Working Class Students and Higher Education Essay

Working Class Students and Higher Education Authors Michelle Tokarczyk, Peter Sacks, Robert Haverman and Timothy Smeeding all write about certain problems that working class students are facing in education in the U.S. , especially in college education which is usually defined as higher education. Although they focus on different aspects of the problem, they still have some ideas in common. In their articles, all of them discuss how economic and social class occupies a very significant role in the quality of education an American student receives. In order to support their claims, all of them employ studies as their strong evidence. They also imply that college education fails to consider the special issues and conditions that†¦show more content†¦As a result, Tokarczyk suggests that the society should acknowledge the existence of working class students and provide education system that actually help them to improve their social and economic status (91-92). In Peter Sacksâ⠂¬â„¢s article, â€Å"Do No Harm: Stopping the Damage to American Schools,† he declares that â€Å"the economic class of individual children and their parents bears decisively on a child’s chance of success in the school system† (39). He repeatedly emphasizes how [the] economic and social classes act as important elements in blocking lower class students from getting higher education like college education. He also argues the opposite effects that standardized tests bring, such as discouraging lower class students in un-wealthy school districts, increasing the gap between higher and lower class students, and pushing more pressures toward teachers in these schools and forcing them to focus on raising test scores rather than on deeper understanding (Sacks 44). He proves his assertions through a interview with Chuck Lavaroni, who is a former teacher and school superintendent (Sack 39). 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