Classism, money and education

I was amused the other day reading my husband's Alumni magazine from the college we both attended. 

First let me say that in my part of the country it's a big deal to associate yourself with the teams, sports and university one attended.  It's a common way people in this area refer to themselves, as an alumni or a fan. I've had a unique life so it doesn't all work like that for me personally but let me get into that at another date.

What was funny to me was that there was a whole front page article about working on the graduation rate  as if  everyone was just now noticing that for many years that hasn't been what it should have been.

Or perhaps, more truthfully, suddenly at a larger level (like say, a federal level) folks realized that getting into college in the first place isn't the same as graduating. 

 Also there was a spot where the retiring president says the term "non-traditional student" is outdated.  Wow, never thought I'd hear those words from the head of a university where the main campus was almost guaranteed to frown on those "non-traditional students" in terms of no accommodations at all for adult students. 

Apparently the game is changing in the university world.

Further, there is a spotlight in the alumni magazine on how on the regional campus most students are grown adults who have lead full lives and just want to complete a degree to better their career options.

It's hard not to be cynical and want to shove all this right back into the faces of the people who for so long have done everything they could to make their state funded university exclusive and elusive.

This particular place has a distinct reputation for having the most hierarchical of inner workings.  The military hierarchy has nothing on this place,  don't even bother trying for anything solid employment wise there if you aren't already a PhD. Almost everyone else working there is a lowly nothing and better remember their place. 

As a continuation of the hierarchy that permeates the place there is also a distinct attitude of disregard for undergraduate students overall.  Hardly a selling point for parents, and yet, every year there is plenty of enrollment. 

Still, in our society the high cost (and for the most part continuing to rise) is what keeps a college degree reserved for the people who can pay for it (or, let's be honest here, whose parents can pay for it). 

College degrees are still seen as a ticket into the middle class.  I'm not sure that is deserved but it is what it is for the time being.

The college degree in this country is still mostly unattainable for people who haven't been assured that there will be money for college (from the homefront when they need it).  There are some urban myths about how there is so much free money for poor and minorities but for those of us with feet firmly planted in reality know this isn't the truth and probably wont be. Ever.

But now,  just now,  in 2013, there is a sudden lament that not everyone can afford to finish college once they start and, now, just now, there is this thought that somehow that's not as okay as it used to be. 

Percentages like a 30% dropout rate are thrown around, whereas before there was this thought that somehow it was the fault of the person who didn't stick-to-it (typical blame the victim thinking). Why didn't they work two jobs.  Didn't they want to take out more loans for school?  What's wrong with them?  That sort of line of ridiculous questioning.

As proven by Barbara Ehrenreich in her (now classic) book Nickel and Dimed On (Not) Getting By In America a person of lower monetary means can barely live these days let alone add educational costs to the list of things they already are barely able to pay for.

The way I'm understanding it the way universities are responding to their lack of graduation rates for some (those 30%) right this moment has a lot to do with the fact that the Obama administration has finally threatened to pull the funding filled baby bottle out of the mouth of the universities. 

Finally, at last, some accountability to the taxpaying public.  It's long overdue. 

How does this relate to dyslexia? 

Well this sort of classism is just more of the same that goes on in the world of dyslexic children.

The lucky children whose parents are informed, aware, empowered and financially able to have their learning difference accommodated are most likely going to end up finding their way in the big world.  They are going to get the teaching methodology or the tutoring they need.  They are going to have parents who hire a child advocate, sue the school district if need be and work like dogs to get their kids what they need in this world of "Whole Language" teaching methods and "Oh, they'll grow out of it". 

But most dyslexic children,  talented or not, are simply not going to get what they need.  The statistic for children with learning differences who end up dropping out of high school is astonishing.  The statistic for learning differences in the prison system is also pathetically high.

So here we are back to how classism and money effect education. In the world of dyslexia,  in the world of college opportunities, and in our country in general.

 Our system of needing money to finance an appropriate education,  all the way through college level is simply failing the majority of the population of the country.  And it's only going to continue, despite any threats from the federal government to the universities. 

It's not the actual laws that are or aren't in place, it's the attitude of the public that is wrong. 

Classism is wrong the same way racism was always wrong. Wrong the same way sexism was always wrong, Wrong the same way slavery should have never planted it's foothold in this country in the first place.  Wrong the same way every aspect of Native American existence was stomped on repeatedly was so horrendously wrong. 

Now, in 2013, we, the general population, can see the wrongness of those subjects. In retrospect that is.

Yet, classism is still here with us, alive and well. And classism, money and education are deeply linked.

There can be no solid social mobility possibilities in a country where greater educational attainment is so challenging.  So that great American myth is, well, just a myth.

If we as a country continue to allow this money oriented elitist attitude surround education there is going to be hell to pay in the future and frankly I don't want that.  Let's start changing now. 

Otherwise, I predict the overall outcome will not be good for any of us or our future generations.