Analysis Of The Wealthy Kids Are All Right By Chuck Collins

In Chuck Collins article, “The Wealthy Kids Are All Right”, he compares the lives of four completely different college aged adults. One has the advantage of being brought up in an affluent home, so she leaves college debt free, and on the path to a life of high paying jobs and big houses. The next student had to work his way through college, and graduated with over $50,000 in debt and then spent his entire life trying to break through the thick middle class barrier. Another student went to second rate schools and graduated with little debt; yet, his lack of experience in his field and higher education caused him to be stuck in a steady job despite it being low paying. The last student never pursued secondary education since she had to deal

with the obligations of those who grow up in poverty, also neither of her parents went to college. She ended up working in dead end jobs for the rest of her life, barely surviving at the poverty line. These examples show that based off of the economic standing one was born in to, it is formidable to be released from the confines of where one has been placed in society. This is precisely why poverty is so endless. Children generally base their lives off of their parents. If both parents graduate college and have high paying jobs, the child will consider that the typical life to pursue, and aim for it. However, if neither parent graduated high school or went on to pursue a college degree; though instead worked all of their lives to support their family, that child will see that as a standard and proceed to lead a similar life.
The United States of America is known as a nation of keeping the poor people poor, while the rich get wealthier.

It is also known that those in poverty stay percentage wise more likely to be of African-American or Hispanic-American descent; even women are likely to be in poverty. So long story short, if one is not a white male, their chance of being in poverty at one point in their life increases by fifty percent. So what is the cause of poverty, seeing that no one grows up dreaming to one day be struggling to pay the bills. One of the building blocks for poverty is a poor education. This may not be a result of the education students receiving being substandard per se, but it is just not meant for them. It is customary across the United States for students to sit through a predetermined set of core classes put in place by federal educators. What they fail to see though, is that not each and every one is made to learn past a certain level. Instead of focusing on fitting every shape of person in to a square hole, a tailored curriculum would be immensely beneficial; such as, giving the option of vocational courses verses college prep courses once a certain point in a student’s education is reached. When low-achieving students are stuck in college prep courses that they continuously fail, the only solution as of now is to require them retake the courses until they pass them, leaving no room for job preparation. Mark Edwards, executive director of Opportunity Nation, a campaign

to increase economic opportunity in America states:
“We’ve done a disservice in this country by suggesting that there’s only one path to success, which is to get a bachelor’s degree… There are many good-paying jobs available today that, quite candidly, a four-year Bachelor of Arts degree does not prepare them for… We need to expand how we think about success… it’s just a smarter, more nuanced was of thinking about workforce development,” (Bidwell, Vocational High Schools: Career Path or Kiss of Death?).
Thirty percent of high school students drop out of school each year, which is almost one million students. Seventy percent of those who graduate high school will not graduate from college, yet only twenty-three percent of the jobs in America require a college degree. The stigma in the United States right now is that if one does not graduate from college with a degree, it will be difficult to find a decent job, thus leading a fruitless life. Although what people fail to realize is that not every citizen can earn the money that the top one percent make because no economy can support that. So instead of filling young people’s heads with the idea that to not be a failure in life certain criteria must be met, let them know that there are jobs at every level of affluence. One job is not more or less vital than the other, our country and our economy could not function without varying employment eminences.
Poverty in the United States of America, and the world, is seen by millions of people as a problem that needs to be resolved; on the contrary, poverty is what keeps the world economy circulating.

Since the beginning of recorded history poverty has been an active element of every society, and so to say that after roughly 5,000 years we should be rid of an aspect of the basic economy is senseless. For decades in the United States, groups of activists have tried to fight the War on Poverty; yet they have come up empty handed every time. This is seeing that poverty is a cornerstone of the American free-market economy. Millions of people each year are considered to be in poverty, howbeit each person has an equal opportunity to impel themselves out of whatever economic situation they exist in. By adding the option of job and career preparation early on, students who are not going to college can begin to learn the skills needed to take on the necessary jobs in society. By focusing on preparing the up and coming generations for the work force rather than attempting to make them fit in to a mold, the once War on Poverty will be no longer. This is not because poverty will no longer exist, yet rather it will be realized that to live in a stable and democratic society it is required that there are distinctions in the different social classes. For the United States of America to be known as the Land of the Free, free will is a prerequisite that cannot be overlooked. Americans have the

freedom to rise up in the social hierarchy, or stay stagnant where they subsist; this is the beauty of freedom. Without poverty, a nation cannot be considered a democracy; consequently, poverty is a necessity to the triumph of a nation.