...Free College Education: Right vs Privilege In one of his speeches, Leonard L. Boswell, a former U.S. Representative for Iowa's 3rd congressional district, quotes “The American Dream is one of success, home ownership, college education for one's children, and have a secure job to provide these and other goals” (Ersoy). Over the years, college tuition fees have increased immensely. Statistics show that the average in-state tuition fees at public four-year schools increased from $8,646 in 2012-13 to $8,893 in 2013-2014. In 2013-14, the percentage increase in tuition fee prices for out-of-state students was 3.1% which was slightly higher than that for state residents at public four-year institutions. There was an increase from $12,887 to $13,310. The $110 increase in average tuition and fees for full-time students in a public two-year colleges reflected a 3.5% increase from $3,154 in the years 2012-2013 to $3,264 in 2013-14. The $1,105 increase in average published tuition and fees for full-time students at private nonprofit four-year institutions reflected a 3.8% increase from $28,989 in 2012-13 to $30,094 in 2013-2014 (“Trends in Higher Education”). Furthermore, between the years 2001 to 2011, at least a third of states experienced funding cuts. During the recent recession in 2008, total public funding for higher education has declined by 14.6 percent (O'Shaughnessy). Consequently, the escalating cost of college tuition has threatened educational opportunities for...
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...After Richard’s death, colored people in America assembled and protested for equal rights. Richard was living in France so he never knew the end result of the Civil Rights movement in America, but would his view differ if he was living as a black boy in the 21st century? Many things are happening today, and people argue that equal rights are non-existent to this day. If living today, Richard Wright would be able to attain a proper education and would explore the truth behind myths about equality. In his autobiography, Richard would write about his experiences to tell his shifting views on Black Lives Matter, impact of education has on living condition, and that white privilege is false. Black Lives Matter was created in July 13,2013 with...
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...Bell Hooks argues, “Privilege is not in and of itself bad; what matters is what we do with privilege. . . . Privilege does not have to be negative, but we have to share our resources and take direction about how to use our privilege in ways that empowers those who lack it.” (230). Her words encourage us to acknowledge the social inequalities our race, gender, sexual orientation and social class can engender. This is not to say that some of use are immune to life’s hardships but rather that we are not all subject to the same disadvantages by the nature of our inherit traits. However, it must be understood that privilege or what is considered as such is relative to our surroundings. This is not to say that the magnitude of its effect is lessened depending on where you find yourself but rather that our societies may have different criterion when it comes to what it means to be privileged. For this reason, behind my arrival at UCLA exist a story that is neither told by my gender nor my race. It is fuelled by privilege of other sorts, driven by hard work and only mildly slowed down by, in my perspective, minor disadvantages....
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...1. Why is privilege often invisible? What categories of people are more and less likely to be aware of privilege? Privilege is often invisible because it’s so rooted in society that privileged people don’t realize it until they are the ones who are affected by it. Privileged people don’t realize that they are privileged. They think that it’s the regular way of life for them and others as well. The unprivileged people are highly aware of what privilege is because the privileged life is widely shown in the media and in their everyday lives. The categories of people that are more likely to be aware of privilege are working class and Black and Latino people. They often don’t get the same privileges as white people do. For example, a black person...
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...even more words that relate to racism. Jobs, acceptance, equality, benefits, this list is harder to label is it not? White Privilege is just as real as racism, but not as apparent. According the University of Dayton’s online dictionary, White Privilege is defined as, “a right, advantage, or immunity granted to or enjoyed by white persons beyond the common advantage of all others; an exemption in many particular cases from certain burdens or liabilities,” (“white privilege”). White Privilege is a subject rarely covered by educators due to the difficulty students’ have understanding it; therefore, resulting in a lack of awareness. White Privilege, unlike racism,...
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...“Are you kidding me?” That is my reaction when I heard a William & Mary faculty member claim that “white privilege” exists. To see my own university espousing this unfounded belief to each new individual coming to campus is quite sickening. This racist idea is shoved down the throats of every new student by far-left administrators as fact despite there being not even a shred of truth to this abhorrent lie. It should be quite obvious that generalizing all people of a specific race as privileged simply for being a member of that race is racist. Now this is not to say that white people on average are not more privileged than members on average of some minority groups; however, to say that being white itself is a privilege is utterly absurd....
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...classification of education, and profession according to the expectation and esteem placed on them within our social hierarchy. Racial and socioeconomic disparities have been a prominent feature within American society and this divide growing larger and more apparent further exacerbates the lasting issue of poverty within communities of color. Standard forms of systemic discrimination have been phased out from our society on an economic level, but some continue to persist, such as white home buyer’s mortgage being denied only 10.4% of times while Blacks (27.6%) and Hispanic (21.9%) home buyers’ mortgages being denied disproportionately more and white men with a criminal record had more positive responses than black men with no criminal record, according to the Arizona State University study on the effects of a criminal record on prospects for employment and CNN and Zillow’s 2013 federal data analysis of information from mortgage lenders. Although race isn’t a large determinant of one’s chances in life, it still continues to effect economic and social policy, in turn continuing to have a lasting effect on...
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...What is your opinion on why college athletes being paid, because I have my own. I feel if we did pay them they would kill the joy and the excitement of playing college sports. I think it would absolutly destroy college sports. Paying the college athlete’s would take the fun out of bowl games (football) and March Madness (basketball). They should not get paid because they get a free education, they are not professionals, and they would not take their education as serious. My first opinion is that they should not get paid because they get a free education. I think this is the main reason on why they should not be paid. The College athletes are provided with the opportunity to earn a degree, engage in college life, and play their favorite sport...
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...Is College Important? A few percentage of people in the world would say the college is not essential to succeed in life. Others would try to convince you that there are no real advantages in applying and attending a university. On the contrary, a person who goes to college lives an easier life. College is important because it is more explorable, gives people a better lifestyle and earn more money. College is important because it is more explorable for a person. For example, by attending college gives people the privilege to learn about any subject they desire and what level of education they want to work in. In Document A the author states “ Doctoral degree- $1,623, HAS - $678.” The evidence reveals that with high school a person can earn some money to live off of, but by having a doctoral degree or any other degree you can earn more money. In Document B, the author claims “ Chemical Engineering- about $2.2 and Computer...
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...school student remembers the stressful experience of preparing for college. Quite frankly, I never really understood the concept of college. In my opinion, it was just another ordinary school transition unlike the ones I had already experienced. I envisioned it be something along the lines of my middle school to high school transition. Yet, to my surprise, it was nothing of the like. It was not until my college transition, that I finally felt I was at a disadvantage in comparison to some of my classmates. It was also during this time that I realized I was a First-Generation College Student because neither of my parents had attended college and I was the first of my family to do so. Nevertheless, as a child, I never questioned the...
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...Asking For Help: A Self Reflection Assignment: from Personal to Professional Responses Professor Robyn Brown-Manning SW 717 Social Work Practice and Learning Lab Assignment 1 We live in a world or society where there are certain fundamental needs, which are important in facilitating our development. “These needs can be considered in two overall categories: the need for security, and the need to accommodate the drive toward growth,” (Brill, 2005, pg. 27) all of which can be fulfilled by education. As a citizen of the United States, in an egalitarian society where educational advancement is fostered, I was able to become closer towards achieving the American dream. Education was also seen by my immigrant family as an important factor in attaining greater opportunities and ultimately an improved lifestyle. The process of accomplishing the American dream is one which is not always easy and comes with many challenges. One important challenge was getting the resources I needed to further my academic goals, which was hampered by my parents’ inability to understand the educational system in the United States, and my parents’ limited financial assets. As a result, I knew I would have to depend on outside assistance. This proved to be a difficult task for me, because as a male I felt there was a negative stigma associated with asking for help from an outside source as this may display vulnerability. Nevertheless, with dedication and support from those...
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...Problem of elitism in education During the past two decades, research that Alexandria Walton Radford conducted found that a rising proportion of students who are enrolled at selective colleges and universities has come from the top two social-class categories: upper-middle- and upper-class families. And at the private institutions we studied, there is a pronounced upward slope to the relationship between the probability of being admitted and the socioeconomic status of one's family. When one considers the positive economic rate of return of a college education—and especially of a degree from a name-brand institution—it is easy to see how selective private higher education confers, concentrates, and consolidates privilege for students who have grown up in well-to-do circumstances. How that happens is illuminated by following a cohort of students through the process from college application to admission, matriculation, and graduation. More than half of all applicants to selective colleges come from upper-middle- or upper-class families. By the time of graduation, the proportion has risen to 60 percent. This is not to say that British higher education is not an engine of social mobility; it is for some students. On an other-things-being-equal basis, selective private institutions give a pronounced boost in the admission process to nonwhite students from lower- and working-class family backgrounds. For white applicants, however, the relation between admission probability and parental...
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...White American Privileges and Social Class Aieleen Lanot University of Hawaii – West Oahu White American Privileges and Social Class Privilege is a concept of sociology used to implicate that there are certain groups of individuals that have an advantage over others. “Social liberties use the term to mean benefits according to white people under economic, political, and social circumstance. (Anyon 17)” I agree with his stance because there is no extension of such privileges to individuals of other races such as Blacks, Hispanics or Asians. The use of this term is mainly in the social inequality context primarily in relation to social class, sexual orientation, race, age, and gender. Several recorded privileged elements show the advantageous that White America has in getting access to better housing, jobs, and education. This paper will explore the issue of White American privileges and how social class status is based on color of your skin and the financial means of your family. In the article by Peggy McIntosh, she defines, “White privileges as a package of unearth assets, invisible in nature and are obvious” (McIntosh 10). There is a comparison of white privilege to an undetectable light knapsack of assurance, maps, tools, guidance, visa, codebooks, clothes, passbooks, emergency gear, blank checks, etc. I concur with Peggy McIntosh analysis since there are several functions brought about by white privileges. These functions include provisions of “perks”...
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...relevant to their lives. I want to teach middle school because it is a challenging age. Middle school students are trying to figure out their roles in the world and are facing many pressures from peers, society, and their parents to conform in different ways. I want to be a supportive mentor for children at that difficult point in their lives. I want middle school to be a pleasant experience instead of the bad memory it is for many people. This is much the same thing that motivates me to teach history: I hated history classes when I was in middle school. History seemed so irrelevant, all about dead white men. When I went to college, I started learning that there are many histories to be told and many are left out. For example, I learned about the history of racism in the United States and suddenly I was able to more fully understand my position of privilege as a white person in this society. I started to history as a way of framing the...
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...demonstrates statistics about America’s education going “down the drain” due to money being insignificantly used.” She explains “country’s deep and widening achievement gap between socioeconomic groups” are reasons low-income students don’t have the same privilege as wealthy. Stratus believes there is two types of education in America, the wealthy and the poor. She mentions that children of the wealthiest ten percent receive the best education; Whereas for the low-income they are receiving an education but seem to having a hard time finishing college. Therefore, education success is being skewed to wealthier people since they pile on cognitive enrichment activities outside of school from an early age leaving everyone behind. Overall I think that Strauss is right to complain about a systematic inequity because...
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