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Colleen Jones

07/05/20

ENG 1201

Dr. Hellmers

How Socioeconomic Status Affects Education

I am personally affected by Socioeconomic Status affecting education

negatively. My family has never been wealthy, and then once the economy

crashed around 2008, we were left in what is referred to as “low class” economic

status wise. This restricted my siblings and me from always having the school

supplies we needed, caused my parents to miss sporting events of ours due to

having to work so much, and kept from attending colleges farther away due to

expensive room and board costs. Socioeconomic status affects students in a

multitude of ways. Income may decipher what school they receive an education

from. Money may also restrain the amount of technology or supplies they can

afford. Economic class may restrict students from participating in school

activities. There is an inequality to people in the lower economic class.

Socioeconomic status can be broken down into three basic groups. Lower,

middle, and upper class are the statuses. There is an entire spectrum of

socioeconomic statuses, like “low-middle class and upper-low class”. The three

broad categories are low, middle, and high while everything else falls in between.
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Students that belong to lower class families have a disadvantage from the

beginning. These students may have to go to a K-12 district that costs less

money and will not give as good of an education rather than students that can

afford to go to private schools that can afford better teachers. According to the

American Psychological Association, ​a teacher’s years of experience and quality

of training are correlated with children’s academic achievement (Gimbert, Bol, &

Wallace , 2007). Children in low-income schools are less likely to have

well-qualified teachers (Clotfelter, Ladd, & Vigdo, 2006). If the teachers are not

as certified or prepared, how are the students receiving an education from them

going to succeed? While these students will be able to push through and excel at

greater things in life, the students in a higher social class who are receiving

better education have the advantage.

Students cannot always afford the supplies they need either. Every year

for K-12 schools, a supply list is sent out to everyone of all the items children will

need to attend their grade level.This causes extra stress on low income families

to support their children’s schooling. Due to the extensive supplies that schools

require students to pay for, parents and guardians have to work more heavily.

The extra time that is spent working to make ends meet for their children's

schooling, is time that could have been spent with their child growing their bond

together if it was not for the required supplies. This lack of time spent together
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between a parent and child may cause the child to feel like their parent will not be

there to help them. One example is that when a student needs help at home with

homework they will feel like they do not have anyone in their house that they can

go to. This creates a sense of discouragement from elementary school ages,

which sets the tone for attitude towards schoolwork.

According to the American Psychological Association, children’s initial

reading competency is correlated with the home literacy environment, number of

books owned, and parent distress (Aikens & Barbarin, 2008; Bergen, Zuijen,

Bishop, & Jong, 2016). However, poor households have less access to learning

materials and experiences, including books, computers, stimulating toys,

skill-building lessons, or tutors to create a positive literacy environment (Bradley,

Corwyn, McAdoo, & García Coll, 2001; Orr, 2003).​ Another one of the many

disparities between lower and upper class families is technology. As the students

ascend into high school years, the use of technology is becoming more and more

relevant. In today’s society, the use of computers in school are becoming a vital

part of education. The poverty level schools and lower class families cannot

afford these luxuries that prestige schools and upper class families can obtain.

This creates a large disadvantage for college.

Students going to college have some of the same issues. Many students

from low class families cannot attend the colleges they want to go to due to
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expensive tuition prices. Even if a student can obtain scholarships and grants to

knock the tuition prices down, there is still room and board and food to pay for.

Then, if low class students can afford to attend, the students do not know how to

use the technology that is required. In education, the game has completely

changed all over the world. In a snippet featured in India West’s newspaper

found in the SCC library called ​At Harvard: Thoughts On Education in India​ by

Chittaranjan Kaul mentioned, “Over the last few decades, India has seen

dramatic changes in the way society is organized” after talking about India’s

education system. Society is becoming more and more dependent on technology

in workplaces, home life, and school. Technology is spreading faster around the

world than it ever has before. This is creating inequalities throughout countries.

Countries in a lower socioeconomic rank cannot afford to be up to date on

technology, which makes them continue to fall behind even further.

Another disadvantage for low income families that include school is after

school sports and activities. At most K-12 schools there is a pay to play fee for

every sport. This not only helps give students an edge on college applications,

but also amps their socialization skills. It can also give students a sense of

involvement and school pride. Having pride for their school would make them

want to put effort into their academics. School pride reduces the feeling that

school is just a place that is required for students to go, and makes it feel like it is
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somewhere they do not mind being at. According to Markus Broer Yifan Bai

Frank Fonseca in the book Socioeconomic Inequality and Educational Outcomes

found in the SCC library, “Economic capital can be used in pursuit of other forms

of capital; for example, family income can be used to pay for organized

after-school activities, to access elite educational opportunities, or to build up

valuable social networks (Lareau 2011). Children from disadvantaged

backgrounds are constrained by the financial resources they and their family

possess (Crosnoe and Cooper 2010)”.

Even with all of these restrainments, it is not to say that students from a

low economic background cannot succeed. Many students that came from low

income families rise above their childhood and become more economically

successful than their parents. An example is the story of Anthony Abraham Jack

that was featured in the New York Times called, “​I was a Low-Income College

Student. Classes weren’t the Hard Part”,​ he tells about how he struggled at his

new college due to financial issues. Like many others in his situation, he had to

work long shifts at multiple jobs to stay afloat. He was constantly tired throughout

winter and spring break because he spent all his time working, while those who

had financially stable families became well rested while at home or on vacations.

This allowed the students from a higher economic class to be prepared and

ready for the semester to begin again.

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On the flip side, some feel as though it is the right for students from higher

economic class to have this advantage. That their parents and family members

worked to get themselves to that socioeconomic rank, so their children should

enjoy the edge the money gives them. It is not that students do not deserve what

their parents supply for them, it is that it puts the students from a lower

socioeconomic status at a disadvantage. There is an idea that these students

from a low income family should have to work harder to catch up. For example,

students that cannot afford college education should have to obtain better grades

to receive scholarships even though it is not fair. There is a very American logic

that life is not fair, and the less fortunate just have to deal with it. Schools should

figure out how​ ​to help those from lower class families be on an even playing field.

The issue is that education is becoming a hierarchy with money from the

start. It affects children’s education from a very young age. The school they

attend when they go to Kindergarten is based off of their geographic location.

People in a low socioeconomic status cannot afford to live in nice areas that have

top tier schools. Typically, the quality of the area reflects the quality of the school.

Then going into college, students from low socioeconomic status will not be able

to say they attended a private school that already has respect from universities.

There is a predisposition about the schools that students attend. If students go to

an upper class private school, they are hard working and intelligent individuals. If
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they go to a public school in a low class area, they will not rise up to the

expectation.

There are many other factors with socioeconomic status that affect families

other than education. It can have a strong effect on mental health quality.

According to the American Psychological Association, “​Higher levels of emotional

and behavioral difficulties, including social problems, delinquent behavior symptoms

and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder among adolescents (DeCarlo Santiago,

Wadsworth, & Stump, 2011; Russell, Ford, Williams, & Russell, 2016; Spencer, Kohn, &

Woods, 2002), talking about low socioeconomic status.​ Within the same article,

“​Children, Youth, Families and Socioeconomic Status”, ​the APA (American

Psychological Association) lists many other ways people are affected by

socioeconomic status. This list also includes the effects of physical health, family

well-being, and societal effects.

These effects show how much money impacts things throughout the world.

It causes a surplus of positives and issues. The positive outcomes come to those

who have a decent amount of money and belong to a middle or high social class.

The negatives come to those with low income and are in the lower classes. The

more money there is in a bank account, the more advantages there are available.

Children learn this from a young age in low SES (socioeconomic status)

families. This can carry well into adulthood, that money is the key to happiness.
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They associate money with getting to have the things they could not have as an

adolescent. This sometimes results in doing things for money, whether that may

be dealing illegal products or getting a high paying job that they have no interest

in. This can lead those participating in these actions to become depressed and

feeling unfulfilled within their lives. Money is not truly the way to find happiness,

but due to how required it is in the world now, it definitely seems that way at

times.

In school, especially in K-12 education, there is a great deal of bullying to

children that come from low income families. It may be for not being able to

afford nice clothes, technology, or efficient supplies. Or it may be due to the

predisposition that lower those belonging to a low socioeconomic class are worth

less than those in the classes above.

This does nothing but add to the lack of school interest, students from low

income homes often feel beaten down by the education system. It adds

additional stress than just the assignments and class lectures. Students worry

how they are getting lunch at school, if someone will be able to give them a ride

home, if they will have the supplies they need to participate in class, and if they

will get bullied that day.

Lately, schools and educational programs have been shut down for months due

to the coronavirus pandemic. Due to the shut down, students have been required
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to partake in online classes. As mentioned earlier, students from low income

households do not have the technology that schools require normally, let alone

can they completely rely on a computer for their education. This adds additional

stress to not only the student, but the parents/guardians as well. The guardians

feel as if it is their fault their student cannot excel in their schoolwork. Some

schools are providing laptops and other technological devices to those students

in need of them during the pandemic, other schools cannot provide these items

which leaves the students at a loss of what to do.

In conclusion, there are many ways that socioeconomic status affects

education. Most of the time the lower class students and families are at a major

disadvantage due to lower income than others. Economic status restricts

students from a better education experience. There are many different levels and

factors that play into this. Students from a low socioeconomic background

experience inequalities from the time they begin kindergarten until they get

through college.

Works Cited
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Association, American Psychological. “Children, Youth, Families and Socioeconomic

Status.” ​American Psychological Association,​ American Psychological Association, 2010,

www.apa.org/pi/ses/resources/publications/children-families.

Association, A. P. (2017, July). Education and Socioeconomic Status. Retrieved July 06,

2020, from https://www.apa.org/pi/ses/resources/publications/education

Broer, Markus, et al. ​Socioeconomic Inequality and Educational Outcomes : Evidence from

Twenty Years of TIMSS.​ Springer, 2019. ​EBSCOhost,​

search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=cat01128a&AN=scc.b2003258

&site=eds-live.

Jack, Anthony Abraham. ​I Was a Low-Income College Student. Classes Weren't the Hard Part.

10 Sept. 2019, www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/09/10/magazine/college-inequality.html.

Kaul, Chittaranjan, “Investments in Technology Driving Zanzibar’s Economic Sectors.” ​All

Africa,​ 2018. ​EBSCOhost,​

search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edsgin&AN=edsgcl.55216441

0&site=eds-live.