Social Environment and Its Effect On One's Life Social environment is influenced by one's power and wealth. This, in turn, determines success or failure in peoples' lives. If one were born with a silver spoon in his mouth, he would easily be able to attend a fancy school no matter how intelligent he is or have any luxury he wants just because of power and wealth. On the flip side, if one were born to a poor family in a bad neighborhood infested with violence and drugs, he would have a much smaller chance of succeeding in life, more especially, going to an upper-class school. It is hard for many poor to go to college because of such high tuition costs. Scholarships are available; but, even though one shows financial need, one still has to have a high grade point average and test scores. Even if one has a good mind, trying to study in a gang-ridden neighborhood with constant gunfire isn't easy. With both parents working two jobs, there isn't any parental guidance. Whereas, the affluent, even if busy or working, have the means to insure that their children are supervised and well taken care of. The rich also have the luxury of affording special tutors to help their children while other children are on their own. For example, there are three students, one from a clean, upper-class community, another from a small, middle-class suburb and the other from a graffiti-ridden slum. All three of these students have exceptional GPA's and scored very well on standardized testing. The student from the upper-class community will have the best chance of succeeding. Tuition will never be a problem and chances are that those parents have some pull because of who they are. The middle-class student won't have a great problem but there is still the fact of paying tuition, which would limit the options quite a bit. One may be smart enough to get grants but the family makes too much money. Also, if he sought admission into a prestigious school and it came down to the student or someone richer, the middle-class student would probably lose out. Some of the many reasons for this are that the affluent family will most likely have been an alumni to that particular school. If not, they will have better connections and will have a more impressive letter of recommendation written for the student. However, the lower-class student would have a much rougher time.

Even with good grades, he might lack the opportunities that others may have. Tuition is definitely a problem and with an overworked guidance counselor, a problem of a poorer school system, scholarship information might be missing. Most importantly, there would be a decided lack of motivation on the part of the school, family and maybe even the student. I am not saying that social environment is the definitive factor in someone's lifetime accomplishments. It is common knowledge that it is difficult to get out of a bad situation such as growing up without any of the advantages others have, but many have managed. There is a way out, it just takes a strong mind and a strong will to do so. If someone is intelligent enough, they can try to go out and grab the recognition they deserve. Social environment as a determining agent is definitely a human-made force. In society, the poor are regarded with contempt or completely ignored while the rich are seen as having the authority over everything. The poor are seen as undeserving, therefore, not receiving much of an education, if any. In any society, there are always the strong and the weak; and, in this case, the weak are portrayed as the poor by the rest of society. Some feel that the weak in our society should be eliminated because they are no more than mere pests, irritating the rest of society. In my opinion, there isn't much to be done to change the way society thinks. As long as the elite control businesses and schools, they will still have the authority over what the public thinks and does. The best thing to have is a positive outlook on all situations and never stop trying. If one never gives up, one can achieve his goal no matter how unreal it may seem at the time.

The most important thing is never to let society get in the way. One must not fall prey to society's evils and give up. If there were to be a solution, it would have to be bringing more jobs back into this great country of ours. Too many people are out of work because the greedy owners of companies are taking jobs away from American workers and giving them to foreigners who are paid next to nothing for intense labor. There is also a lack of good, well-educated teachers. Many of the bad neighborhoods, where the above-mentioned lower class live, are uneducated because there is a shortage of teachers to give them guidance. If schools were cleaned up and rid of all the violence, then more teachers would be willing to teach there. All of these goals will be difficult to achieve and will take much time and patience to complete. In not too many years, the generation of tomorrow will be the generation of the present. If everyone is open minded, then perhaps the ideas of the past will change and the poor will be considered human beings. But until then, society remains the same and will be very difficult to change. In conclusion, I have a very optimistic opinion of the future and the way the poor are treated. It will take concerted effort and cooperation on behalf of everyone but I think it can be done if everyone puts their minds to it.

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