Introduction
The USA is one among the many nations in the world that has the most dynamic education systems. The USA’s education system has been changing from time to time with respect to political, sociocultural, and economic factors. In this case, this research paper aims at exploring the changes that have taken place in the US’s education system since the year 1970.
There is a special interest to analyze factors of discrimination in higher education vacancies, the increase or decrease of students accessing higher education, and how cost of colleges has contributed to educational variables is the focus of this paper.
Review Of Literature
Increased College Attendance
Prior to the 1970s, education was limited to a few individuals depending on their qualifications, physical state, mental state, and their races. These groups of individuals comprised of mostly White Americans from well up social backgrounds. The mentally challenged and students with exceptional needs are among the changes that authorities addressed, and the government proposed and passed laws that took care of the groups.
In 1972, the Indian Education Act was signed into law, the state of Pennsylvania allowed children with exceptional needs to be taught or instructed through alternative or improvised means, and Title IX of the 1972’s Education Amendment was signed into law in order to disregard discrimination in all aspects of education.
The number of students that access higher education is determined by the number of students making out of high school; the fact that the state of Pennsylvania allowed the instructing of special needs’ students raised the number of students who were graduating from high school. This aspect allowed more candidates to apply for college and university vacancies as opposed to the scenario if this laws were not passed (Thayer, 1965).
There have been improvements in the approach of teaching where talents are promoted and scholarships are offered. A number of students who are gifted in one area have been given the chance to join colleges in order to further their talents and learn at the same time.
In 1972, the Marland Report was issued and it provided a broad scope on the definition of giftedness and has been applied for decades thus giving various students the chance to join college. In 1974, the Equal Educational Opportunities Act was passed by Arthur Garrity, a Federal Judge who ordered Black American students to be enrolled in White Schools.
The above courses of action ensured that racial and other discrimination tendencies in the education system were done away with to promote equal opportunities. The Acts and the Judge’s verdict brought some of the most remarkable changes that have since then influenced the attendance in colleges.
Currently, the number of Black Americans and White Americans attending college is almost equal in respect to fair treatment and qualifications.
Limited Access to Higher Education
Higher education is any form of education that is attained from colleges and universities. It is the education that is required before one could qualify for job opportunities. Immigrants and non-English speaking students are some of the groups that have limited access to higher education.
The law illegalizes discrimination of any kind. However, the American law does not specify the groups that this law applied. In this case, this law protects Americans by registration and birth. However, foreign students and immigrants are faced with the problem of vacancies since the education systems focus their attention to addressing the problems of citizens.
Besides vacancies and the number of students that an institution can take, immigrants who happen to be married to a citizen or students whose parents are immigrants are faced with the problem of registering to educational facilities. This is because the education system can have regulations, but at the ground level, there is no one to enforce the requirements of the law.
On the other hand, the various states offer different educational systems. In this case, language is a barrier or a requirement that many students find to be difficulties. In the USA, there are all types of people from various countries all across the globe. However, the USA is ready to give these people the opportunities to learn but language disqualifies them from the selection criterion.
The various courses that are offered are contributing factors since some require proficiency in English and run for short durations. In general, the factor of discrimination is not a pronounced problem in the USA and the group of students unable to access higher education is more affected by other interpersonal problems (Alexander, 1971).
Cost of College
If the cost of college is high, only the able will get the chance to enter the colleges. However, if it were cheap, everyone would make it to college given that they made it from high school with the right grades. The cost of college in the USA is generally affordable for public institutions and it enables many students to enter college.
However, the cost of college is not defined through the accessibility of formal education but rather through quality education. Private colleges and technical courses are expensive and sometime hard to access to middle or low class earners.
College fees affect students negatively considering that some students are unable to raise the full amount to cater for college needs. Inspite of the fact that general amount of college fees is fairly affordable to American students, some students do not graduate from college, as many drop due to lack of consistent generation of funds.
In cases where partial scholarships are offered, students face the difficulty to raise the remaining amount of fees therefore dropping out of college.
References
Alexander, R. (1971). Education in a Free Society, (2nd Edition), Philadelphia: David McKay Publications, p. 78-81.
Thayer, T. (1965). Formative Ideas in American Education, New York (NY): Dodd, Mead, and Company Publishers, p. 115-116.