Education and Poverty do not mix in this country!!!

Submitted by Katiria Garcia

The social institutions should achieve five fundamental roles which are to replace the personnel, educate new recruits, provide and distribute goods to other members, keep order between them, and maintain these people encouraged to continue, so a society can survive.  One of the most important social institutions is education.  The main functions of education are to transmit knowledge and “political social and political integration.” That’s why the education is very essential for every human being, especially for children. If the children want to have a better future in the United States, at least, they need to get an associate degree or four-year degree, but not all children have the same income to complete these expectations. What happen when their families have a background on poverty? The children are still having any chance to success educationally, aren’t they? Well, that’s the problem of most Black and Hispanic families have nowadays. Some minority groups more affected are Black and Hispanic students who have challenged by the highest cost of the educational institutions because the education is looked as a financial issue or investment that government has controlled. Why do the students need to pay for education in the United States when the education can be acquired for free in other countries?

First of all, many Black and Hispanic children don’t get preschool programs because there are very limited free preschool programs, so their process of learning has to be slower than whites’. These programs can be very advantageous for students. Some experts analyzed that the dropout rates of children who have attended quality preschool programs are less than children who haven’t.  For example, State test scores have showed that most Black and Hispanic children have failed the exams offered by the state in subjects, such as math and language. On the other hand, the failed exams of whites are less in comparison to Black and Hispanic children’s.

For instance, SAT is an exam in which Black/African Americans and Hispanics have problems to pass. This graph can show the difference in percentages between the group of minorities and White:

Also, we can see on this other graph "status dropout rates of 16- through 24-year-old, by sex and race/ethnicity, October 2007:"

It is very notable that Whites has had the lowest dropout rate of any ethnic group in this country while Hispanics have the highest one.

In addition, these dropout rates can mean more unemployment, poverty and dependence on public assistance in our country because these students have less chance to get a job. That is when credentialism becomes a challenge for them. Credentialism is a term used to define a main credential for purposes of deliberating jobs or social status. Today the society expects people to have at least a four-year degree, but how can Black and Hispanic students get it? If they are "tracked" into general courses in which they just complete high school requirements and not have access to rigorous technical schools. Also, their financial status isn’t the best for getting college education.

 The government separates people into social classes, so the government can maintain social control and guarantee that rich will become richer while poor will become poorer. For example, the government has segregated schools and tried them as formal organizations.

http://youtu.be/HqfK4hzKuhc 

As a result, the isolation and segregation has had several disadvantageous effects on the minorities. However, this situation is a serious problem because our society will have a population of people without education, and we know knowledge is one of the most essential tools that we need to grow as a country. There are many black and Hispanic students who want to advance educationally, but barriers and injustices are making them choose other options, such as dropping classes and getting involved in gangs. Why doesn’t the government of the United States make an educational reform in which minorities have more accessible to study? Is it another strategy of the government to keep White Supremacy?