Reflections From The US’s Biggest College Admission Scandal
The recent revelations about wealthy parents in the US paying to get their children into elite schools by either cheating in tests or faking their athletic records shocked the world. Dozens of wealthy parents, including Hollywood celebrities, prominent business leaders and renowned doctors were charged of paying bribes. It manifested an alarming issue in American’s winner-take-all society where parents desperately try all means to ensure the best college education for their children, in a bid to maintain their families’ wealth and success. According to Washington Post, elite university graduates earned more than double an annual income than their peers from less privileged schools.
Educational Achievement Gap In The US
The widening educational achievement gap between the children from the wealthy families and their less privileged counterparts is a result of the consistently high level of income inequality. First of all, the wealthy families have access to more educational resources. They can hire private tutors and private coaches for their children to ensure better academic / athletic progress. Secondly, they have more established connections and channels to help their children gain access to the elite schools. Illegal methods such as bribery aside, many wealthy parents donated huge amounts of money to renowned schools just to increase their children’s chances of getting in. With guidance from your economics tutor in economics tuition, compare the private economics tuition market in the US and Singapore. What do you think has contributed to the high demand of economics tutor and economics tuition in Singapore? You may visit Economics Cafe Learning Centre’s website should you need a good economics tutor. Economics Cafe Learning Centre is a premier economics tuition centre in Bishan. Headed by its principal economics tutor Mr Edmund Quek, the economics tuition centre is a highly revered tuition centre. Mr Edmund Quek has close to 30 years’ experience in teaching economics tuition.
Data showed that in the past five decades, the income inequality in the US has been widening. There has been a sustained rise in inequality in income and wealth between the rich and the poor, resulting in more and more wealth accruing to those at the top of the economic ladder. In line with the increasing income gap, the educational gap between the rich and the poor has also become more and more apparent. Back in the 1980s, the gap between the wealthiest 10 percent and the poorest 10 per cent students in terms of SAT marks was 90 points. Today, the gap has increased to 125 points. This was largely due to increased investment of time and money by affluent parents in their children’s education. Survey showed that both affluent and non-affluent parents increased their spending on their children’s education over the past 40 years. However, the increase by affluent parents were two to three times more.
The Situation In Singapore
Singapore is another nation labelled with income inequality problem and its government has made combating inequality a “national priority”, given its detrimental effect on the economic growth and social stability. Similar to other developed countries such as the US and the UK, it is also the case in Singapore where educational achievement gap and income inequality reinforce each other. The reason is simple. Higher income families can afford to invest more in their children’s academic and vocational training. These include private tuitions like economics tuition and extracurricular enrichment classes. Renowned economics tutor Mr Edmund Quek offers economics tuition classes during both school terms and holidays. Students who sign up for his economics tuition will receive a copy of economics textbooks published by this brilliant economics tutor. Employers in Singapore use qualification and academic achievement as a common screening criterion when selecting candidates. Graduates from elite schools are usually considered candidates of better calibre.
One way to combat income inequality is through educational reform. In Singapore, the government has diligently refined its educational system over the past decades to make its high-quality education accessible to all children, regardless of their financial background. Recently, the government has announced new policy to replace the academic streaming with the subject-based banding. Income transfer from the higher income group to the lower income group is another commonly adopted measure. In Singapore, this is in the forms of progressive income tax and various government subsidies for lower income residents and households.
Linda Geng
Economics Tuition Singapore @ Economics Cafe
Principal Economics Tutor: Mr. Edmund Quek