Reflection on Education

This book has really pointed out some inequalities in our society that I have never really thought about.  Reuss’s article on Cause of Death: Inequality is one of those articles.  In this article he makes you look at the disparities between deaths of people who are educated, versus people who are not.  His research has shown that educated people have a longer life expectancy than people with limited education.  I have never linked education with life expectancy.  I am really not someone that likes statistically data as I feel it can be manipulated to show whatever outcome you want it to shown.  However, thinking about life expectancy in relationship to education makes me think that we should be doing everything possible to ensure that every child has an equitable education.  This goes right back to all our teacher education class, providing all students with an equitable learning experience.  In doing this we are not only ensuring all students are receiving the same opportunities but we may also be increasing their life expectancy.   This is amazing to me.

 His research has also shown the lower you are in the social hierarchy the shorter you are expected to live.  He mentions that 44% of poor people in the United States lack health insurance (pg. 302).  I wonder what that number is today.  This is a disturbing figure to me.  Almost half of the United States does not have health insurance.  I can definitely see the relationship between the lack of health insurance and the shorter life expectancy of people lower in the social hierarchy.    I think access to preventive health care would go a long way and increasing the life expectancy of the poor.  

This article just really made me think about the link between education and other factors in someone’s life, like life expectancy rate.  If you think about it as a teacher for every student you encourage and help to graduate from High School (and perhaps continue with college) you are maybe helping them also live longer.

I have mixed feelings about Larew’s article.  I know that his data shows that students that go to Ivy League schools are usually very successful and they have greater opportunities than students that go other colleges.  This in turns relates to economic success and possible longer life expectancy   He talks about how “unqualified” students are getting into Ivy League schools because they parents went there and how unfair this is.  I think there is a much bigger discrimination issue with colleges.  It is not just legacy children, but certain person are also selected because they fit a certain criteria “black”, “female”, etc.  This has nothing to do with how qualified the students actually is.   Until there is a system that every college needs to follow, colleges will continue to select the people they want in their schools.  It appears for Ivy League Schools this is related to how much money a family has. The other problem I have with colleges is the cost to go.  Ivy League schools are much more expensive than other schools and students leave with a boat load of loans.  

How come our education systems requires us to pay so much to go to college?  How about the idea that all colleges charge the same amount?  What would that do to our society?  What if college was free?

These articles shed a new light on how important education is.  It is like the system of interconnected parts and educations play a huge role in people’s lives.  It is very true that the greatest gift we can give our children is the gift of education.

Reading 31: Reuss, Alejandro – Cause of Death: Inequality

Reading 32: Larew, John – Why are Droves of Unqualified Unprepared Kids Getting into Our Top Colleges?  Because Their Dads are Alumni