Bowles and Gintis Education and Inequality Essay

Outline and assess the view that the role of education system is to justify and reproduce social inequalities (50)

In the 1997 article, “Public Goods, Private Goods: The American Struggle over Educational Goals” by David Labaree, Labaree describes three goals that have been at the core of educational conflicts over the years. The first goal mentioned is democratic equality, which is meant to create good citizens and enable educational access to all. The second goal is social efficiency, which creates workers and is viewed by taxpayers and employers as a goal to prepare students for market roles. Lastly is the third goal of social mobility, where individual success for attractive market roles is the main purpose. This primary goal of education has been ever fluctuating. The argument of this essay is that social mobility has now triumphed over democratic equality and social efficiency as the primary goal of education due to parents. This view of social mobility by parents is negative to due its numerous consequences, significantly the growing disparity between the wealthy and the underprivileged, and additionally, the health of children, their behavior, and the degree to which they learn educational material are all affected.

Expansion of education is closely related to idealistic views of democracy. In developing and wealthy nations, education is valued because it helps the individual mind to develop capabilities. In contrast, education has also been seen as a way to promote equality. Having access to public education, in theory, has the potential to reduce poverty and promote equality. If all are entitled to the same public education, not to mention they are required by law, why do school systems seem segregate their students? Researchers have searched for the answer and have theorized that economic background, tracking, and hidden curriculum are a few things that help contribute to the imaginary lines drawn between students in society.

     Will Durant, a businessman and the founder of General Motors, once said, “Education is the transmission of civilization.” Unfortunately, education is still one of the most deliberated and controversial issues in the United States. Thus far, the privilege or right to receive education has not attained the level of equality throughout the nation; poor districts obtain less educational funding while rich districts obtain more, creating an immense gap between the quality of schools in poor and rich areas.

The greatest country in the world still has problems evenly distributing education to its youth. The articles I have read for this unit have a common theme regarding our education system. The authors illustrate to the reader about the struggles in America concerning how we obtain and education. Oppression, politics, racism, and socioeconomic status are a few examples of what is wrong with our country and its means of delivering a fair education to all Americans.

From an early age, individuals in America have tried to do everything in their power to reduce the inequalities of gender and race; however, the inequalities of education have proven to affect the future of the country the most. Education is a fundamental human right that is indispensable to both the well-being of an individual and society. To many people, it is considered a great equalizer in America, improving the lives and opportunities for children from a young age. Nevertheless, the great equalizer is constantly threatened, affecting the developments of these opportunities. The unequal distribution of wealth affects students of all ages in the education system. In order to reduce education inequality, the funds allocated to the low-income neighborhoods in a state should to be increased not only to decrease the gap between rich and poor and decrease the amount of poorly paid teachers, but also to provide schools with enough resources to ensure success.

The 20th century saw more changes to education than the thousand years preceding it. This was largely in response to a recently industrialised country; with newly acquired voting rights, it became apparent that education should not be only for elites. Education is a crucial element of social mobility and it is important we fully understand both the positive and negative aspects of previous legislation to help us plan for the future. The were two major 20th century pieces of legislation: 1944 Education Act and 1988 Education Reform Act. Both brought with them changes that are still being felt today. This essay will cover those Acts in detail, along with other sizable changes such as comprehensivisation, marketization and how other external

Firstly, the book pinpoints on the high levels of inequality associated with our Education System. Markedly, the author was inspired by the experiences that a group of ten of his students faced as they progressed through the system. Paradoxically, a look at the American Education System depicts a system with many entry points that serves the interest of every child in a balanced way.

Throughout the world, there have been continuous attempts to reform education at all levels. With different causes that are deeply rooted in history, society, and culture, this inequality is difficult to eradicate. Although difficult, education is vital to society’s movement forward. It promotes “citizenship, identity, equality of opportunity and social inclusion, social cohesion as well as economic growth and employment” and for these reasons, equality should be promoted (Shrivastava,67).

America suffers from a lack of economic equality; the population is divided into social classes. Per Mantsios, the upper fifteen percent control eighty-five percent of the nations’ wealth. This attributes the other eighty-five percent of the population the remaining fifteen percent of the nations’ wealth. The people born into a high economic standing can afford better education which prepares them for better jobs. And those who are born into a lower economic standing are more expected to enter low income schools and conditioned for labor jobs. Higher income families, those of the fifteen percent, are more likely to have children that will obtain a better education. This leaves the other eighty-five percent of the population that make up the lower and middle class to seemingly reduced education and public schooling which is only available for free up until the twelfth grade. The population consisting of the lower class, who can’t afford higher education, are less likely to continue to go to college; this only narrows their options for jobs. Those in the upper class will have a better education and obtain higher positions in companies than those in the lower class.

Although equality is an integral part the Constitution, it is not readily upheld. Specifically, education is a fundamental right which is far too often neglected, and therefore, a leading cause of poverty and inequality in the world today. The ACLU says, “The Constitution requires that all kids be given equal educational opportunity no matter what their race, ethnic background, religion, or sex, or whether they are rich or poor, citizen or noncitizen” (“Your Right). Without an education, one can not be expected to succeed. However, the positions that people are born into are hard to escape. These may include race, gender, and economic status. Because of this difficulty, many people get stuck in poverty and never become

Experts agree that education is a determining factor to the overall wealth of an individual in any society. As the income disparity between the wealthy and middle class becomes more profound, more education will be subsequently needed (Breaden, 2004). The problem of educational inequality has been a difficult aspect for society in general to

Many Americans have this idea in their head that in order to be someone in this world you need a strong education, which will help you get a well paying job. However, many people believe that this idea of a “strong education” is actually destroying our kids. According to many philosophers they’re two crises that are endangering the American education system. One “crisis” being that school is taking away from a child’s individualism, the other being that the education system is falling behind. The two are very different and both have many strategies to solve them, which we have discussed during the semester.

train people with knowledge of information in a fast growing capitalist society. Making the people knowledgeable enough, to apply skills learned from school into the capitalist order. The second reason why education was mandated was because many different races and social background would provide fittings of the varied economic opportunity in society. Creating equal opportunity in education would then give many varied cultures an opportunity to choose roles in life. Jefferson’s two-track educational system also followed the same method of mapping out the lives of people in a capitalist society. The two-track system separated the lower social class as the proletarians, while the learned as the bourgeois. The separation between the laborers and the owners is a perfect example of the social conflict paradigm. There is a division between two different categories of social status. The owners have more power therefore they command what goes on in the society. The laborers have little or any control in the capitalist society. Today’s society still rests on a capitalist order; it will continue to do so because they have the economic

The education system has impacted children in many ways and has helped to shape the future leaders of society. In this essay my focus will be from the Conflict/ Marxist perspective, which proposes that the education system is structured in such a way that some persons will benefit from it more than others and that it is intended to cause social reproduction of inequality. Sociologists and economists Herbert Gintis and Samuel Bowles argue (as cited in Haralambos and Holborn, 2004 p. 698) that “there is a “close correspondence” between the social relationships which govern personal interaction in the work place and the social relationships of the education system.” The education system in today’s society is considered one of the most