Accessibility of education in the US

 

Accessibility of education in the US (Ronghang Zhang)

Education in the United States has always been a popular topic of discussion for some time, but recently the debate over heath care in the United States now bebomes front-page news. It is important to make education even higher enducation more accessible for every Americans.

 

Education has not been as common as expected in today’s society. There are several main reasons that not every American receive higher education.The expensive tuition is one of the most biggest. According to the U.S. Department of the treasury, “students are bearing a greater share of the college costs than a generation ago. At public four-year colleges and universities, tuition and fees as a percent of revenue has doubled since 1987, while the proportion funded by state and local governments has fallen by about one-third.”[1] The education opportunity has not provided to everyone in America yet.

 

The situation that not too many teenagers receive high-quality education or finish their degree brings new problems, such as unemployment. “The unemployment rate for Americans with a high school diploma (9.4 percent) is about twice the rate of those with a bachelor’s degree (4.9 percent). Americans who did not graduate from high school are unemployed at almost three times the rate (14.1 percent) as those with a bachelor’s degree”.[2]When the education level of a region is not that abundant, other aspects of the society are affected negatively. For example, the education condition is poor in the Central America, so the society is not stable enough. The average standard of living in that area needs a huge improvemnet and the region’s criminal justice system needs to become “more transparent and efficient.” “Education is fundamental”[1]  for cutting crime rates, said Pardo. She said that in most Central American and Caribbean countries the quality of education is poor and many “kids don’t even know how to read and write”.[2]

 

However, at the same time, the government and the whole society together bring corresponding changes. In recent years, there are a lot of programs and investments provided to promote higher education in the United States. In 2016, the U.S. Department of Education released the America’s College Promise Playbook, a comprehensive and up-to-date resource guide with relevant and actionable information proveided about how they can offer more students access to an affordable, high-quality education through which students can go as far as their talents and work ethic can take them. To be honest, this could be a mildtone on the way that Americans trying to expand College Opportunity and increase college affordability. With that, the results of each state is positive as well. Take Tenessee as an example, “At the state level, the playbook showcases the Tennessee Promise program. The program serves over 16,000 students and is contributing to a 10 percent increase in public higher education enrollment and a 25 percent increase at community colleges throughout Tennessee.” For the problem of the expensive tuition for higher education, the givernment also have response to it. “far too many students either don’t go to college or never finish their degree. The President has proposed a new $61 billion investment over the next decade for America’s College Promise sto create a new partnership with states to help them waive tuition in high-quality programs for these students, while promoting key reforms to help more students complete at least two years of college and help meet the demands of a growing global economy”.

 

In summary, due to high tuition cost and other reasons, many students in the United States do not have the opportunity to access higher education and even basic education. Low education level also makes other problems for the students themselves, even the soiety. To respond to this current situation as much as a social issue, there are programs offered by the U.S. government to alleciate the problem which are indeed helpful.

 

Work cited

  1. The Economics of Higher Education–Executive Summary. , 2012. sirsissuesresearcher, https://explore.proquest.com/sirsissuesresearcher/document/2250554600?accountid=37588.
  2. Education Department Releases America’s College Promise Playbook. , 2016. sirsissuesresearcher, https://explore.proquest.com/sirsissuesresearcher/document/2250479319?accountid=37588.
  3. Green, Eric. Better Education for Youth Cuts Crime in Central America. , 2007. sirsissuesresearcher, https://explore.proquest.com/sirsissuesresearcher/document/2265589571?accountid=37588.