Quote:
Originally Posted by CliffFletcher
You're assuming that more poor and working class people would pursue a college education if they could afford it. That's an unfounded assumption. It may seem strange from the vantage point of the educated middle-class, but not everyone wants a post-secondary education.
45 per cent of 18- to 29-year-olds in the U.S. strongly feel college is not necessary to get ahead.
https://www.wgbh.org/news/education/...y-to-get-ahead
The college-or-bust mentality is itself a North American middle-class value. Egalitarian countries like Germany recognize not everyone should (or is even capable of) attend university. They recognize people can make valuable contributions, and earn a good salary, in non-academic fields. Steering non-academic students towards trades and blue-collar work in high school will serve the poor and working class better than making college cheaper. |
Countries like Germany steer students towards academic/non-academic paths based on their abilities, not on how much money their parents have. Which is the whole point of this exercise; to offer lower income families a chance to have their children succeed on their merits. There's a reason that countries like Finland, Denmark, Germany, Norway, etc. have the highest intergenerational social and economic mobility among developed nations while a country like the US has among the lowest. The barriers to success in the former countries are a student's aptitude and abilities; in the US it's primarily lack of money.
Granted, there are a million reasons why income inelasticity between generations is 3 times higher in the US than in those other countries, but a poor education system (primary, secondary, and tertiary) is one of the primary factors.