by: Loren Hall
Education is the key to creating a
future. American citizens who earn a college degree make a much more
considerable amount of money than those who don’t have one. There was once a
time where people could get by with a sixth grade education. Those times have
LONG passed. Then there was the era where simply having a high school diploma
would suffice, but those days are gone as well. In today’s society, it is
almost impossible to find a job to live and thrive off of without already
possessing a degree. However, for us African Americans, it’s not that simple.
We are stuck in a viscous cycle that
is keeping us down. We want to go to college to get an education and get ahead
in the world, but we can’t advance because of one simple problem. We can’t get
into the colleges. In general, White Americans have a better education than we
do because they can get into the prestigious schools, like Yale, Harvard and
Princeton. African Americans make less money, live in poorer neighborhoods, and
live in conditions that do not allow them to make the money necessary to
achieve. I can use myself as an example. Straight out of high school, I was
accepted to Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University in Tallahassee,
Florida. I went there for one semester, and was already in debt. Coming from a
low income family, we didn’t have the money to pay for the school. People on
the other end of the socioeconomic spectrum would argue that FAFSA is there to
help us,. In my situation, they gave me as much aid as they were willing to
give us and there was still a $5000 balance left that my family was unable to
pay.
Because of the pressure put on
society, we were unable to get any loans to pay it off so I had to leave. I am
now at Community College of Philadelphia, the one place I did not want to end
up. Community colleges are designed to be much cheaper, with a perceived poorer
education than one of the high end schools, and there for the majority of minorities
end up at these schools. Hundreds of African Americans are in the same predicament
as I am. At Community College of Philadelphia, 73% of its population is
non-white. However, at Temple, a more prestigious Philadelphia school, 60% of
its population is white in contrast to its only 14% African American
population.
We don’t have money because we don’t
have education, and we don’t have education because we don’t have money. It’s an
impregnable cycle that needs to be addressed.
Posted by: Samantha Mesa
ReplyDeleteWhile I completely understand your point and where you're coming from, I can't help but feel like you're being a little biased at times in your post. It is true that minorities have a difficult time getting into better schools due to their inability to afford the tuition, however, it is not true that ONLY minorities have this problem. I think the issue here is the fact that higher education is way too expensive for anyone. White Americans also have a difficult time paying for a higher education as well.
By Elena Lazarova
ReplyDeleteGreat Post! I agree with your point about the inequalities that occur in the American Education system. Race, even in this case defines whether we can receive a better education or not. However, I think the main ingredient that defines who receives the best education is income. The ones who are willing to pay for it or take the loans are the one who are going to be accepted. And the one who cannot will be declined. Unfortunately this is the truth! What happened to you was an example of injustice. Sharing your problem and letting know others about it will be the start of solving it. A student should be motivated and have love for his studies. Thus, his GPA will go higher and several scholarships opportunities will appear. Therefore, there is a great chance to be accepted in one of the prestigious schools, regardless of his background or race.
Yes!! I agree completely. You used one example that I never really took into consideration until now, and that was the issue of the balance left to be paid by families after financial aid. If your parents can't pay that balance or get a loan, then you're screwed basically. So the argument that there is financial aid for lower income students needs to be more closely observed. Our education shouldn't rely on our parent's income, but by the amount of work we put in as students.
ReplyDeletethat comment was posted by Joshua Lynch,by the way ^^^^
ReplyDeletesubmitted by Curtis Jarvis
ReplyDeleteI agree with you completely.But as you know this is but another example of institutionalized racism. Racism built into the system, hidden behind statistics based on unequal standards passed down through generations of manipulations by the ruling class in power. These manipulations will remain prevalent until the afflicted party becomes enlightened and brings the injustice to the light and take a stand.But the real power of this institutionalized racism is that by the time the system straightens it out they have already hidden another "catch 22" enabling them to do business as usual. Education and voting are the greatest tools for those poor huddled masses that the statue of liberty calls for and now because of the power of the vote and the ever increasing poor, those in power are trying to put stipulations on that basic right. The people in power know how to win: divide and conquer. We must educate everyone who maybe uninformed so that we can have justice and equality for all, which is what we pledge as Americans. Just like the well known saying,"all it takes for evil to prosper is good men do nothing".
Viva La Revolucion!!!!! ^^^
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