Friday, June 10, 2011

Opportunities of Education in Colombia vs. the United States

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Can you imagine having all the abilities to succeed in college or the university but then not being able to get in because you do not have the money to pay for it or the possibility to go to another country where there are more educational opportunities? Education should be a possibility for everyone; unfortunately, it is not. In almost all developed countries such as the United States, the government and various institutions support education and give financial aid for those who would like to keep studying but cannot afford it. According to McPherson and Schapiro “The purpose of the higher education system is that of providing educational opportunities to qualified students of all backgrounds” (8). On the contrary, in almost all the less developed countries including Colombia, education is a privilege that not all can afford because the education is not free.


Recently, I came from Colombia (South America) to the United States because I have more opportunities here of a successful and secure future, but not everyone has that opportunity. The United States should be more flexible when giving student visas or scholarships to international students because most of them have the abilities to do well, but they do not have the possibilities to develop those capacities in their home countries.


In Colombia, the best and most solicited schools are not for everyone; they are for kids whose parents can afford to pay for them because they are private schools and very expensive. Here in the United States, most of the schools are public, and they offer a good level of education. Almost all American and immigrant students attend these schools. As for the lower percentage of students attend private schools. This occurs backwards in Colombia, where the higher percentages of students go to private schools because public schools are not good. But this higher percentage accounts only for the high or middle class in terms of social and economic status. According to an article originally published in Spanish by Parra “In Colombia, ninety percent of the population does not enjoy the opportunity to receive education in the university or secondary education. Those that do not study are the rural population, the urban industrial classes and the so-called marginal groups that reside in the cities. The higher education in Colombia continues being a markedly elitist phenomenon in which only 10% of the population participates” (164). The programs of the secondary and in the university education are but or less directed in exclusive form to the urban high and average classes.


I had friends in Colombia who always got the best grades in every subject; they were exceptionally bright and capable. For them this was not a gift because they could not graduate with the rest of our classmates. The reason for this was that their parents could not keep up with the tuition or the school expenses, which our school would demand. Since this was a private school, and my country does not have enough resources; they could not get financial aid in the form of a grant or a loan. Le Bot goes on to point out that “This situation gets worse for most students when exploring the cost of higher education. Presently it is little probable that the Colombian universities can recruit the more capable persons of society. It is most likely that persons with many economic resources can go into the university” (164). It is disconcerting to not being able to graduate with your classmates or not being able to graduate at all because of limited economic resources.


Buy Opportunities of Education in Colombia vs. the United States term paper


Here in North America, education is for everyone. People here do not take advantage of this opportunity. Not everyone is interested in going to a college or a university. In Colombia, however almost all the students would like to keep studying but cannot because of the economic issue. In my country, when kids end their elementary and middle education, they are all supposed and expected to get a higher educational level, but here is where the problem begins because not everybody can pay for it. I graduated from school in Colombia, and in our senior year we had to go every Saturday to a specified school from 8am to pm. These classes were intended to prepare us for the ICFES test which is kind of like the SAT’s here. In these sessions of classes it was not optional to go, it was mandatory because to go to the university after we graduated was not an alternative.


Compared to this country, when kids are in high school in Colombia they plan to get a higher educational lever after they graduate. Unfortunately not all of them can because of the economic issue. Here in the United States, not all students go on, even though they can. Their possibilities are given either because they have the money or because the government or any educational institution gives them financial aid. Also they could get a loan and pay it later on when they start working. “A consistent program of action and of symbols that underscores the continuing importance of educational opportunity for all Americans is a major federal priority”, stated McPherson and Schapiro (10). I did half of my high school here in Florida and I remember when I was a junior, conferences were given to inform us of how to get a higher educational level. These conferences were basically for eleventh and twelfth grade students, and most of the students were forced to go. At the end of the exponent’s speech, he/she would ask us how many of us were planning to go to college or a university, and not even 10% of the attendants would raise their hands.


It is not a very usual thing here, in the United States, but in Colombia, most of the students would like to keep studying because that is what schools and their parents have taught them. They know that they have to build their own future based on the education they receive and since working there is not as easy as it is here; they all have to get the better education they can. Because of the bad economic conditions our country is living, to be able to have more chances to get the job students expect to do in the future, they have to be well prepared. When I graduated from school in Colombia a couple of students in my classroom could not continue their education process because their families had made the biggest effort in getting them through school but they did not have the money to put them in college or university and this was a private school where supposedly everyone had money to keep studying.


Not only this, but private schools in Colombia are for 60 to 80 students per grade at the maximum and that is not a very high percentage of students. That means there are limited seats per class groups, which is a very off-putting factor for families who would want to enroll their kids to a specified school. They cannot get them to attend those institutions since the head of the school board receives only the kids whose parents have links or acquaintances in high places. According to Le Bot “The selection of students is carried out mainly on financial criteria, reinforced by the parents association of the school board and the recommendations” (78). Most parents start trying to get a place for their kids in the schools since they are born. This way they spend years insisting on these institutions. When the kids are old enough to go to school, the parents may get the expected chance to register the kids in the school.


Here in North America, this may happen in private institutions but most of the students attend public schools knowing they get a good educational level. As stated by Perna “Much of the public’s concern about college costs applies only to a very narrow and elite group of institutions” (7). In Colombia, the education in public schools is not adequate because the government does not invest a lot of money in them. The public schools there do not offer the same amount of educational opportunities as they do here because the funds are poor.


Not only the parents cannot get their children to attend the best schools because they are highly selective but the economic issue is also an important factor. As these schools are very expensive and in Colombia there is not such thing as the part time jobs that exist here. In the United States, students get the opportunity to find well paying jobs since they are very young and start saving for what they want to accomplish in life. In Colombia, to get a well paying job, a person has to be well educated and prepared. There is no such thing as the part time jobs we can get here, the well paying jobs would be the ones a person gets after he/she graduates and has the required abilities and education for the desired job.


The part time jobs, as they are called here, in Colombia would be jobs that do not even pay in a whole day what they pay here in an hour. These jobs are usually for unemployed persons or for students that work on vacations. Le Bot goes on to state “The level of the salary in Colombia is determined not only by the needs of the reproduction of the labor force but also by the degree of exploitation. The pattern of education received in the universities qualifies the persons in certain dexterities and skills, but in addition and above all selects them and prepares them to occupy intermediate positions or positions of command of the labor force in their jobs” (18). I once worked during a vacation, in a company of telecommunications. I would work from am to or pm everyday for a period of 0 days and I got paid the money I would have gotten here in at least one week or less. This was a regular job for unemployed persons or other students like me that were willing to work as a hobby during their vacations or for any other simple reason.


In Colombia, not only is it a low percentage of people that cannot get the education they want because of few economic resources; but it is fewer the people that after they get a bachelor’s degree, go to a university and does a master or a degree on any other major and cannot get a good job. The reason for this, and it is very ironic, is that they are so well prepared and highly educated that the companies have not enough money to pay them what they deserve for the jobs they would be performing. It is very sad to see professionals, acknowledgeable people driving taxis or working in those part time jobs. This is because they cannot get any other job and need to support him or herself or sometimes a family.


I came here to this country trying to look for the opportunities I could not find in Colombia. I could have a thousand reasons to have stayed there but life is not about having fun or passing through it without taking advantage of the opportunities we get once in a lifetime because of sentimental or personal issues. I also know that life is much more than making money too. But to find happiness and stability in everyone’s lives, a person must first grow up in a person and a professional matter to be able to accomplish all his/her goals and then join somebody else’s life and have a family or whatever a person wishes to do with his/her life. Most of the students in Colombia at this very moment wish they could have the opportunity to come to the United States or any other developed country that gives them the opportunity to develop themselves professionally and that way become a well prepared and better person to fulfill his/her dreams. The government of the United States or other educational institutions should allow more international students to come to this country to perform well in the areas they have the abilities to do it.


Works Cited


Le Bot, Yvon. Education and Ideology in Colombia. Second Edition, Medellin Editorial


Lealon, 185. (75-8, 15-11).


McPherson, Michael S., and M. O. Schapiro. “Financing Undergraduate Education Designing


National Policies.” National Tax Journal 50 (17) 557-571.


Parra, Rodrigo. “Social Classes and the Development of Education in Colombia.” Education


and Society in Colombia. Edited by Gonzalo Castaño. Bogotá Canal Ramirez � Antares, 17. (145-167).


Perna, Laura W. “Financing Higher Education at Selective Private Higher Institutions


Implications for College Access and Choice.” Review of Higher Education 5. (00) 5-5.


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