Correlation Between Social Class, Education, and Intelligence: Analysis and Findings

Correlation Between Social Class, Education, and Intelligence: Analysis and Findings

Introduction

The primary goal of the paper is to compare and contrast essays such as Are Colleges Worth the Price of Admission by Andrew Hacker and Dreifus and Blue-Collar Brilliance by Mike Rose. Despite the presence of the value of education in the society due to the improvement in the quality of knowledge, intelligence is not dependent on the educational background, and its levels of availability are questionable. In this instance, the primary goal of the essay Are Colleges Worth the Price of Admission by Hacker and Dreifus is to highlight the point of whether the college enhances educational opportunities and skills or it is an expensive and useless investment (Hacker and Dreifus par.1).

Additionally, it questions “So are colleges giving good value for those investments?” and “What are individuals—and our society as a whole—gaining from higher education?” (Hacker and Dreifus par.1). In turn, the essay Blue-Collar Brilliance by Mike Rose uses a story of the worker while highlighting the stereotypes and underestimation of the intelligence of the employees, which are engaged in the physical labor (Rose 2). In this instance, these articles have to be compared to highlight the differences and similarities and determine the attitudes towards a potential correlation between social class, education, and intelligence.

The ability of the institutions to deliver high-quality education to the students

Firstly, both essays address the topic related to understanding the ability of the institutions to deliver high-quality education to the students. In this instance, Hacker and Dreifus highly question its ability by stating that “colleges are taking on too many roles and doing none of them” (Hacker and Dreifus par.3). The article depicts the idea that the functioning of the colleges is overestimated, as they lack the profound situational analysis and active engagement of the students in the educational process. As for Rose, the author also questions this matter while assessing the examples from the real world and portrays that social values and misconceptions concerning the correlation of the educational performance and the ability to perform tasks efficiently exist, “We reinforce this notion by defining intelligence solely on

grades in school and numbers on IQ, tests”. (Rose 3). In turn, the primary intention of Rose’s point is different compared to Hacker’s and Dreifus’s ideas, as the author tends to depict and questions the ability of the education at all levels to enhance the people’s know-how about the working processes. In this instance, the overall capabilities of education are interrogated, as Rose highlights that the physical workers might lack a profound understanding of the processes, but they tend to perform advanced tasks and learn rapidly (3). In this instance, the publications portray the biased attitude towards education and its ability to enhance the knowledge but discover these matters from different scopes.

The availability of education to people from all nationalities, ethnicities, social classes, and with any level of income

Secondly, another aspect is the availability of education to people from all nationalities, ethnicities, social classes, and with any level of income. Hacker and Dreifus tend to depict that the current education is not available for the individuals of all classes due to the lack of financial resources to afford the education (par. 4). Nonetheless, the authors state Berea College as an example, as it tends to provide opportunities to continue education for students from low-income families (Hacker and Dreifus par. 9). Additionally, “We want that opportunity for everyone, not just the offspring of professional parents”, Hacker and Dreifus state by depicting the necessity of equality (par. 5). In turn, Rose also supports that the education is not available to everyone, as he utilizes an example of his mother, who required to “quit school in the seventh grade to help raise her brothers and sisters” (1). In this instance, the education cannot be considered as available to everyone due to the diverse social situations. In the end, both works support the essentiality of enlarging the availability of education to all individuals. However, Rose portrays the presence of social factors while Hacker and Dreifus depict the start of development in this field in the modern world.

The necessity of practical training and work experience might lead to the ability to the recent graduates and regular people to be more competent in the selected fields while still facin