Furthermore, the best means by which to achieve upward social mobility for many people has been strong labor movements and corresponding labor laws that protect the interest of workers. Raising minimum wages, expanding opportunities for advancement, and reducing burdens on the poor are some of the ways income disparity can be minimized. These are policies and programs that have been systematically stifled in the United States, especially over the past several decades as conservatives have gained a stranglehold on policymakers and lobbyists in Washington. As Foner points out, too, New Deal policies proved effective in alleviating some of the root causes of poverty. Such forward-thinking programs and policies need to be implemented now, to curb the spread of income disparity. There are other issues that need to be addressed, too, though. Marsh is coming from a Euro-centric perspective that denies the relevance of other models of education or curricula. He notes that many of his students were dropping out of the continuing education program, but fails to acknowledge that those dropouts might have been disillusioned by his approach to education. Emphasizing...

Students need to be able to see the purpose and vision in their education, and the problem starts much younger than college. For income disparity to be eliminated, the foundation of public education itself needs to change, so that students are exposed to the gamut of learning and not just learning about abstract concepts that have no bearing on job security.
Works Cited

Foner, Eric. Give Me Liberty! W.W. Norton, 2004.

Marsh, John. "Class Dismissed." Audio on Against the Grain: http://www.againstthegrain.org/program/639/tues-122512-education-and-inequality

Marsh, John. "Why Education is Not a Panacea." The Chronicle of Higher Education.28 August, 2011. Retrieved online: http://chronicle.com/article/Why-Education-Is-Not-an/128790

Zinn, Howard. A People's History of the United States. Harper Perennial, 2010.