Upper Class Research Paper

Are you part of the upper class? If yes, you have won already. If not, you’re going to have to work extra hard to even get a chance at real success. Despite what we would like to believe, rich children have all the advantages when it comes to education and opportunities. They typically get into the better schools more so that those from the lower class. Rich children also get to do more stimulating activities over the summer which puts them ahead of the lower class children who play outside and watch tv, which, while good for them emotionally, doesn’t help them academically. But, when given truly equal opportunities, the lower class can score as good or better than the upper class. When parents take the time to talk to their children more,
When given better opportunities it has been shown that lower income children can score just as high or higher than those from the upper class. Malcolm Gladwell shows in numerous studies that over the course of the school year children from all the classes improve at about the same rate and start out equal. The lower class enters first grade with an average score of 55 on state mandated tests, the middle class with an average of 69, and the upper class with an average of 60. (Gladwell) Those are pretty equal. The problem starts as soon as school is over. We know that rich kids get to do all the mentally stimulating activities over the summer while poor kids sit and watch tv. It truly does affect kids. Starting from the beginning of summer and going to the end of the 1st quarter, the lower class improves -3.67 point and the middle class improves about the same. Meanwhile, the upper class comes back to school and they have improved 15.38 points. (Gladwell) This shows us that no matter how amazing we teach the students during the school year, the upper class will always be studying over summer and getting an advantage over everyone else. How can the lower class be expected to keep up with the upper class if they simply can’t afford to get the same “education?” So yes, our schools definitely provide adequate, equal and fair teaching, but they
Research shows that the more parents talk to their kids and build on what they say, the faster the child learns new vocabulary. In a study conducted on families of all incomes, it was found that, “The average child heard thirty-two affirmations and five prohibitions (“Stop that”; “That’s the wrong way!”) per hour—a ratio of six to one. For the kids in the working-class families, the ratio was twelve affirmatives to seven prohibitions, and in the welfare families it was five affirmatives to eleven prohibitions.” (Talbot) This means that poorer children are not learning new words and are being put down which damages their self-confidence. It has been proved that the smarter children are the ones who are not just at home all day. A study which, “used survey data to show that affluent children spend 1,300 more hours than low-income children before age 6 in places other than their homes, their day care centers, or schools (anywhere from museums to shopping malls). By the time high-income children start school, they have spent about 400 hours more than poor children in literacy activities.” (Tavernise) This shows that the kids who spend time in places other than home tend to be more educated. This does not specify which class they are it just says children in general so we know this works for everyone. Children whose parents take the time to educate their children not just academically but socially tend to do better