Sociology / Educational Gap

Sociology/ Educational Gap
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Knowledge gap theory
The knowledge gap theory is essential in explaining education differences between different groups of people in the society. Donohue, Tichenor, and Olien proposed the theory at the University of Minnesota in the 70s. They believed that even as information increased in the society its acquisition was not even to the society members. People with higher socioeconomic status have better ability to acquire information. That results in the division of the society into two distinct groups: a group of well-educated people with perfect knowledge and information, and those with little education who know less (White & Coyne, 2011). Lower socio-economic status people, defined partly by educational level, have inadequate knowledge regarding public issues, have no connection to news events and significant new discoveries, and usually aren't concerned about their lack of knowledge.
The rich in the society have the resources to send their children to better private schools while the poor can only afford the nearby public schools. When it comes to higher education, the poor can rarely afford high fees in developed universities, and hence their children drop out of school quickly, and hence the wealthy tend to be more educated than the poor (White & Coyne, 2011). The attempt of improving people's social welfare with education programs via the mass media have always failed to meet the expectations.
Mass media have increased the difference gap in knowledge between members of social classes instead of equalizing. That is because the rich have the modern media facilities like Plasma screen television while the poor can rarely afford it (Palomer & Paredes, 2010). That implies that educational programs offered through the media would most likely benefit the wealthy than the poor and hence the growth in the educational gap in the society. As a result of educational gaps between the rich and the poor, the rich have numerous advantages over the poor. First, they can communicate well, have good reading, comprehension and remembering skills that enable them to earn a better living.