Higher Education and Education

¶ … Post Poverty is more than the state of being poor or bereft of resources; it is a social status or caste one is ascribed. The label of being poor is equivalent to a low status in the society. As Misencik (2017) puts it, labeling people as being low status helps to "maintain the status quo" and is a process akin to blaming the victim.

People who have few resources are typically born into circumstances in which they start off with very little; starting off at a disadvantage means that they lack the resources to get started on a pathway to success or economic betterment. Upward social mobility usually requires some initial capital investment.

Even early childhood education successes depend on the ability of parents to invest the time as well as money to attend to young children's learning needs that can put them at an advantage in school and prepare them for the demands od university. A student who lacks access to funding for secondary education is at a critical disadvantage in the society. At no fault of their own, students who lack access to university educations have more limited job options than their college-educated counterparts (Prupis, 2015).

Only accessing jobs reserved for low skill sectors, the people who are already disadvantaged end up passing on those disadvantages to their own children and the cycle is perpetuated and multi-generational. There are always exceptions to the rule: the rags-to-riches stories in which exceptional individuals can overcome their circumstances through a combination of hard work, entrepreneurial vision, and luck -- luck always plays a role in determining outcomes because it depends on the people a person meets and their timing (Frank, 2016).

Saying poor people are to blame for their own poverty or that they do not work hard enough is like saying that disabled people are to blame for their situations. It actually makes no sense to blame poor people. A far better response to poverty would be to address the root causes of injustice and wealth disparity. The root causes are unfortunately complex -- they include corruption in both the public and private sector, and fiscal conservatism.

The inequalities in public schools are another root problem that are addressed well by Prupis (2015), who shows how even when students have access to higher education, there are a whole range of factors leading to their lower completion rate. The factors are unrelated to ambition or desire to achieve -- they are related to things like housing affordability. An expanded range of social services offered by the public and private sector would help offer disadvantaged individuals a leg up and help minimize inequality while maximizing human potential.

Response Recently, the state of New York announced it would be offering free four-year college education for all residents, becoming the first state to do so. This is an example of how systematic inequalities and injustices can be overcome with sensible public policy. Free four-year college education helps disadvantaged youth have access to the means of improving their circumstances by expanding their opportunities for personal and career development. Many countries in Europe do offer free universal access to higher education, which helps promote a more egalitarian society.

However, it is important to remember that disadvantaged students cannot.