From the previous post, I discussed how people with lower socioeconomic status have a lack in obtaining health stability due to limited access in health care. Because having low SES not only affects a person's overall health status, I have decided to do some mild research on how socioeconomic status, in general, affects a person's everyday lifestyle. A person's socioeconomic status is commonly consisted with the combination of education, income, and occupation. By analyzing the definition, a person may easily conclude that SES can determine if you are successful in life.Furthermore, by definition, we can say that through examining socioeconomic status', one can tell whether or not a person will have access to certain resources besides health care insurance.
Besides socioeconomic status affecting individuals health wise, research has shown that children who grow up from low SES households and communities are known to have slow progress in terms of academics compared to those people who are fortunate enough to achieve a higher socioeconomic status. People who are able to financially support themselves have access to various resources. However, communities who are financially unstable and communities that include people who have low socioeconomic status' most likely do not have the materials and resources to educate the children accordingly compared to communities who consist of people with a higher SES. Typically, the school systems in low-SES areas lack resources which consequently, affect the students' academic abilities. Although lack of resources could be a huge factor on why children from low-SES families suffer academically, it has been said that initial academic skills are correlated with the child's home environment. A child's ability can be influenced by low literacy environments due to stress. In my opinion, I feel that lack of resources is a huge problem but I believe that parents also play a role on a child's academic success. I feel that it is not a child's fault if he/she suffers because parents should be the biggest motivators to help their child succeed in whatever they do in life. However, because parents are responsible for their low socioeconomic status, they are probably too busy to focus on their children's academic achievements due to so much pressure from work trying to make ends meet. Despite the lack of resources from school systems, I feel that parents are huge contributors on perpetuating the lack of education in low socioeconomic status communities.
Everyone is familiar with the saying, "children are the future." It is extremely disappointing to know that even though people are aware of the fact that children are huge factors in order to change the world in the future, no one is investing and taking the time to teach them. It is understandable that those who have a lower socioeconomic status are extremely busy making sure that they are able to feed their children and being able to provide a roof for them. However, what about education? What about being able to help their child practice their intellectual abilities? By definition, SES is measured by a person's overall education which consequently determines the outcome of their careers. I strongly believe that education is the stem that affects a person's overall stability when it comes to socioeconomic status because there has been increasing evidence that supports the link between lower SES and negative psychological outcomes that affect academic achievement. According to the American Psychological Association, children from lower SES households are about twice as likely as those from high-SES households to display learning-related behavior problems. (Morgan er al., 2009). Also, identifying a part of a lower/working class in college has been associated with feelings of not belonging in school and intentions to drop out before graduation (Langhout, Drake, & Rosselli, 2009). These facts are so disturbingly moving yet not much has been done to improve the school systems for those under low-SES communities. Children should not have to deal with the stress and pressures that their parents have to endure because they did not choose to be living economically and financially unstable. Children should just feel obligated to worry about succeeding in school to be able to leave the low socioeconomic status world. In conclusion, children are still the future, so people need to take the time to invest in them and their education. Children should not have to suffer academically because of their parents' inability to provide for them. Children should be able to turn their unfortunate present to have a brighter future.
For more facts on how children are affected academically, check out:
http://www.apa.org/pi/ses/resources/publications/factsheet-education.aspx
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