Definition of Public Policy
Achieving higher education is an important step for most people in the United States and abroad. According to the Census Bureau Director Robert Groves, “The more education people have, the more likely they are to have a job and earn more money, particularly for individuals who hold a bachelor’s degree”.
The problem of obtaining a Bachelor’s degree should also be considered in terms of age, gender, and ethnicity because these factors directly influence the percent of adults receiving a bachelor’s degree.
Goals that the Public Policy Seeks to Address
Despite the tangible improvements in education, the U.S. government continues reforming this field and investing more money into the quality of teaching strategies. Texas is among the states that suffer from the lowest rates of adults receiving a Bachelor’s degree. As a proof, almost 31 % of people in Texas at age 25 and over obtain an associated degree, which is much lower than the average reported percentage in the country – 41.6 %.
Only 16 % of minority representatives possess a higher education degree, as compared to 44 % percent of the white population. It also possesses the lowest percentage of adults receiving high should receive a diploma.
Therefore, the authorities should change the course of actions and introduce new methods and strategies for improving knowledge acquisition and access to higher education. The second goal should be directed at developing the new educational potential that can contribute to an increase in employment rates in Texas and other states suffering from unfulfilled educational opportunities.
Evaluating the Efficiency of Accomplishing Its Goals
Introduction of Adult Education and Family Literacy Act of 1998 has turned out to be effective because most of the previous low achievement has been significantly advanced. According to this governmental policy, vocational rehabilitation programs have been introduced to encourage educational activities among adults.
In 2000, new comments and suggestions were added to foster the program development focusing on equal access of adults to higher education. The most effective initiative included funding processes leading to the creation of adult education funds.
Faith-based agencies and communities also contributed to the improvements in the field. Active participation of non-governmental organization creates a variety of options for attracting money and resources for reforming adult education. Finally, providing advanced technical assistance is another effective strategy that expands an adult’s access to grants in education.
Despite several efficient approaches that the government introduces, introducing sufficient technological based should be accompanied by specialized training programs for adults who are not familiar with new tools and devices that are employed in a learning process. Therefore, much concern should be connected with developing test procedures and teaching courses for adults who plan to receive technical skills to further their education.
Successful and unsuccessful example
Development of faith-based communities and organization is a successful strategy because it does not only contribute to the spreading of information about the policy but also encourages the rest of the community to join the program.
Also, adult education is a critical situation because the 25-35 category of people constitutes the majority of the U.S. population; the policy will immediately receive feedback among other regions, including Texas. Developing grants and funding of adult education, therefore, is the brightest example of the potential improvements made to education in general.
There is also an unsuccessful attempt of governmental and non-governmental authorities to expand adult’s access to higher education and increase the percentage of adults with at least a bachelor degree. This is of particular concern to the rapid transformation of the labor market, resulting in increased competition and high rate of low-skilled workers.
In particular, the interest of American companies in cheap labor discouraged many adults from receiving higher education. Second, technological advances were also among the tendencies that hampered the process of obtaining degrees among adult education because using online tools and technology is often a challenge for this age category.
On the other hand, technological transformation should be consistent with the immediately emerged training programs permitting adults to gain experience in handling the computer-based environment. Therefore, poor education and limited access to grants and scholarships prevented adults from entering academic establishments.
Recommendations on Accomplishing Goals Efficiently
Certainly, the policies proposed by the government can be recognized multi-faceted strategies covering all spheres of social life. Ensuring financial and technical support, as well as engaging the public into the program accomplishment, seems to be the most comprehensive and successful framework introduced under the auspices of Adult Education and Family Literacy Act of 1998.
Nevertheless, there is still much space for improvement in terms of equal access to education irrespective of age, gender, and ethnicity. The latter is the most urgent one because the percent of adults from minority groups receiving a bachelor degree is still the lowest, as compared to the white population.
At this point, introducing specialized, culturally predetermined curriculum, as well as reducing the availability of the low-skilled labor market, can promote a fair and transparent education for all groups in the United States.
References
- Coleman, Garnet F. “Texas on The Brin: A Report from the Texas Legislative Study Group on the State of our State”. Regular Session of the Texas Legislature. (2013), pp 31.
- “Adult Education and Family Literacy Act of 1998”. U.S. Department of Education. Web.