Webster Neighborhood regarding Poor Income impact on Higher Education
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Webster Neighborhood regarding Poor Income impact on Higher Education
Introduction
Higher education is the modern currency of this globalized world. It is the key which is the guarantee of success in this information age of twenty-first century. Education is a birth right of everyone, nevertheless, it is still not evenly distributed in the world, in general. World population stands around seven billion today and is still increasing at a higher rate. This ever-increasing population is not limited to any specific corner of the world. Nonetheless, as the population growing at a steady and constant rate, the basic facilities are shrinking day by day as well. When number of people increases, it requires the corresponding living space and social amenities as well. If there is no such accommodating space for more people, the phenomenon of neighborhood arises which is the expansion of urban life to the suburbs of the city. This is the scenario with Webster neighborhood where there are multiple problems. It has been observed that people who live in neighborhoods encounter chronic deficiency of basic facilities and amenities. Lack of education is one such great problem for them. This is the same problem for people in Webster neighborhood have low-incomes and lifestyles dependent upon daily wages. People are mostly poor and they face plenitude of issues such as poor health, lack of education, bouts of depression, more crimes and ever-present poverty. In order to cope with the lack of education of Webster neighborhood, federal government and state government took notice of the crisis several times and tried to introduce several policies to mainstream such strata of people in national life. However, as ill luck would have it, this lack of higher education still exists today and getting worse day by day. It has been observed that poor income is drastically altering the course of higher education in the area. People have scarce resources and they cannot afford higher education. To add insult to the injury, the employers are calling for higher skills which are attained with the help of higher education and skilled training. Webster neighborhood is still having no such education policy for its low-income strata and the criminal activities are bourgeoning in the area. Such complexity becomes the trademark of the Webster neighborhood where poor income is significantly blocking the path of higher education for those living in the area.
Discussion
The symbiotic relationship between income and education is indisputable. The amount of income one owns has the great potential in determining the path of one’s higher education. This relationship between income and higer education has been attested time and again by the several studies. If view it in macro-terms, those countries that have poor income have poor literacy rate and hence poor rate of prosperity. If one views the phenomenon in micro- level, one observes even if a country is prosperous and economically viable, those areas such as neighborhood would suffer that do not have the same share of prosperity as prevalent in rest of the country. This phenomenon happens in neighborhoods and slums that expands at the outskirts of the city but hardly have the equivalent share of stability as common in the rest of the city. As a result, the level of higher education gets affected and impeded as elaborated in ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"xDm99X6k","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Berg, 2016)","plainCitation":"(Berg, 2016)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":96,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/ZD9MNZ2P/items/LI6Q2KY9"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/ZD9MNZ2P/items/LI6Q2KY9"],"itemData":{"id":96,"type":"book","title":"Low-Income Students and the Perpetuation of Inequality: Higher Education in America","publisher":"Routledge","number-of-pages":"213","source":"Google Books","abstract":"Drawing upon quantitative data gathered from the U.S. Census and U.S. Department of Education, as well as interviews with students from a variety of socio-economic and ethnic backgrounds, Low-Income Students and the Perpetuation of Inequality examines the question of who really benefits from public higher education. It engages with questions of social capital, opportunity, funding and access to education, presenting a rich discussion of social mobility, the value of college education and the impact of education upon the redistribution of income. A thorough exploration of the real impact of college on American society, this volume will appeal to social scientists with interests in education, social capital, social stratification, class and social mobility.","ISBN":"978-1-317-10315-8","note":"Google-Books-ID: UuAoDAAAQBAJ","title-short":"Low-Income Students and the Perpetuation of Inequality","language":"en","author":[{"family":"Berg","given":"Gary A."}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2016",5,13]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Berg, 2016). The obstacle posed by the poor income hinders the way of good education as people could not afford the expensive education system. Webster neighborhood is accurately manifesting this issue of poor income and poor higher education in the precincts. Lack of education has been associated with persistent poverty in the area and it is having tremendous effects on the well-being of the people.
Webster neighborhood is faced with concentrated poverty and consistent lack of education. This long vicious circle of poverty is such that it encompassed several generations. Studies shown that poorly educated people have poorly educated parents. This issue of poor income and lack of higher education is not something new for them. They have been accustomed to this life style as their parents had no adequate amount of literacy as well. It is commonly mistaken that uneducated parents do not care much about the education of their children. It is a biased opinion which is ruining the prospects of low-income families as reflected in the studies ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"2kSFAfxP","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Lott, 2001)","plainCitation":"(Lott, 2001)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":90,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/ZD9MNZ2P/items/5RZRAJ9F"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/ZD9MNZ2P/items/5RZRAJ9F"],"itemData":{"id":90,"type":"article-journal","title":"Low-income parents and the public schools","container-title":"Journal of Social Issues","page":"247-259","volume":"57","issue":"2","source":"APA PsycNET","abstract":"Addresses the responses likely to be received by low-income parents from teachers and staff in their children's public schools in the United States. A review of the relevant literature reveals that teachers and school administrators tend to subscribe to the dominant beliefs that low-income parents do not care about their children's schooling, are not competent to help with homework, do not encourage achievement, and do not place a high value on education. This article presents examples of such middle-class bias in the words and actions of individual teachers, and research findings that tend to contradict these stereotypes. The barriers that exist for low-income parents in interacting with the schools are discussed, and suggestions are offered for ways in which schools can recognize and respect the standpoint and potential contributions of these parents. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)","DOI":"10.1111/0022-4537.00211","ISSN":"1540-4560(Electronic),0022-4537(Print)","author":[{"family":"Lott","given":"Bernice"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2001"]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Lott, 2001). This is a crooked view which is not true as poor families still care for their off springs and want the better future for them. Thus, this poverty is the rot cause which is hampering the good prospects for the people in Webster neighborhood.
This issue of education for low income families was highlighted by the then senator Kennedy who exchanged his views for the progress of poor families. He expressed that right of education could not be denied for those living below poverty line. He opined to President Lyndon B. Johnson in wake of the debate on the critical bill of elementary and secondary education when it was being debated in the Senate education committee in 1965. Kennedy argued that poor people must be given more power to control their lives and questioned why poor parents were not given more power to hold school districts accountable for federal money under the EsEA. He was of the view that roles of parents should be more activating, shaping, and altering the power relationships to ensure that federal funding would be used to integrate the schools as well as build demand for improved student performance. This was an effort on the part of the then senator, and now several books have been published that call for the access to higher education for low-income families. One such masterpiece is ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"QeeQtahH","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Workforce, 2002)","plainCitation":"(Workforce, 2002)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":94,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/ZD9MNZ2P/items/RKSV25NV"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/ZD9MNZ2P/items/RKSV25NV"],"itemData":{"id":94,"type":"book","title":"Access to higher education for low-income students: a review of the Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance report : hearing before the Committee on Education and the Workforce, House of Representatives, One Hundred Seventh Congress, second session, hearing held in Washington, DC, July 16, 2002","publisher":"U.S. G.P.O.","number-of-pages":"130","source":"Google Books","note":"Google-Books-ID: 9OnNGpHItBUC","title-short":"Access to higher education for low-income students","language":"en","author":[{"family":"Workforce","given":"United States Congress House Committee on Education","dropping-particle":"and the"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2002",1,1]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Workforce, 2002) that calls for equitable higher education in United States of America. Also the issue is reflected in ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"YZuaM7av","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(\\uc0\\u8220{}The Early Childhood Workforce Index 2018 | Center for the Study of Child Care Employment,\\uc0\\u8221{} n.d.)","plainCitation":"(“The Early Childhood Workforce Index 2018 | Center for the Study of Child Care Employment,” n.d.)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":98,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/ZD9MNZ2P/items/HDJ5EQTV"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/ZD9MNZ2P/items/HDJ5EQTV"],"itemData":{"id":98,"type":"post-weblog","title":"The Early Childhood Workforce Index 2018 | Center for the Study of Child Care Employment","URL":"http://cscce.berkeley.edu/early-childhood-workforce-2018-index/","language":"en-US","accessed":{"date-parts":[["2019",5,28]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (“The Early Childhood Workforce Index 2018 | Center for the Study of Child Care Employment,” n.d.) which takes into account the relationship of the lack of education and poverty in the United States.
In addition, education is the basic right of every human being on the planet earth. It is the right that has been recognized in the historic document of human rights ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"XvI1gUif","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(\\uc0\\u8220{}Universal Declaration of Human Rights,\\uc0\\u8221{} 2015)","plainCitation":"(“Universal Declaration of Human Rights,” 2015)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":100,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/ZD9MNZ2P/items/Y32K3XAT"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/ZD9MNZ2P/items/Y32K3XAT"],"itemData":{"id":100,"type":"webpage","title":"Universal Declaration of Human Rights","abstract":"The Universal Declaration of Human Rights","URL":"https://www.un.org/en/universal-declaration-human-rights/","language":"en","issued":{"date-parts":[["2015",10,6]]},"accessed":{"date-parts":[["2019",5,28]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (“Universal Declaration of Human Rights,” 2015) and also in several constitutions. However, lack of education is still a part of this life in a progressive nation like United States. This dearth of education is seen everywhere when the people of the area have no such political, social or economic power.This phenomeon applies equally well on the Webster neighborhood crisis. It is witnessed that there is a huge gap in the higher education enrollment due to the income of the family as highlighted in the ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"Gyae7HML","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Dedman, 2018)","plainCitation":"(Dedman, 2018)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":92,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/ZD9MNZ2P/items/W6VVAKL9"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/ZD9MNZ2P/items/W6VVAKL9"],"itemData":{"id":92,"type":"webpage","title":"The Income Gaps in Higher Education Enrollment and Completion","container-title":"Association of American Colleges & Universities","genre":"Text","abstract":"Indicators of Higher Education Equity in the United States, a new report from the Pell Institute for the Study of Opportunity in Higher Education and the Alliance for Higher Education and Democracy at the University of Pennsylvania (PennAHEAD), begins with a simple question: “When will the U.S. close the gap in higher education attainment by family income?”","URL":"https://www.aacu.org/aacu-news/newsletter/2018/june/facts-figures","language":"en","author":[{"family":"Dedman","given":"Ben"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2018",6,6]]},"accessed":{"date-parts":[["2019",5,28]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Dedman, 2018). Those with low income are segregated and they don’t have the chances to acquire higher education in good colleges. It is a noteworthy point that they are being isolated due to their low social status and low economic power in the society. The Webster neighborhood and its residents have no such political and economic power. They are the neglected section as they have no connections to the elite part of the society. As a result, they lack higher education which hampers their well-being in the coming years and they adopt unethical ways of life.
Furthermore, the lack of higher education also disturbs the harmonious equilibrium of life as the space is filled by crimes and criminal activities. It is commonly observed that when people have less education, they commit more crimes and willingly break laws of the land. This is the same case with the Webster neighborhood where people happily commit criminal activities having no care for the prospects. This tendency is mostly found in early teens and early adulthood as mentioned in the ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"WYHFH1P3","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Webster, MacDonald, & Simpson, 2006)","plainCitation":"(Webster, MacDonald, & Simpson, 2006)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":89,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/ZD9MNZ2P/items/7S8LKEYP"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/ZD9MNZ2P/items/7S8LKEYP"],"itemData":{"id":89,"type":"article-journal","title":"Predicting Criminality? Risk Factors, Neighbourhood Influence and Desistance","container-title":"Youth Justice","page":"7-22","volume":"6","issue":"1","source":"SAGE Journals","abstract":"Using qualitative biographical data from a longitudinal study of youth transitions, criminal careers and desistance, this paper casts doubt on the veracity and predictive power of risk assessment devices such as Asset and OASys. These devices, and the research on which they are based, suggest that earlier and current childhood and teenage influences trigger and sustain later re-offending. In contrast, we argue that focus must be shifted to contingent risk factors that accrue in late teenage and young adulthood. Secondly, risk assessment and criminal career research has ignored the influence that unforeseen and unforeseeable processes of neighbourhood destabilization and life events have in criminal careers and their cessation.","DOI":"10.1177/1473225406063449","ISSN":"1473-2254","title-short":"Predicting Criminality?","journalAbbreviation":"Youth Justice","language":"en","author":[{"family":"Webster","given":"Colin"},{"family":"MacDonald","given":"Robert"},{"family":"Simpson","given":"Mark"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2006",4,1]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Webster, MacDonald, & Simpson, 2006) which increases their chances of being lured into the criminal activities. They are prone to the habit of breaking laws due to their ignorance, and they often consider it a sources of happiness. More criminal activities are the part and parcel of the Webster society as residents are not enlightened and progressive in their outlook. Such people have undeveloped personalities and their crippled personalities have problem in understanding the correct way of living a life. Also they get dropped out and the feel free to do anything they want. As a result, they opt for criminal acts as it gives them false sense of satisfaction. Hence, lack of higher education obstructs the harmonious balance of their lives.
Conclusion
To summarize, it may be fairly suggested from the above discussion that Webster neighborhood in under the brunt of negligence and vicious circle of poverty. This state of affairs is hampering the amount of literacy in the area and the prospects of higher education. The concentrated poverty in the Webster neighborhood is the alarming sign as the major section of resident is poor and deficient in resources. The poor section has no access to basic facilities and higher educations is one chief problem among them. Moreover, there has been no provision of the free education for the residents of this area. They are still caught in poor income and poor higher education. As every cause has corresponding effect, so the cause of poverty and poor higher education is disturbing the social fabric of the society as people are more prone to committing criminal activities. They commit crimes out of aggression and ignorance and feel nothing bad about it. Such is the state of life in Webster neighborhood where there is more poverty, less high education and more crime rate. The world population is increasing at a steady rate and so are the neighborhood. However, it is time that pragmatic measures must be launched in order to facilitate people who are facing chronic deprivation and Webster neighborhood might be a good place to start with.
References
ADDIN ZOTERO_BIBL {"uncited":[],"omitted":[],"custom":[]} CSL_BIBLIOGRAPHY Berg, G. A. (2016). Low-Income Students and the Perpetuation of Inequality: Higher Education in America. Routledge.
Dedman, B. (2018, June 6). The Income Gaps in Higher Education Enrollment and Completion [Text]. Retrieved May 28, 2019, from Association of American Colleges & Universities website: https://www.aacu.org/aacu-news/newsletter/2018/june/facts-figures
Lott, B. (2001). Low-income parents and the public schools. Journal of Social Issues, 57(2), 247–259. https://doi.org/10.1111/0022-4537.00211
The Early Childhood Workforce Index 2018 | Center for the Study of Child Care Employment. (n.d.). Retrieved May 28, 2019, from http://cscce.berkeley.edu/early-childhood-workforce-2018-index/
Universal Declaration of Human Rights. (2015, October 6).
Webster, C., MacDonald, R., & Simpson, M. (2006). Predicting Criminality? Risk Factors, Neighbourhood Influence and Desistance. Youth Justice, 6(1), 7–22. https://doi.org/10.1177/1473225406063449
Workforce, U. S. C. H. C. on E. and the. (2002). Access to higher education for low-income students: a review of the Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance report : hearing before the Committee on Education and the Workforce, House of Representatives, One Hundred Seventh Congress, second session, hearing held in Washington, DC, July 16, 2002. U.S. G.P.O.
