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Summary: The Consequences Of Growing Up Poor

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This paper will investigate what the choice to attain a bachelor’s degree means for the total income of those who grew up in poverty. In order to graduate from college, one must obtain a high school diploma (or equivalent), choose to enter college, and persist through graduation. Trends in the research that has currently been done related to this topic illustrates that typically, it is much less likely for those who come from low income families to attend college at all, and when they do choose to attend college, they are less likely to graduate than those who do not grow up poor. There is also great amounts of research that express that people are very likely to end up living in the same socioeconomic class as their parents. Through the work …show more content…

The data presented consistently shows that educational ability has very little to do with the background that one comes from, and yet, people that grow up in poverty are still much less likely to complete college, even if they chose to initially attend college (Duncan 101). The research presented suggests that the number one indicator in their data for one’s college success is the income of their family. Though the data in this book provides valuable background information regarding the realities of those who grow up poor and their educational outcomes, it does not provide information on the incomes of college graduates who grew up in poverty. The book, From Parents to Children: The Intergenerational Transmission of Advantage by John Ermisch, Markus Jantti, and Timothy Smeeding concludes that youth in the United States whose families fall in the bottom quintile income distribution are 28% less likely to attend college than those in the top three quintiles (Ermisch 40). This book also illustrates that youth whose parents attended college are much more likely to attend college themselves. This trend can be widely seen in research regarding this topic. Both of these books show the importance of the income of one’s family in their education attainment and achievement. The …show more content…

One point that is brought up is the idea of the middle class. Middle class (or higher) areas get better public school funding than lower class areas, primarily because funding for schools is primarily based on property taxes of those living in the area (Dobratz, 125). This suggests that schools that are situated in middle/upper class neighborhoods have the resources to hire better trained teachers and counselors and have better facilities. If a student attends a school with more resources, they may get more exposure at a young age to the importance of post-secondary education, how to navigate college, and even how to apply for college (due to having better trained counselors, and more resources to present to students about college). This has the possibility to give middle/upper class students a leg-up in college from lower class students before they even begin

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