Educational Poverty
It was the month of September in the year 2007. Bobby Fischer was a senior at Irvington High, but unlike his friends, he would not be going to college. Bobby got straight A’s, and though he was accepted by all universities he applied to, Bobby did not get any scholarships, nor could his parents pay the tuition. Bobby could not get a loan either because his father had a gambling problem in the past, so thus his family was in debt. Nobody was willing to give them a loan with the sort of credit score that they had. Education is a problem in the United States mainly because of money issues. A greater amount of government funding should be dedicated to the education system in the United States.
A greater amount of government money being devoted to education would increase the potential of scholarships to allow less fortunate families to have a brighter future. Funding was not always a problematic issue for education, and as Professor Robert Reich, a former labor secretary for President, explains, “In 1986 the federal grants covered 98% of tuition expenses at four year public universities in the United States” (Reich). In the mid 1980’s, education was largely paid for by the government so that people of all social classes could obtain an education, not only people with a superfluous amount of money. Professor Reich continues to explain that as tuition increases in response to inflation, government funding for education does not, “Since 1980, in the United States, public universities have increased their tuitions, adjusted for inflation, by a 107% . . . . Pell Grants had not risen relative to inflation” (Reich). This rise in tuition without a parallel rise in government funding results in the entire bottom ladder of the social class, those who do not have as much money, being cut off from a good education. Students from families with inferior funds used to be able to attend universities with the help of government funding, however, with...
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