The Impact of Social Class and Poverty on Schooling

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The American education system is among the most reliable programs worldwide. However, the education sector has faced many problems over the years without permanent solutions. Social class and socioeconomic status are the main factors that are currently affecting education in the nation. Aspects such as the American social class and socioeconomic status have significantly affected the efficiency and reliability of the education system.

In the United States of America, determining the definition of social class can be a complex undertaking. Social class is associated with the division in society based on economic and social status. The definition of a social class will depend on the type of society a sociologist researches. In the United States, there are numerous forms of society that have coexisted for centuries. For instance, referring to Marx’s definition of social class, the two classes, the bourgeoisie and the proletariat, would be easily misinterpreted and miss-associated when grouping people in society. Marx’s definition is likely to group self-employed business owners who manage and operate their occupations as bourgeoisie because they can hire employees and own the means of production.

Max Weber’s theories provide a different aspect for a rational definition. His theory was traditional, emphasizing that classes were better categorized depending on the opportunities they presented to their members (Crashcourse, 2017). Using Weber’s theory, defining and answering questions concerning a social class in America was made easy. Socioeconomic status is the position of an individual or a group on the socioeconomic scale based on social and economic factors. The examination of socioeconomic status often reveals inequality to access of resources, privilege, power, and control. The socioeconomic status description is associated with low, medium and high social and economic factors.

Stories of American communities can be easily narrated through observing schools districts that serve children. Other than facilitating education, these school districts are geographic boundaries that amplify racial and financial division in the United States. This segregation influences the extent to which pupils can be integrated in different schools. These borders provide better insight when implementing measures to improve the value of life and education (Sibilia, 2020). However, the society often decide to disregard it responsibility to these communities allowing them to isolate themselves within inherent disparities which only allow a few to enjoy the privileges in these social classes.

These geographic disparities created by school districts have continued to increase the estrangement of the American society robing children of fundamental freedoms and opportunities. Schools within the struggling working class category provide limited knowledge to their students (Finn, 1999). The value of work is not emphasized, teachers focus on results rather than the procedure followed to generate outcomes. Education materials are unevenly distributed in these institutions. While schools for the rich have the best studying materials, institutions within the working class have limited book editions.

In the United States, educational facilities can be categorized based on their affordability and the socioeconomic status groups with these privileges. An observation can be made stating that within these geographies, students are educated and prepared for careers and employment befitting their socioeconomic status (Politizane, 2012). For instance schools for the elite produce quality executive officers, affluent professional schools generate top social employees like doctors, middle class schools develop regular but skilled social laborers, and schools for the working class generates the semiskilled labor position. Teachers in these schools form part of the final products generated within these system hence they form and continue the circles within these categories.

The American government recently witnessed a billion dollar gap in funds for schools. Astonishingly, schools for the white received more educational funding than those for predominantly nonwhite regardless of serving equal numbers of students (Finn, 1999). White communities are wealthier hence generate more money towards education. It would be true to argue that education is influenced both directly and indirectly by social class. Individuals from higher classes receive better education.

Concert cultivation is a parenting strategy that is characterized by heavy parental involvement in their child’s academics, development, and growth. Through the system, children develop a robust sense of entitlement which is essential in the institutional setting where middle class children learn to question adults and address them as equals (Lareau, 2003). Furthermore, parents mentor their children’s skills and attributes that make them reliable. Unlike naturally raising children, concert cultivation helps develop efficient youths who are productive and organized.

As mentioned earlier, schools in the United States continue to influence the division in the socioeconomic sector. The geographic boundaries associated with school districts should server as guides for required amendments to improve education but instead, they are have been disregarded and allowed to exist within inherent disparities that promote inequality. The continued ignorance has undermined economic growth and exposure of the struggling education districts. Few members in these communities are lucky to have any privileges; semiskilled members continue to struggle with poverty.

Education is a component of the social class, whether directly or indirectly. In American the education system continues to deteriorate. Social class plays a significant role on society’s influence towards settling inequality. Parental influence, financially and socioeconomically, determine the education level and employment opportunities of their children. Educational achievements and financial stability determine socioeconomically status, parenting, and education. Conclusively, education in the United States is immensely influenced by social class and socioeconomic status.

References

Crashcourse. (2017). Social class & poverty in the Us: Crash Course Sociology #24 [Video]. YouTube. Web.

Finn, P. (1999). An education appropriate to their station. Literacy with an attitude. Web.

Lareau, A. (2003). University of Washington. Unequal Childhoods; class, race and family life. Web.

Politizane. (2012). Wealth inequality in America[Video]. YouTube. Web.

Sibilia , R. (2020). 23 billion. EdBuild. Web.

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