Education and Poverty Essay Example for Free

Education and P overty look forHow College Admissions Favor Wealthy Students Over Underprivileged Minorities The growing debate over whether college admissions ar partial by overstressing standardized tests and GPA has conk out a very controversial topic in the realm of education. legion(predicate) learners argue that the admission process is unfair in placing a greater emphasis on definite stressed requirements, such(prenominal) as the ACT/SAT, while neglecting to examine the whole appli targett. Those who argue against the admission polity believe that each student in the United States comes from a very diverse background, and each operation should be looked into with intricacy, rather than regarding just their requirements. Although those requirements ar generally what the admission hoi polloi look for in what they discern as a quality student, those who argue against it feel that it is best not to overlook a student who overcame tremendous adversity, but just whit ethorn puzzle conducted a point or cardinal to consider admitted. The central argument against college admissions has to do with whether challenging life conditions outside of school, for a student who is economically dis improvementd, should be weighted more than the slightly higher grade of a student with a unlike socioeconomic background in college admissions.In some cases, high school students must work regular in ensnargon to support their families. If a college had to choose between a student who did not need to support his or her family and got a 33 on his or her ACT, and another student with a 29 on their ACT who worked almost full-time to support a family, which would be more likely to get accepted into an Ivy League college if both students had the same 4.0 GPA, classes, and fare of important clubs, etc.? Odds are, the adept with the higher ACT will get selected, and those who debate the issue feel that this is where it becomes inequitable. Students argue that wor kings over thirty hours per week while taking the same challenging classes classes showings cave in work ethic than a student who has an extra thirty hours a week to study. There are a variety of refugees and immigrants who fled their homelands because of jobs, famines, wars, or particular life threatening circumstances, with verylittle resources to pull in with them. For this reason, it is very difficult for them to absorb the opportunities that well-settled students digest. This includes underground schooling, tutors, standardized test practices, etc. This gives domestic affluent students a better chance to succeed, due to better overall educational opportunities.The education at a private school is superior to that of a exoteric school because of higher set standards and a very well disciplined system. In Teaching With scantiness In Mind, author Eric Jensen exemplifies a chart indicating that family income corre latelys significantly with childrens academic success (10). For poor students, a negative correlation is drawn with absenteeism, the broker that most closely relates to dropout rate. For tests like the ACT and SAT, deprived minorities are at the disadvantage because English would be their second language. Some think that most colleges overlook some(prenominal) variables that determine a students mental capacity. That is why some educators debate that their needs to be more of a holistic approach because sometimes, a certain factor can stunt a student success, when they may have the abilities to become the next Einstein. The economic value of a particular focalize or education is how willing a family is to relocate to provide their children with higher education potential this can be measured by the pricing of housing.Majority of migrant families do not have the major power to relocate and provide better education for their children, meaning that they have to accept being in pauperization and not having a strong educational background (P aleso 3). The SAT has frequently been criticized for providing a cultural advantage for wealthy exsanguinouss. In the website article, SAT Racial Bias Proves Standardized Tests Are Geared Toward washrag Students, Haleigh collins states that tests like the ACT and SAT have been blamed for widening the achievement gap between whites and minorities. dapple the math variance is objective, the critical reading section and writing section describe topics associated mostly with the white demographic. Often the passages are about subjects that white, upper class students are more exposed to. The verbal section favors white students by using language with which they are more familiar than non-white students. Collins also mentions that for 23 years Roy Freedle, a psychologist who industrial plant with ETS (the nonprofit Educational Testing Service that develops, administers, and scores standardized tests), has been working to prove that these emphasized ACT and SAT tests givewhites an un fair advantage. His studies show that minority scores significantly lag when compared to whites of equal economic status.As mentioned above, wealthier test takers benefit from being able to afford tutors that appeal up to hundreds of dollars an hour to private college counselors students with means and get to to additional help can often bring their scores up significantly. For example, several students see a great increase in their scores afterward practicing these tests and taking them over and over. Just through coaching and exposure to the tests, they start seeing trends, which enable them to do a lot better. Students who cant afford or dont have access to this are at a huge disadvantage. Unfortunately, situations such as this occur often. John Overton High rail student Amad Amedy, a full time worker and athlete with an ACT composite score of 29 and a 3.9 GPA, stated that he felt college admissions are crooked. He believed that a underprivileged student who works full time a nd is more active in after-school clubs and sports should be weighted equally, if not higher, than a student who has just decided to focus and do well in school only, especially if they are not that much more accomplished than the working, social student.He discussed that sometimes students get home late from work and do not have time to study because they need to sleep in order to wake up and take an important test in the morning. Amedy concluded by saying that a well-rounded student will use his extensive knowledge of various trades that he picked up from fellowship to get further than someone who just stays at home and studies, and that the social and vocational skills pull in by working and engaging in extracurricular activities are as valuable as the thought gained from studying textbooks and researching academic journals. Another John Overton High School student, Benjamin Demonbreun, who is an unemployed student, salutatorian, and National merit Semifinalist, with a 33 com posite on the ACT and a GPA of 4.0, strongly disagreed with Amedy. Ben believed that the standard requirements were a good way to determine who should be accepted into prestigious universities. He argued that students such as himself worked highly hard, day in and day out, in what they have needed to do, which is get exceptional grades.Alongside Benjamin, students manage that although they may have had a slightly greater advantage, it does not mean that students such as Amedy have worked harder than them or deserve it more, solely because they do a a couple of(prenominal) things outside of school. Ben discussed that he has never needed to support a family school has always been his priority. He believes that emphasis on standardized tests and GPA should not be dismissed by any means because they are a huge determining factor for work ethic, knowledge, and college readiness. In Teaching With Poverty In Mind, Jensen illustrates a few action steps such as more empathy towards the lif e of a migrant student (11). This better understanding may bring home the bacon for a more lax curriculum that allows the student some wiggle room. Such steps are seen in MNPS with a new grading policy allowing retakes until students achieve mastery. A few universities have started to become familiar with this situation, due to growth in immigrant populations in the United States. There have been some universities who have abandoned SAT and ACT scores as a means of selection.A growing amount of selective universities, predominantly Ivy League, are beginning to adopt a holistic admissions policy because the holistic approach is very thorough in evaluating the whole of the applicant, rather than reduce the applicant to a few pieces of empirical data, such as test scores and GPA. The holistic policy offers students a chance to show their accomplishments in several distinct ways, rather than only test scores and grade histories, giving people such as Amedy an opportunity to attend a hi gh-status university and receive a wonderful education. With this policy we may see minorities provide a different perspective in different professions that help advance ball club and technology.Works CitedAmedy, Amad. Personal Interview. 5 April 2014.Collins, Haleigh. SAT Racial Bias Proves Standardized Tests Are Geared Toward White Students. PolicyMic. 12 September 2011. Web. 1 April 2014. Demonbreun, Benjamin. Personal Interview. 5 April 2014.Freedle, Roy. Interview. 1 April 2014.Jensen, Eric. Teaching With Poverty In Mind. 2009. EBooks (10-11), Web. 8 April 2014. Polese, Mario. The Wealth And Poverty Of Regions Why Cities Matter. 2009. EBooks (3). Web. 13 April 2014.