Everybody loves a good success story. When the underdog, usually a lower class high school age student, defies the odds and comes out on top, beating his circumstances to get where nobody thinks he should go, everyone goes crazy for it. So crazy that Hollywood gets in on the act, with movie productions such as The Blind Side, Life of A King, and Slum Dog Millionaire. Sadly, these stories are not commonplace, in fact, they are very few and far between. More often than not, students from lower class families struggle to get by, as a result putting school to the back burner. Less than 75% of students in lower income households graduate high school, and even fewer go onto college (http://nces.ed.gov). From this group, excuses began to come out, the main reason underlies them all; they have become a product of their circumstance. The position they were in restrained them, forcing only one path, a …show more content…
Ben Carson, exemplified these qualities of perseverance, dedication, and education. She had only a third grade education and was unlettered, yet she continued to push Dr. Carson and his brother far beyond her limits. She could have easily said that there was no hope for them. They were going to follow in her footsteps, to not place importance on education, and to rely on the welfare system as means of living. Yet, despite the ease and simplicity of this solution, Sonya Carson decided she was going to provide the best she could for her sons. This was exceptionally hard, just as is education in lower income schools. To break the barrier and cycle is difficult, yet possible. She, just like others need to do, pushed her kids as far as they could go, giving no excuses or pity on their situation. She encouraged success, which bred success. Eventually, as one can easily see now, the cycle has been broken, and the poverty is no more, all due to the importance placed on education to get them to the places they could only dream of
“Who Gets to Graduate’ by Paul Tough, publish May, 2015 in the New York Times discusses. The story of a young girl’s mindset on college. It begins with her starting in college and first failure on a test. It highlighted the doubts she had in her abilities. This opening introduces the article’s man discussion, which involves low income students who want to earn a four year degree but experience “troubles” along the way. It then discusses statistics that show dropout rates are highest with low-income students. The author included ability versus economics status.
Higher education in America is facing many challenges, i.e., low retention, low graduation rates and less funding. Postsecondary institutions are scrambling to remain a competitive entity within society. In order to do so, students must remain in school (Talbert, 2012). The Office of the White House states (2014), educational attainment is critical to our county’s economic success. In essence, the work force is creating more jobs requiring more education and a higher level of skill than was previously achieved. Individuals with only a high school diploma will not make into the middle class sector because of
Society has made it so hard for blacks to become successful, but for the great minds of the students at CAU; it’s so easy for them to succeed and not for them to fall into what society calls the “system”. This too, is a reason as why some African Americans feel like they just don’t have to try. The harder they try; they may still get nowhere being limited to so many great opportunities. Although there are no excuses to be made for the African American communities, this reasoning’s will leave some people to think they will never be good enough for society. “Eliminate what’s distracting you and keep it moving in order to succeed” are words that I will always remember Helen Smith Price saying before the closing of Founders Convocation 2017. In life not everyone will support you nor help you get to where you want to be and those are the people you leave behind in order to succeed. As a graduating senior of Clark Atlanta University I will always “Find a Way or Make
Arnold H. Glasow once stated, “Success is simple. Do what's right, the right way, at the right time.” Success comes in multiple forms depending on who you are and what your values consist of. In this article, Why Everyone Shouldn’t Go to College, written by Larry Cuban and reposted in the Washington Post by Valerie Strauss, pontificates on the importance of informing students college doesn’t always equate to success. More than half of college graduates flee into low-paying jobs even with high educational degrees. Cuban sheds some light on the alternatives to make money without spending a ridiculous amount on college. With that said, educating young scholars on the options they possess instead of hiding them, will further increase
While all these possibilities from providing increased educational funding to inner city schools seem to provide a solution to the educational difficulties, the underclass is a multifaceted problem with several contributing factors. For example, the issue of students dropping out of school is not only affected by simply the quality of their education and resources. The appealing allure of drug dealing and belonging to a gang, both behaviors that involve criminal actions that could lead to incarceration, severely entice students from finishing their education. Furthermore, many children lack familial support to complete school. Their families tend to consist of numerous high school dropouts, and, therefore, lack the knowledge that comes from past experience leaving the student at a severe disadvantage. Plus, some family members will even remove the students out of school themselves, because they view the school as a waste of time. Even more detrimental to the underclass are the longstanding problems of unplanned pregnancies, single parent families, racial discrimination, and welfare dependency. With all these contributing obstacles that build upon one another in mind, it may seem pointless to fix the educational issues, so why should society and the government still pursue this option?
When people see others drop out of college, they think to themselves, they are just lazy. They do not want to put the time or effort into their own education. While reading “Why Poor Students Struggle”, by Vicki Madden, I realized that it’s not the fact they are lazy, it is the fact that they can not afford it. Madden shows this effectively by using, egos, logos, and pathos to make the reader have a more clear view of the educational system’s failures.
Ben Carsons succsess was not a path easily walked. As a child Ben struugled with school and easily fell behind. His mother dropped out of school in the third grade, and wasn't capabld of helping her sons with any of their school work. Once his his mother, sonya Carson, found
Reminiscing back to the first day of freshman year, when I sat down in my history class and my teacher told us a story where he had seen a homeless teenager scrounging for money to complete strangers. The homeless teenager then asked my teacher for cash and was handed some spare change. My teacher then proceeded to ask the teenager what had happened. The teenager responded, “I dropped out of high school my sophomore year,” then proceeded to walk off in sorrow and regret. Many of us know someone who dropped out of high school, who are currently homeless, or still living with their parents. Having a high school education leads to a better future because the homeless teen faced hardships such as living in poverty, he couldn't find a stable job,
“Kids who are the first in their families to brave the world of higher education come on campus with little academic know-how and are much more likely than their peers to drop out before graduation” (1). Many people believe that school isn’t for everyone, and whoever goes is privileged for doing so. Countless people in the world today do not attend college, and this is mainly due to an influence of those in their family. Perhaps they are unsupportive of higher education, their parents and family members may view their entry into college as a break in the family system rather than a continuation of their schooling and higher learning. Most of the first-generation students decide to apply to colleges, because they aspire to jobs which require degrees. However, unlike some students whose parents have earned a degree, they often seek out college to bring honor to their families, and to ensure they make a decent amount of money for their future.
Life has never been easily handed to Dr. Carson. His many struggles put to test his determination. At
Students from all over the United States are told all through their life that they need to attend college if they ever want to be successful, however, this is far from the truth. Often schools are culprits for driving students to attend money driven colleges, in other cases it is family. While schools all too often make the push on students to continue their schooling, parents can cause the same situation, as they may not have a degree and be working a low-paying factory job. Now kids already don’t want to be like their parents when they get older, so seeing them suffer in poverty or barely above the poverty line can cause some dissatisfaction, further seeking a degree to live a life that they never got. What many
In this society of scratching and winning mega Jackpots or investing in your talent and earning more than a brain surgeon will ever earn in a life time, many parents today worry that their children might abandon education in search of alluring horizons that promise wealth without a college diploma. If the young people would stop to think about it, only a very small percentage of the population have such luck coming their way. College is and will always remain important because somethings, some experiences in life not even money can buy but a college can make you experience and reason like a diplomat. Ultimately, what is at stake here is the young people who have abandoned reality for utopia. Student loans and lack
What do you usually expect when you hear someone was raised in the bad part of town with a single mother? Although there can be many bad influences around you, there is still hope that you can take a different path and become successful. In fact, Ben Carson is a mighty man who despite all his challenges growing up, became a successful neurosurgeon by being well raised and intelligent.
Living in a low income household and being the first generation to go to college, it is difficult wanting to pursue a higher education because my family can’t afford the excess education I wish for. In addition, I feel lost sometimes because I don’t have anyone to turn to when I am curious about my future. Despite the struggles, it has not stopped me from pursuing a higher education. Moving towards my goals, I’ve found opportunities that help me.
What happens when you take a group of inner-city kids and place them into a six-year program designed for there to be at least a 90 percent attendance rate to a four-year university? Does the program succeed? Does it fail? Not long there was college prep program that was founded in the heart of Los Angeles: South Central. This wasn’t your typical college prep program; it was a program designed for inner city children to be able to be given the opportunity of something they may have never dreamed of; the gift of attending a four-year university. These students face various adversities that statistically would make them fall into a pool that would make them not reach more than a high school level education. For those who were privileged and were