Final Paper.docx

WangJames WangProfessor AbitzEnglish 110225 November 2014Socioeconomic Status: The Gap GeneratorMy twin and I fondly recall our biweekly trips to the library. We would check out dozens of books to read. Our weekly reading charts would always be filled with the books we enjoyed. We would stay up two hours past our bedtime just reading these books. Although we do not read as often, we still appreciate the values of reading. Our father always has been stressing the importance of education to my brothers and me. He had been in school for a long time obtaining his PhD, and he wanted all of us to achieve a quality education. With that idea in mind, our lives were fixated along a certain path. We were meant to go to good schools which would allow us to go to a good college, then we would find good jobs at the end of that path. We were fortunate that our path was generated for us, but not many share the same opportunities as we do. We come from a line of engineers and doctors, so education has been continually stressed throughout the generations. Our line has consistently been in the upper portions of socioeconomic status. People from lower socioeconomic statuses are not able to have as many opportunities as those from upper socioeconomic statuses which causes them to fall behind in terms of education. An academic gap has existed between the various socioeconomic groups. According to the American Psychological Association, children who live in poverty tend to perform worse in school than children from more privileged backgrounds. It is arguable that the reason poorer children do not perform as well as richer children is because of an intelligence difference. One study estimates that as much as 77 percent of a childs ability is determined by his or her genetics. (Rouse & Barrow) The number is staggering. It gives the sense that we have little self determination in our life. It gives the idea that our success in life is fixated. I strongly disagree with the notion that success is fixated in life. One of the primary means our cognitive ability is measured is through the IQ test. Half of the population is above average while the other half is below average. I do not think that all of the kids from the higher socioeconomic statuses are above average. The kids from people born in lower socioeconomic statuses are on average just as capable as those born in higher socioeconomic groups. According to the same study, 23 percent of a students ability came from the environment. The environment is where a difference is generated between students of varying socioeconomic status.The foundation for learning is established in preschool. The children learn about the alphabet. The alphabet uses letters to represent sounds in speech. Using the alphabet, students establish their foundation for reading. Students also learn how to count during preschool. Counting allows the students to figure out the mathematical operations. Preschool allows students to be prepared for elementary school. The Head Start Program, a preschool program, was put into wide scale use by President Lyndon B. Johnson. It was believed to be a method in which the gap could be closed between students from differing socioeconomic groups. According to the American Psychological Association, the program yielded various benefits. The students had better pre-reading skills, pre-writing skills, and vocabulary as a result of the Head Start Program.The children, with the help of the program, were able to close some of the academic gap. Despite the lessening of the gap, the intellectual benefits of the head start program dissipated as time went on. Once the benefits faltered, the students academic progress was steered by the environment they were matriculating in.Parents from higher socioeconomic statuses talk to their children on average 3 hours more than parents from lower socioeconomic statuses. ( Reeves, Sawhill, & Howard 2013) Those 3 hours a week add up quickly. In a year that is 156 more hours the wealthier parents spend talking than the poorer parents. As students progress through elementary school, the difference in hours spent talking with parents becomes staggering. With the increased amount of talking the wealthier parents do, the child is exposed to much more. The child is increasingly exposed to vocabulary that the parents use. The increased vocabulary will serve them in terms of reading comprehension because they will have a better understanding of the words. The increased vocabulary will also supplement their writing ability by allowing them to create more nuanced sentences. The child has better language development. (Palumbo 2013) Language development allows the students to better communicate and develop relationships. I do not think that parents from lower socioeconomic groups are more neglectful when compared to the parents from higher socioeconomic groups. The less amount of discussion with children is due to the differing amounts of free time. Logically, those in the higher socioeconomic groups get paid better than those in the lower socioeconomic group. By being paid more, they are able to have more free time which can be used to spend more time with the children thus aiding their development. They also have more money that they can invest into the childs development. The wealthier parents are better able to expose the children to much more stimulating activities. They can sign up the child for music lessons which according to the German Institute for Economic Research, has also been linked with improved quantitative capabilities. They can visit a museum and learn about history. They can go to the zoo and expose the child to the worlds biodiversity. Unlike their richer counterparts, those from the lower socioeconomic groups do not share the same luxury. They are paid a lot less in comparison, so they must work more in order to make ends meet. Since they are working more hours, they do not have as much time to focus on much beyond the childs basic needs. They cannot invest as heavily into the childs development without making some sacrifices to other aspects of life. They cannot afford those same music lessons that could possibly yield better quantitative abilities. They are not able to go to the museum and go in depth about the various historical topics. They are less able to expose their children to Earths biodiversity. The parents focus on basic needs allows one of the opportunities for greater educational attainment slip by. The poorer students are not necessarily being raised in an inadequate environment. They are being raised in an environment that is not as enriching as the richer students environment. Children long await summer because they do not have to attend school for several months. According to the Summer Learning Association, during that time, students can lose a portion of what they have learned throughout the school. Students consistently perform worse on standardized tests administered at the beginning of a school year compared to one administered at the beginning of the school year. This loss can be minimized through Summer enrichment. Schools have assigned summer readings in an effort to reduce the loss, but the students from lower socioeconomic groups yield reading proficiency losses while the wealthier students achieve reading proficiency gains. Students also experience loss in mathematical proficiency in addition to the reading proficiency loss. The poorer students are forced to rely on school for their education. Those in higher socioeconomic groups use school as the primary tool like those in the lower socioeconomic groups, but they are able to supplement the summer break with their own resources. The students belonging to the upper socioeconomic groups are able to go to camps or travel. (Waldfogel 2012) These camps are not limited to the camps many people traditionally think of. The camps can consist of music camps or dance camps. The can camps consist of engineering, sciences, mathematics, or language. Traveling to different places can be an enriching experience. Students can be exposed to the history of the area that they travel to. They can be exposed to the differing culture. These opportunities greatly benefit the wealthier students and prevent or lessen the summer loss. The poorer students are in an environment that cannot provide them with such opportunities thus they become more likely to fall behind.The cumulative effects of socioeconomic status is much more explicit once the students reach young adults. According to a longitudinal study conducted by the Department of Education, the highest socioeconomic group has a higher rate of completion for their bachelor degrees along all levels of mathematical performance in their late middle school years. The idea is counter intuitive. The students who are in the lower socioeconomic group and are smart and performing well still do not complete their bachelors degree as much the wealthier kids who are not performing as well. The cost of attending an in state college has risen as much as 60 percent. (DeParle 2012) Many students struggle finding the money to pay for college. The Pell Grant is available to students whose parents have an income below $50,000 which supplements the students ability to pay for college, but the students must find a way to pay for the remaining cost. The students from a higher socioeconomic status do not have as much to worry unless they are paying for college themselves. They have parents who are willing to put up with the costs of college which allows the student to focus on their educational tasks. Unlike the wealthier students, the poorer students do not share that advantage. The poorer students rely on loans or on part time work to help pay for their education. College students are almost equivalent to high school students in terms of the work force, so the number of quality paying jobs are extremely limited. If the students reduce the amount of hours they work, they have less money available to pay for their education which would cause them to pick up more student loans. If the students increase the amount of hours that they work, they have less time available to focus on their studies. Even with increased hours, theyll likely stress because of the loans. The part time work typically does not pay enough for college costs. The socioeconomic difference gives advantages to finishing a bachelors degree.Many examples demonstrate the academic gap between the students from lower socioeconomic statuses and higher socioeconomic statuses. Wealthier students have a distinct advantage over their poorer peers. The United States has been sliding in terms of education for many years. The United States has not been doing as well when compared to other developed nations. The gap is inhibiting our future capabilities as a nation. The United States work force is not as strong as it could be. Students from lower socioeconomic statuses are continuously lagging behind their richer peers. The quality of education is not as terrible as many claim it to be. The quality education is restricted to those rich enough to yield the full benefits of the education. The gap has been widely acknowledged, but the primary issue is how do we close the gap. We could invest more money in musical education which would improve the sensory, attention, emotional, motor, and cognitive systems abilities for all of the students. (Barnes 2014) Musical education along with other artistic subjects have had their funding cut which lessens the benefits students receive from the programs. Although it does not necessarily benefit solely the students belonging to the lower socioeconomic group, all students will benefit from the reinvestment into music. The level of all our students will increase, but the students from the lower socioeconomic groups will increase more because they are less exposed to structured music education than students from higher socioeconomic groups. The gap can be lessened, and America can remain competitive in the global economy.

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