Social Class And Family Background example essay topic

Ideally, we would like to believe that we live in a society in which education provides an opportunity for every individual to develop one's own talent and capacity. Education has also been seen as a means of equalization among all, because it has been argued that universal education for all would be an ideal environment where children could bypass factors such as race, gender and social class standing. In all actuality, the latter is merely a pipe dream. In this paper I will argue that it is in fact education itself, which is a product of past elite education, that becomes a means for the reproduction of society's inequalities and a method of social control, specifically ones own social class. The consequences are undeniable: education is liable for the reinforcing acceptance of class structure far more than it takes action to change them. To put the current educational system into perspective, one should look to the past for clarifications and answers.

Sociologists have argued that the foundations of the UK education system in the nineteenth century are products of class issues and desire for control (Macionis et al, p 496). Andy Green in his survey of the rise of the educational system in England, France and the United States, actually singles out England as the most overt example of using schooling to secure authority and power over inferior classes (Reay, p 1). He argues that the increasing middle-class dedication to working-class education in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, "was different in every conceivable way from their ideals in middle-class education... it was rather a way in ensuring that the subordinate class would acquiesce in their own class aspirations (Green, p 248). Historically, public schools came very early for the privileged, but for the working class, the quite limited Sunday schools were the only opportunity available for an education.

The Sunday schools offered an often moral education, rather than academic education, due to the underlying fears of the elite. They believed that if the working class was provided the same education as they were accustomed to, they (working class) would experience a rise in social and class standing (Macionis et al, p 496). Education systems would inevitably undergo many changes throughout the century, but the underlying fear of a working class becoming more powerful in society was never forgotten. Nearing the turn of the century, public education rose to a new level of importance, consequently at the same time capitalists were in search of literate and efficient workers (Macionis et al, p 496). In the wake of this desire for an educated working class, many countries instigated mandatory education laws that focused on imposing the importance of compliance, punctuality and discipline, all of which would be what sociologists refer to as the 'hidden curriculum'. Samuel Bowels and Herbert Gintis argue that it starts to influence at the youngest level, "to know their place and sit still in it" and "reproduces inequality by justifying privilege and attributing poverty to personal failure" (Bowles et al, p 114).

While social divisions in education emerged in the nineteenth century, their stigma still holds true today. Studies performed in various countries express that social class and family background are key authorities over school performance and therefore are revealed in ensuing levels of income (Giddens, p 432). Conventional social distinctions refuse to go away in education in Great Britain. Middle and upper class families have greater resources available, which then allow them to send their children to public schools. These schools are considered very elite and not only teach academic subjects, but they also portray to these children of wealthy families, "the distinctive patterns of speech, mannerisms and social graces of the British upper class" (Macionis et al, p 492).

These schools are just too much of a financial impossibility for most students. In addition, poorer families cannot afford the amenities customary to their wealthier counterparts. This includes sending their children to nursery pre-school training and later to "cram schools, to hire private tutors, or to purchase items such as books or personal computers, which give children from more affluent backgrounds an advantage" (Macionis et al, p 496). Another reason why education reproduces class structure is in part the result of the environment children of the working class are living in. They are often subject to surroundings where people don't anticipate climbing the social latter in terms of social class and in fact, act out against the system rather than try to comply with it (Macionis et al, p 497). In an environment such as the latter, adults will tend to discourage success at school, rather than encourage it.

It is also argued that schools customarily adapt education according to each student's class background, which in turn maintains social inequality in society (Macionis et al, p 496). Study after study show that there exists an undeniable difference in performance levels of children at school from different class standings. The most notable difference being that children from working-class backgrounds, when compared to middle-class and upper-class children, routinely underachieve at every level of the educational system (Macionis et al, p 496). Table 1 shows the difference in performance levels of students at school with various class backgrounds (Macionis et al, p 496). SEG Percentage with higher qualifications Percentage with no qualifications Percentage at private school 1 78 3 26 2 35 17 12 3 30 19 6 4 9 40 1 5 5 56 1 6 1 74 1 The question at hand now, is why should these profound differences exist? Some look to genetics for an answer.

Researchers such as Charles Murray claim that genetic intellectual potential is the key determiner in performance in school (Hernstein et al, 1994). In this argument, it is said that students of lower working class families tend to have lower genetic intellectual abilities and therefore they deserve their status based on the fact that they lack the academic ability to contend with those students of upper and middle class families (Macionis et al, p 496). The claim made by Murray is not accepted by all and rather insist that it's the government that have not invested nearly as much in the schools attended by the working class people. Until the 1970's there existed yet another key division in British education between the social classes.

The difference was between grammar and secondary schools, with the former being both characteristically for the middle-class and more successful. It was at this time the political party in power (Labour), did away with the majority of grammar schools and replaced them with a more 'comprehensive's ystem, seemingly providing a sense of equality in education for every individual. In theory, this would seem to be the solution to the social biases in schools, but when actually implemented the truth remained that some grammar schools still existed and the new comprehensive schools became further divided into 'good' and 'bad'. And further yet, members of these political powers continue to send their own children to grant maintained schools over the comprehensive schools, because they concede to the fact that the ongoing differences in the principles and values of education at each level still exist. This is important to note because graduates from these elite schools will then often enter the ranks of the British political power system, only to further perpetuate the division between classes, specifically in the educational system (Macionis et al, pp 493-494). Far from reaching the 'classless's society in which everyone would love to believe we live in, the educational system in many countries, but specifically in this case, Great Britain is still very much vulnerable and evident as the product of past elite education in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

Historically, the working-class have been constantly formulated to conform through education to the ideals of the upper-class, and in doing so have suffered from the stigma that they are in some way inferior and less capable of doing as well as their wealthier counterparts. It should be clear at this point that equality through education or even educational equality cannot be achieved while there is still so clearly a disadvantage to the less well off. Education today will continue to reproduce class structure on the big picture, until problems are addressed on the local front, such as reforms in the government systems and challenging the capitalist society we live in.

Bibliography

Bowles, S. and Herbert Gintis. (1976) Schooling in Capitalist America: Educational Reform and the Contradictions of Economic Life.
New York: Basic Books. Hernstein, R. and Charles Murray. (1994) The Bell Curve: Intelligence and Class Structure in American Life.
New York: Free Press, 1994.
Giddens, A. (1993) Sociology 2nd Ed.
Cambridge: Polity Press. Green, A. (1990) Education and State Formation: The Rise of Educational Systems in England, France and the USA.
Basingstoke: Macmillan Press. Macionis, J and Ken Plummer. (1997) Sociology: A Global Introduction (2nd Ed).
Harlow: Pearson Education Limited. Reay, D. (2001) J.