creates a yearning [in me] to enjoy them later on in my life, in addition to acting as the fuel to my wish of achieving social mobility in anticipation of providing my own children with the luxurious vacations, gadgets, beachhouse, new cars that I could not