In both the developed and developing countries, the society is divided into the upper-class, middleclass, and the low class. Although income levels and living standards for the low class have recently improved, there are still inequalities in terms of the treatment of the rich and the poor. The low class would like to get equal opportunity to improve their living standards. However, the rich people want to become richer. In America, some homeless people beg around the streets, and some criminals rob people for money. Those poor have not money to buy food, and even they have not house to live. On the contrary, upper-class people earn money from investments and high salary. Facing the growing distance between the rich and the poor, the rich are getting richer, the poor are getting poorer, so that how to alleviate this phenomenon? In three articles, the authors discussed the reasons and solutions for dealing with social inequity and continuation of poverty by political, psychological, cultural, and moral development. In my thought, Poverty and the rich were treated completely difference by society tin the world, but poverty may be challenged by education and efforts, as well as government assistance.
In the modern times, academic strength and technological skills are essential for survival. Education and knowledge can change the lives of the poor. No matter which county, poor families pin one’s faith on their next generation. Usually they allow their children to have education in school, and asked them study hard for getting high wage jobs after graduation, and then their living environment could be changed to better. For example, in her article “Born Poor and Smart,” Angela Locke is writer for the feminist news journal off our backs, claims talents promote success that could be making a better life. Angela Locke present intelligence could be change poor persons’ living through her mother experience, although her mother didn’t achieve it. She said, “Success is not only discovering your talents and your interests, but being able to make a living using them” (Locke, 2008, p.451). Most people hope that they can success in career through their own efforts and wisdom. The most important is that they can earn money through their talents.
Smart people could success in society, and also could create higher living. Angela Locke wrote in her article about “oppression can’t perpetuate itself without the cooperation of the oppressed” (Locke, 2008, p.451) and explained in “one way that cooperation works with class is that intelligence is scorned within the ranks of the poor.”(Locke, 2008, p.451) Her mother keeps stereotypes thought, the reason why she was satisfied with her job to made coffee for her coworkers.
Second, culture differences are facts of the gap between the poor and the rich. My mention is that low-income should not be controlled by culture facts. In his article” Culture of Success,” Brink Lindsey is vice-president for research at the conservative Cato institute and also is the author of Against the Dead Hand, claims that culture facts effected people hard work, and even restrict upward mobility. Lindsey states, “While natural talent is a plus, there is no substitute for long hours of preparation and hard work” (Lindsey, 2008, p.454). They emphasized that intelligence is essential for a worker. Unskillful people would be eliminated in modern society. In deed, some labors such as porters are cheap because their works only need physical strength. They do not need any professional skills and knowledge. In addition, “the class divide in academic achievement is fundamentally a cultural divide” (Lindsey, 2008, p.454). It explained that upper-class students have more motivation to studying for become good students, but low-income student “pushes in the opposite direction” (Lindsey, 2008, p.454). Time, money and parents are facts that both challenged wealthy families’ children and needy families’ children. Rich parents and work-class parents develop different goals for their children in same age. So that rich parents’ children spend money on tutor and spend more time in learning. Culture facts increase gap between students at different level, so poor students need to make more efforts to do a better job.
Through their own personal efforts to change the status of life is a way, but government and society provide assistance to the poor is also very important. In his article, “A Great Time to Be Alive,” Matt Yglesias is a fellow at the center for American Progress, a staff at the American Prospect, and a blogger on thinkprogress.org, assumes that whether the rich people should be pay more in income tax that government spend less in public service. He answers that higher taxes could help people in public service, but it cannot be narrow the gap in social inequality. He also point out early childhood education would be a way to remedy inequality. Higher salaries pay much more income taxes than slender earning. Although this solution cannot make a contribution to change the gap between the rich and the poor in a short time, the government could “spend it on useful services” (Yglesias, 2008, p.465). For example, the government could reduce tuition fees of poor group, and then charge the fees by income taxes. Making sure every student has a change to study in school. As we know, almost all of the education institutes provide finance support for needy students. This is very helpful for these poor. More than, in the article “Middle of the Class,” the Economist is a weekly magazine published in England by The Economist Group, states that federal help poor college students is less than social unequally. How to reduce social inequality? The government needs to the government support more poor students in financing, and provide more chance for these elites to change their lives though personal ability.
Decrease in social mobility between the poor and the rich break the fairness of their economy. In addition, “America is becoming a stratified society based on education: a meritocracy.”(The Economist, 2005, p.484) Because of increase of local property taxes, rise of cost of education increase such “Hayward is $150,000” (The Economist, 2005, p.484), Advance University become competition form richer kids who were called “meritocracy”. “Class stratification is more than a matter of income or inherited wealth” (The Economist, 2005, p.484).
Because of the stratification of the college degree, result the poor and rich were stratifies in social class. Poor students still become poor, and rich students still become rich. This vicious cycle is more contrary to Americas’ equal faith.
In the past, the polarization of rich and poor is not serious like modern society. The biggest reason are poor people had not way to change their living standards, and the rich people have much money to make more money. Most of the bottom families repose their hopes on their next generation. They believe their children could obtain a better life though high technology education. Therefore the government could help their poor children to out of poverty through financing supporting their academic.
References
Lindsey, B. (2008, March). Culture of Success. The New Republic, 452-456.
Locke, A.(2008) “Born Poor and Smart.” Kennedy, Kennedy 450-51.
The Economist(2005). “Middle of the Class.” The Newspaper Limited: 12-13.
Yglesias, M. (2008). “A Great Time to Be Alive?” Kennedy, 464-66.
