Are different from swansEntering a college does not mean much in itself. What is meaningful is how long students stay and what college they enter. Many people enter a college, take one or two courses, and drop out. More than half of all students who enter colleges drop out before graduation. The drop-outs are more often from middle class than upper America, and more often from blue-collar than from professional families. It is the college degree that really counts in the world of work and income. Anything less than a degree is not much better than high school graduation. Students enter colleges that are as different as geese from swans. In the range are Negro junior college of Natchez, say, and Harvard. Again: in the world of work and income, the difference is huge. High costs, high admission standards, the need to work — all conspire to keep the sons of middle America on assembly line or war front and out of college. Seldom will they enter a first-rate university, except on an athletic scholarship. At best, they make it a junior college or perhaps even a state college. Middle Americans are more often part-time students than the affluent. Many must work their way through school and limit their college work to an occasional course in the evening. Even when he goes to the same school as the affluent, the middle American is more likely to enter a course of study that has a low pay-off in the job market — such as teaching, social work, nursing, etc. The worker's child who becomes a graduate student is, ironically, less likely than others to get a student tuition stipend. Nationally, only about one of four boys who rank in the top 30 p.c. of the high school classes go to college. According to the National Science Foundation, the main reason the other three do not attend is inadequate financial resources.
1. Find answers to the following questions in the text: 1) How many students drop out from colleges before graduation? 2) Who are the drop-outs — youths from the middle class or from the upper class, blue-collar or professional families? 3) What keeps the sons of middle America out of college? 4) Who usually enters a first-rate university? 5) Who is more often a part-time student? 6) Who is likely to enter a course of study that has a low pay-off in the job market? 7) What professions have a low pay-off in the job market in the USA? 8) Is a worker's child less or more likely than others to get a student tuition stipend? 9) What is the main reason that about one of four boys who rank in the top 30 p.c. of their high school classes go to college? 10) Who usually works one's way through college?
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