Atajan Atabayev. Essays (2206 words) - Economy, Structure

Atajan Atabayev. Jessica Brown. English 1 A. 11th April 2017. Unreal "Equality" "The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have little," stated 32nd President of the United States of America Franklin Delano Roosevelt during the Great Depression who helped the middle and low class American's regain faith themselves in 1930. The United States has done a significant progress to overcome income inequality to get higher education for the young generation, yet there are more actions to be taken by our generation to promote equal education system for all of us. While significant achievements for income equality have been made, many students continue to fight for their American Dreams to come true every day. It is assumed that colleges and universities in the United States are better than institutes in any other countries. In some aspects, that is true. However, income inequality has a negative impact on students who are from middle and low-income families, making it more difficult for them to have an equal opportunity compare to those who came from wealthy households. I have found a few, still occurring facts about unequal opportunity to get an education in America. Not surprisingly, while poor kids are underrepresented on elite campuses, the wealthiest kids are overrepresented. At Harvard, 45.6% of undergraduates come from families with incomes above $200,000 -- in other words, incomes in the top 3.8% of all American households. (Forbes). A new U.S. determined that 71 percent of the nation's 19.7 million college undergraduates from middle class families were working in 2011. Of that number, one in five undergrad were working at least 35 hours a week year-round.(Cbs news). The number of homeless children in public schools has doubled since before the recession, reaching a record national total of 1.36 million in the 2013-2014 school year, according to new federal data .(Washington Post). Children living in poverty have a higher number of absenteeism or leave school because they are more likely to have to work or care for family members.(Dosomething.org) Dropout rates of 16-24-years-old students who came from low income families are seven times more than those from families with higher income. Nowadays, many middle-class families cannot afford to pay their child's college tuition financially because many households already have enough debt, unsatisfactory income and no savings at all. To support their families many parents working at low-wage jobs. For that reason many students working 40 hours per week and covering college tuition themselves while attending college. When students are working full time, they cannot do their assignments on time and rest barely till next class meeting. They also may not afford to get stylish clothes that others have and have to wear same old clothes to the college every day. Due low income of their family many students cannot take a bath or wash their clothes on time, and many of them smell so bad but rich kids will judge or call them "dumb." Many low-income students don't eat on time or have not a proper nutrition which makes them dizzy, and they cannot concentrate in the classroom. In the long term, malnutrition can cause many heal th problems in their life which will take their last quarter from their pocket. As we can see poor students need to face many obstacles in their life and they treated unequally in the society. Every day they teased, rights buried on the ground, face with lack of money and lost their self-worth. For that reason, many poor students drop out college and universities after first year and poverty cycle continues in their family without given any chance to succeed in society. Many poor students getting married after dropout college and many of them employed by low-wage jobs to support their families and their children also will face struggles of their parents in their life after the birth. Poverty chain lasts forever and will continue till they are going to die unless something changes in the short term. In contrast, 1.4 million wealthy Americans or top one percent of the elite want to send their kids to the best universities to get