I. This article mainly addresses education's outcomes in combating poverty and reducing socioeconomic inequalities within the United States.

II. The variation in the data is the most recent in their information and highlights the general and ongoing trends in poverty.

III. The experiences and sentiments I mention do not account for all groups of people. 

My paper suggests that higher education should be used to combat poverty and reduce socioeconomic inequalities. Education, of course, cannot solely solve poverty and all socioeconomic inequalities; hence, education should be one initiative combined with a spectrum of other solutions to most effectively tackle these matters (i.e., government assistance, social welfare benefits, and social awareness of the generational cycle of poverty). A "fool-proof" plan does not exist to fully address these nuanced issues because receiving adequate education can be prevented by poverty-related outcomes. This statement contradicts my central argument, but many matters discussed are multifaceted and nuanced, so a linear approach will not suffice. Therefore, education combined with certain external factors makes for a robust solution. Of course, these external factors can target poverty in itself, but when combined with education, they significantly decrease socioeconomic inequalities. 

Statistics

The United States, a country with more disposable income and an economy booming greater than any century before, has a national poverty rate of 11.5% from the official data provided by the Census Bureau in 2022. According to the United States Census Bureau, 8.9% of Americans lacked a high school diploma or equivalent, while 27.9% had completed high school. General trends demonstrate a direct and positive correlation between the degree of education an individual achieves and the income they receive. According to the American Association of Community Colleges, 25% of individuals aged 25 and older without a high school diploma were impoverished. This subset of people had the highest poverty rate among the other education degrees. Similarly, the poverty rate for individuals with a high school diploma was 13.2%, as reported in 2020. For the affected individuals, not having higher education (beyond middle/high school level) significantly affects their financial stability, ability to meet basic living requirements and socioeconomic status. Therefore, my original proposition is that education paired with external assistance can reduce poverty and socioeconomic inequalities through its multiple positive outcomes. 

Higher Level Education

In 2021, the median household income was $70,784 determined by the Census Bureau. Theoretically, let’s assume that the median household income can satisfy all the basic human necessities: consistent access to food, safe housing, running electricity, access to healthcare, etc. Households without a high school diploma had a median income of $34,642 post-tax, while families with a high school diploma or equivalent had a median income of $50,124. The remuneration for some colleges was $61,111 post-tax. Therefore, a reasonable inference presents that a minimum of a college-level education is required to meet the basic living standards comfortably. By attending college, individuals will gain the skills to meet the requirements of many higher-paying jobs. Through receiving a more significant income, individuals previously in poverty will be on the path to receiving consistent access to food, afford housing, and fulfill other human requirements. Attending college does not guarantee career success or financial prosperity but sets individuals up for financial stability.

Education with the Consideration of External Factors

While it is not impossible to earn a livable wage without attending college, individuals in poverty may not have the resources or support to start their entrepreneurial ventures. For other individuals, college education may be financially inaccessible. This is essentially why education needs external assistance from the government or other organizations to implement a system that will provide higher education at an affordable price or even make it accessible. Furthermore, I acknowledge that children from low-income households will face additional obstacles in receiving an education compared to their middle-income counterparts or experience difficulty in maintaining their academics; frequently, the income of an individual correlates with their ability to succeed in school or receive a proper education. Hence, the government must implement a system that positively funds, rewards, and promotes education retainment and completion from Kindergarten to high school — ultimately encouraging individuals to pursue higher education in the form of college. 

Socioeconomic Disparities

As initially mentioned, attending college or some form of higher education will allow one to gain financial stability. How does this correlate to their socioeconomic status? Once individuals reach financial stability, their children and future generations will have access to more opportunities, ultimately raising their socioeconomic status. Not everyone may have been provided with the opportunity for education, which may foster exploitation or make them a target of educationalism. For instance, individuals involved in physical labor are at risk of exploitation by people in managerial positions. Since these jobs usually require a minimal level of education, if those in administrative positions have ill intent, they may take advantage of their employees by assuming that a lower level of education correlates to lower intelligence or awareness. This assumption provides the grounds for their workers' emotional and physical exploitation. It may be difficult to fathom that there are cases of exploitation of workers in the United States, a democratic country. Even so, when there lies the greater motivation of profit and greed, exploiting workers can be easily dismissed for more significant monetary gains. If workers are constantly belittled or treated so that they don't believe they deserve fair working conditions, they will normalize these conditions. Even if a worker or workers try to oppose, they may find little success if individuals in executive positions constantly try to suppress their demands. Realistically, individuals of a lower social class usually do not have the resources or means to report inequalities as their only form of income lies within that job. Anyone can be exploited regardless of education or socioeconomic status, but the risk is more significant for impoverished people as they make up most physical labor workers. Many people fixate on education by strictly learning academic disciplines. This belief is not necessarily proper, as education also trains the mind to think critically and be aware of issues. Physical labor is a necessary occupation for many industries, and individuals can demonstrate critical thinking without receiving prior education, but receiving an education lowers the risk of exploitation.

Educationalism is a psychology term coined by the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology in 2018 by primary author Toon Kuppens. The term refers to the implicit bias that an individual may hold against those less educated. A common consequence of this bias is the association of negative characteristics with those who are less educated, ultimately leading to differential treatment of individuals. Educationalism can unexpectedly plague numerous areas, like the job hiring process. Hypothetically, if one individual possesses the required skills for a job but didn't attend higher education, and the second individual went to a prestigious university but did not possess the necessary skill sets for the job — if the employer suffers from educationalism, they would choose the individual with higher education. People in poverty without higher education are very likely to be targets of educationalism. Due to the high frequency of individuals living in poverty and not receiving higher education, they will likely have experienced and understood the effects of educationalism. An obvious danger of educationalism is its implicit nature, making it difficult to realize, nonetheless, combat and eliminate. One possible way to combat educationalism is for people in poverty to receive higher education so they can effectively combat the roots of educationalism since many are the victims of it. While this solution may seem to play into the system of educationalism itself, the foundation is from the individuals who have risen from poverty and defied the beliefs of educationalism itself. Biases perpetuated by many individuals, especially those of high social class and positions of power, are difficult to dismantle. While it is challenging to alter a person's beliefs, we should still attempt to prevent the perpetuation of this ideology.

First-Generation Immigrants

Asian parents are commonly and lightly portrayed in social media as strict parents constantly nagging their children to receive top scores in school. For instance, YouTubers like the Korean Comic, MiniMoochi, Chinese with Jessie, and many others create short humourous clips depicting life with strict Asian parents, cumulating millions of views. While not everything performed on social media is true, the claim has some truth — it unmasks some ideologies expressed by first-generation immigrant families. Many, if not all, of the concepts or sentiments I discuss in this paper are shared by certain immigrant families. What is the reason for this sentiment? First of all, we have to consider the various political, and most importantly, in our case, social and economic reasons immigrants may immigrate to the United States. Many immigrants enter the United States for jobs or better economic prospects; some seek asylum or refuge. A commonality in many first-generation immigrant families is that they bring minimal belongings and come to the United States with little money. These factors and hardships in accessing government assistance lead to low educational attainment rates for their children. Also, the family income for 14.8 million immigrants was 200% below the federal poverty rate according to the Migration Policy. The parents should not be to blame for any of these aspects. However, due to these additional factors that immigrants face, the government should implement systems that specifically provide further assistance to first-generation families in keeping their children in education and promoting the completion of education.

There should also be programs and systems in place to ease the overall burdens that immigrants face. For instance, providing financial assistance to impoverished immigrant families will allow their children to attend school because children of color in poverty experience additional obstacles in the education system. A heavy emphasis is placed on government or other organizational assistance because external assistance is needed along with education to effectively combat poverty and other difficulties that come along with it. In the previous example, financial assistance doesn't explicitly have anything to do with education, but the financial aid provision liberates children from contributing to their family income. This is a precise instance of external assistance positively compounding in promoting education completion. Therefore, children must first have access to education, complete high school, and ultimately pursue higher education to reap its long-term benefits. If external obstacles prevent children from education, they may struggle in school, which may discourage them from pursuing higher education. With higher education, the children from these households may avoid falling into poverty as adults. Poverty may prevent future access and completion of education. With the completion of education, their opportunities will be drastically expanded and affect future generations. The obstacles people in poverty face contribute to the vicious and never-ending cycle of falling into or staying in poverty — the support of external assistance is critical in ending the process. Many families understand their financial situation, and it is a result of this acknowledgment that some families strongly emphasize education for their children. To many families, education is their only hope in raising their socioeconomic status, the path to financial stability, and the only method in combating negative connotations and biases that society places towards certain groups of people. Hence, these factors contribute to the birth of the ideology that many first-generation immigrant families hold about education because it is a low-risk and generally positive investment for their children's future. 

Coming from a family of immigrants myself, I commonly see these sentiments firsthand in my family and my friends' families that come from immigrants. Many members of my family originated from a poor working-class background. They went to the United States hoping for a better life and economic prospects. Similarly, my grandparents placed a high emphasis on the completion of education in my parents' generation. In this present day, my parents are now reaping the benefits of the “education investment” emphasized by my grandparents. My parents are doing much better financially than the previous generation of immigrants that came, my grandparents. To give back, my parents are not shy in sharing their wealth, resources, and knowledge with their parents. I want to conclude this portion of my paper by acknowledging and praising the various financial, social, or linguistic obstacles immigrants encounter. It isn't easy to confront all of these struggles at once, so receiving support to alleviate them can mean a lot to immigrant families. 

Conclusion

What can you do? Even if your family is not in dire financial straits, someone that you know may be a family member, your neighbor, or a classmate. Many Americans struggle in poverty, even if they do not know anyone personally. We should also remember that not all people outwardly portray poverty for various reasons. This begs the question: What can I do as a teenager/young adult? There are many ways to address this multifaceted issue from the front and sidelines. A small but mighty action one can take is contacting their local representative or senator to address education inequality to advocate for the support of higher education, more significant school funding, or school retainment programs. Not only is action effective, but awareness is equally compelling; this can be through social media, joining a school club to advocate for education, or volunteering for a non-profit tutoring organization like Schoolhouse World. While I acknowledge that not everyone will share my views, the battle to end poverty is a universal goal; there are endless opportunities to help people in poverty, whether volunteering at a soup kitchen, donating money to charity, or traveling abroad to help children. Every well-intentioned act will go a long way, albeit small or large. What will you do?

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