Social class and education - Term Paper Example

the achievement ideology claimed that the difference in in the individual attitudes is probably because of the response to structural force and the negative institutions. The research indicated that many of those who benefits from the American ideology of achievement are the white males living in the high-class neighborhood. They are highly expected to champion the achievement ideology (MacLeod, 23). This will in turn make the black Americans to believe that a person’s race is a major determinant in determining the types of achievements an individual can make and how easy it is to achieve them while being a white that black.

Those earning high incomes will also tend to believe that a strong network is not an important factor in achieving success. The members of the group commonly agreed that hard work and education are the major determinants of an individual success thus indicating that the achievement ideology is a fact. Success can be achieved only when an individual is result oriented and the person perusing the success should have a positive attitude and focus on the goals being targeted (MacLeod, 46). Even though an individual might be having a proper attitude in achieving success, structural factors also play a key role in enabling an individual to achieve the goals targeted.

A combination of education, occupation, and income are the key measures of social economic status. It is usually believed as the social class that an individual or a group holds. Low education, poor health, poverty and low social economic standards usually affect the society as a whole. It has been proven that ethnicity and race usually determines an individual economic status in the society. McLeod states that the current community believes that the school education system is capable of reducing the gap that exists between poorer students and the rich (MacLeod, 52).

This is not true as external factors beside the education system also greatly attributes to the rich gap that exists