David Brooks wrote an interesting piece in the New York Times, The Opinion Pages on Novemeber 1, 2011. His argument is that there are two types of inequality in the United States today. He calls them the red and the blue inequality. For the most part, Brooks contends, the media tends to focus on the blue inequality, which concerns the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans becoming much wealthier than the bottom 99 percent. This type of inequality has formed the foundation of the “Occupy Wall Street” protest. The red inequality has commanded much less attention; it deals with the great economic and social divide between those who graduate from college and those who do not. The differences are startling! Please click on the link below to read Brooks’ piece:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/01/opinion/brooks-the-wrong-inequality.html?hp
Of course, if the message here is that Americans must go to college and get their degree, then it must be read alongside the fact that college costs have skyrocketed over the last generation. This reality makes the red inequality much more pronounced because only those who can afford to go to college will do so. The rest will be left behind unless dramatic changes occur. This also means that the blue inequality about which Brooks writes will become exacerbated as well.
In any case, please comment on the Brook’s opinion piece or any other portion of this post.
It may be harder for those in low income brackets to go to collge because of a lack of money, however, there are some options out there. Many people never take advantage of these. I joined the military so that my college could be paid for. There are many grants and scholoarships, especially for low income induviduals and single parents. Not all the money set aside for these grants is used, which means that there are people that could be going to college that are not. There is obviously community college, which is much cheaper. I am a security guard and am currently working at a post at a grocery store. I have noticed with a lot of people that do not go to college that many do not have the desire to go. I think that lack of motivation is a disturbing trend in America.