Presentation asking if viewers have seen classism in education, especially in recommendations of a postsecondary educational pathway. Also what can be done about it?

1. IS THERE CLASSISM IN THE
AMERICAN EDUCATION
SYSTEM?
A University vs. Technical Education

2. Traditional Views of Education Options
University Education- Four-Year Degrees
◦ For students with higher academic averages
and standardized test scores
◦ For students that have the money to attend a
four-year institution
◦ For students whose parents have college
degrees and are professionals
Community College, Technical College, or
Apprenticeship Programs
◦ For students who struggle more academically
◦ For students that need to get into the
workforce more quickly and do not have the
money to attend a four-year institution
◦ For students who come from blue collar family
backgrounds and will more likely do hands on
physical labor

3. Classism inherent in these traditional views
The problem with these traditional views
are that our nation’s students are given
the impression that a hands-on technical
type education is lesser than an academic
one.
Four-year university degrees are perceived
to be for one class and community
college, technical college, and
apprenticeship programs are reserved for
another perceived class.

4. Misconceptions about wage earnings
Traditionally, technical or trade schools were known to train only for jobs such as
plumbers, carpenters, electricians, etc., which were seen as lower class, blue-collar
professions that made you perform hard physical labor for a small wage. In this day and
time, however, community colleges, technical colleges, and apprenticeship programs
train for much more than that. In addition to these professions, they train for healthcare
careers, logistics careers, high tech manufacturing jobs, and much needed IT jobs, just
to name a few. These jobs, as well as, the traditional plumbers, carpenters, and
electricians, are good jobs. Jobs with good pay and some of them have salary potential
equal to or greater than the salary potential of four-year college graduates.

5. Students steered in the wrong direction
Since four-year university degrees are seen as
producing white-collar workers and technical or
trade school degrees, diplomas, or certificates are
seen as producing blue-collar workers, students
tend to be advised which path to take based on
their “class”, which may be based on their
socioeconomic status or their family’s educational
background.
The class divide

6. Results of Classism
This classism keeps lower socioeconomic status students from that four-year social work degree, even
though they have the unmatched ability to work with people, because they are led to believe it is out
of their reach. It also keeps that higher socioeconomic status student, who has an unmatched ability
to visualize complicated designs and then program the Computer Numeric Control (CNC) machine to
make those designs to the nearest millimeter, from pursuing a technical education because they are
led to believe that it is “beneath” their capabilities.
This results in students being advised to take the wrong path to get to the type of career that would
be best for them. Students should be steered to one or the other based on their passions, talents, and
skills- not their family’s socioeconomic level or their perceived “class”.

7. Please Give Your Comments
I would like to know if you or someone you know has had experience
with classism in education. Have you or someone you know been
advised to take a career path that you/they felt was related to
your/their status in life or economic circumstances, rather than
your/their passion and talents? Or do you feel that administrators,
teachers, and counselors, especially at the high school level, are no
longer making recommendations based on these socioeconomic
factors? Please share your experiences with me in the comments
section. I seek to find out if this is still happening or if we have turned
the corner on classifying students into categories to make
recommendations for their future.