Social Economic Education – Term Paper

Relationship Between Social Economic Factors and Education

With the growing demand for higher education in the United States job industry, social-economic factors determine a lot attainment of a college degree in the country. Studies indicate that six out of ten jobs in the country require a postsecondary degree or its credentials (Scommegna, 2013).  In addition, education plays a key role in our society because it equips students with skills to advance themselves and nation economically. As a result, all people from different walks of life have been trying to attain a college degree in the country. Social-economic factors such as family income, parents’ level of education, race, parents’ expectation, and neighborhood play a key role in the attainment of a college degree.

Parents’ level of education plays a key role in determining attainment of a college degree. According to Temple (2009), highly educated parents can know the weakness and strengths of their children. As a result, the highly educated parents will work out to improve the weakness of their children. In addition, due to the high value of education, highly educated parents will be willing to invest their resources in education, for instance, their children will join the best high schools in the country thus increasing chances of transition to college. On the other hand, parents who struggled academically and those who are semi-illiterate have a low opinion on education. The parents will do little to encourage their children, for instance, they will talk negatively about education. In addition, they will not be willing to invest their resources in educating their children. As a result, there is a high likelihood of the children dropping out of schools whether at elementary education or high schools (America Psychological Association, 2017). Therefore, chances of transition to college will be minimal.

The level of income of when a child is growing also determines whether a child will attain a college degree or not. Wealthy and middle-class families have enough resources to send their sons and daughters to best oversee university and the best private high schools in the country. According to Scommegna (2013), the wealthy families have resources to hire tutors who supplement education standards of their children while they are at high schools. As a result, they will have higher chances of performing in high schools and thus transiting to higher education institutions. On the other hand, children of low-class parents and working class chances of transiting to colleges are low. At first, some of the children of low-income parents would be unable to attend schools due to lack of fees. In addition, in the United States, most of the children are conveyed in public schools which underperform as compared to private schools. Also, the financial stress of parents can cause a child to develop a negative attitude toward education. As a result, there are high chances that such children will drop out of schools. Lastly, worries about financial hardship of parents can affect psychologically the child who will result in poor performance. Thus chances of transition would be low (O’Donnell, 2008).

Racial Disparities In College

Race and ethnicity also determine chances of attaining a college degree of a child. According to Leonardo (2007), racial disparities, for instance, blacks, American Indians and Hispanics children perform poorly in reading and mathematics as compared to whites’ children. For instance, most Hispanics, whom English is their second language have difficulties when reading. As a result, most of them takes a long time to understand teachers’ instruction; therefore, they will have high chances of repeating one or more grades. Therefore, they will be discouraged, whereby most of them will drop out of college. On the other hand, African American children will have discipline cases while at schools, for instance, using illegal drugs, fighting and stealing. Therefore, they will have higher chances of being expelled or suspended from schools which will hinder their chances of graduating with a college degree. On the other hand, children whose parents are foreign-based parents value education than their counter immigrants in the United States (Quinlan, 2016).  A good example, in this case, is Asians parents from India who migrates to the United States to meet the labor shortage. The parents are educated; therefore, they will encourage their children to learn.

Parental expectation also affects attainment of a college degree. Various studies indicate that parents who support the education of their children assist them in achieving higher grades in college (Quinlan, 2016).  Expectation plays various roles in the performance of a child. At first, high expectation increases pressure to the child which may result to good performance in high school, thus increasing chances of joining college. Also, due to high expectation, children gains self-prophecy which makes them work hard at the college. Parental expectation also makes parents to be involved directly in the education of a child which results in a good performance. On the other hand, studies have revealed that low academic expectation results to the poor performance of a child. A good example, in this case, is parents of African-American and Hispanic children who have a low academic expectation on their children. As a result, their children performs poorly thus why there are just few who have attained a college degree as compared to children of other races (Lisa, 2008).

Neighborhood factors also affect students’ chances of attaining a college degree. In this case, a neighborhood may include either Blacks or Whites, predominant neighborhood.  According to (Stewart, & Stewart, 2007), children who live in neighborhoods which are predominated by the blacks have a low chance of attaining a college degree as compared to those dominated by whites. For instance, blacks neighborhood have challenges such low-performing schools and high concentration of students in schools. As it can be seen, the learning environment is not conducive; therefore chances of performing well at to join colleges are minimal. On the other hand, neighborhood predominated by whites have the best schools and neighborhood are secure. Therefore, they have higher chances of joining colleges than blacks.

To sum it up, social- economic factors influences attainment of a college degree. At first, the level of education of parents affects the attainment of a degree. Parents who are highly educated, for instance, have a college degree will strive to have their children attain a college degree. Also, parents with high income will invest in the education of their children until they attain a college degree unless their counterparts. Race and ethnicity also affect chances of attaining a college degree, whereby by whites and the Asians have higher chances of attaining a college degree as compared to blacks and Hispanics.  Parents’ exaptation also influences chances of acquiring a college degree, for instance, if parents have high expectation they will pressurize their children to work hard at school thus attaining a college degree.

Reference

America Psychological Association, (2017). Education and Socioeconomic Status Factsheet. http://www.apa.org. Retrieved 17 March 2017, from http://www.apa.org/pi/ses/resources/publications/education.aspx

Leonardo, Z. (2007). Introduction. Race Ethnicity And Education, 10(3), 241-243. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13613320701503165

Lisa,S (2008). Neighborhoods and Academic Achievement: Results from the Moving to Opportunity Experiment. Journal of Human Resources, forthcoming. Retrieved 17 March 2017, from http://www.nber.org/mtopublic/interim/Academic_Achievement.pdf

O’Donnell, C. (2008). Impact of Parental Expectations on Education and Employment Outcomes. Virginia Policy Review. Retrieved 17 March 2017, from https://pages.shanti.virginia.edu/VPR_Journal_Team/files/2014/02/Impact-of-Parental-Expectations.pdf

Quinlan, C. (2016). How Racial Bias Affects The Quality Of Black Students’ Education. ThinkProgress. Retrieved 17 March 2017, from https://thinkprogress.org/how-racial-bias-affects-the-quality-of-black-students-education-642f4721fc84#.er2pe4lan

Scommegna, P. (2013). The Barriers to a College Degree. Prb.org. Retrieved 17 March 2017, from http://www.prb.org/Publications/Articles/2013/us-college-attainment.aspx

Stewart, E. & Stewart, E. (2007). The Effect of Neighborhood Context on the College Aspirations of African American Adolescents. American Educational Research Journal. Retrieved 17 March 2017, from https://coe.unm.edu/uploads/docs/writing-studio/aerj-stwrt-shrt-highlight.pdf

Temple, S. (2009). Factors that Influence Students’ Desires to Attend Higher Education. Scholarship.shu.edu. Retrieved 17 March 2017, from http://scholarship.shu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1420;context=dissertations