Education - Introduction (SOCI 1306)

Education SOCI 1306 Introduction As stated by Paulo Freire in his book Pedagogy of the Oppressed, "What the educator does in teaching is to make it possible for the students to become themselves." In the book titled "Social Problems and the Sociological Imagination: A Paradigm for Analysis," which was published in 1995, David Simon makes reference to the idea that social difficulties are, in essence, contradictions. This means that assertions, ideas, or aspects of a situation that are in opposition to one another are examples of social problems. Take into consideration the fact that one of the most significant expectations in American culture is that in order to achieve any kind of success in life, a person must have completed their schooling. In point of fact, a college degree is increasingly becoming an expectation at many levels of success, and it is no more only an addition to the employment choices we have. Additionally, as you might anticipate, the number of individuals who graduate from college in the United States is continuing to see a significant increase. The contradiction, on the other hand, resides in the fact that the more significant a college degree has become, the more difficult it has gotten to obtain one. A significant increase in the cost of obtaining a college degree has occurred since the middle of the 1980s, although the cost of many significant types of government assistance has scarcely grown overall. As a consequence of this, those who do complete their college education are more likely to start their careers with a load of debt. As of 2009, an average student’s loans amounted to roughly $23,000. Ten years later, the average amount of debt for students who obtained loans climbed to almost $30,000. As of the year 2020, the total amount of debt owed by students throughout the country surpassed $1.6 trillion, as reported by the Federal Reserve. These ever-increasing expenditures and excessively dangerous debt burdens have resulted in a variety of different suggestions for potential alternatives. Some propose for eliminating current college debt and making more universities free to eligible students. Others argue for more concentrated and efficient education in order to acquire desired career criteria more rapidly. Employers, wanting both to enlarge their application pool and enhance fairness among their staff, have increasingly sought strategies to reduce needless degree requirements: If a person has the abilities and expertise to execute the job, they have more access to it (Kerr 2020). Is a college degree still worth it? Lifetime earnings for people with a college degree are, on average, still substantially greater than for those without. A 2019 Federal Reserve research stated that, on average, college graduates earn $30,000 per year more than non-college graduates. Also, that salary difference has virtually doubled in the previous 40 years (Abel 2019). Is the pay benefit enough to overcome the possible debt? And what’s behind those averages? Remember, since the $30,000 is an average, it also validates what we find from other data: That certain people and particular college majors make substantially more than others. As a result, getting a college degree in a sector that provides a lesser income advantage over non-college graduates might not seem “worth it.” But is college worth more than money? A student seeking Associate’s and Bachelor’s degrees normally will often take a wide assortment of courses, including several outside of their major. The student is exposed to a rather broad variety of topics, from mathematics and the physical sciences to history and literature, the social sciences, and music and art through introductory and survey-styled courses. It is in this era that the student’s global perspective is, it is hoped, broadened. Then, when they begin the process of specialising, it is with a much broader viewpoint than could be otherwise. This additional “cultural capital” can further enrich the life of the learner, boost their capacity to collaborate with seasoned professionals, and build wisdom atop knowledge. Over two thousand years ago, Socrates stated, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” The actual importance of an education, then, is to develop our competence at self-examination. Education, its influence, and its expenses are crucial not just to sociologists, but to lawmakers, businesses, and of course to parents.