Education: Equality in Educational Opportunities
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Generally, it is extensively accepted education opportunities for children should be equal as education offer both intrinsic and instrumental value for children and the community as a whole (Condron, 2009). This essay makes two observations on the impacts of education on socioeconomic factors: first that education significantly enhance socioeconomic qualities of people’s life options in term of preparation for democratic citizens, labor market success, and the general human flourishing. Secondly, people’s socioeconomic chances are not wholly fixed by certain morally arbitrary circumstances such as their race, social class, and gender. Although the implication and the precise meaning of the ideal equality of educational opportunities is a subject of substantial disagreement, treating the equality of educational opportunities is crucial for social, economic concerns.
Education offers both intrinsic and instrumental values for people and society as a whole. In the contemporary world, it is difficult for anyone to reasonably succeed in life with a proper opportunity for education (MacLeod, 2018). The K-12 education instrumental goals for people include access to higher education and a collection of personal benefits that follow after university education like accessing interesting jobs with more vacation time and better medical care, better decision-making skills, more autonomy at work as well as better professional and personal mobility. Studies show that equality of education opportunities highly correlates with an individual as well as societal health and wealth as the more education a person gets, the wealthier and healthier they are likely to be (Blau & Duncan, 1967; Bourdieu,1973). At the same time, education opportunities offer intrinsic value by developing individuals with skills excellent or enjoyable to them and are central components in life flourishing regardless of their health or wealth.
Apart from intrinsic and instrumental values to people, education opportunities are also valuable to society. The society extensively benefits from knowledgeable and productive workers who can respond to preferences and generate a social surplus. Additionally, democratic societies should mold citizens who can participate in projects for shared governance. The correlation between education opportunities and participation in civics works is well documented, and highly educated individuals have more chances to exercise and obtain civic skills, are more informed and interested in politics, and as a result, are more likely to vote wisely (Bowles & Gintis, 2002).
Another crucial consideration that endorses the importance of equality in the distribution of educational opportunities is that in most advanced societies, most parts of such opportunities are regulated by the state. In most cases, there is a legal requirement that every individual should attend school for a certain number of years. As a result and unlike other policy levers, Bowles and Gintis (2002) claim that education opportunities are under the direct control of the government institutions and have the potential to reach the majority of the nation across all religious, social, racial and gender grounded divides. According to Grubb and Lazerson (2009), the myriad of advantages associated with education opportunities is arguably the most potent state mechanism to influence the lives of its citizens, thus making education the most socioeconomic function of the government.
Therefore, it is relatively accurate to contentiously say that equal educational opportunities are a highly valuable common good for both the individuals and the society, particularly to democratic societies. Consequently, this raises the question as to who has access to high-quality education opportunities, and how such high-quality education opportunities should be distributed in society.
References
Blau, P. M., & Duncan, O. D. (1967). The American occupational structure.
Bourdieu, P. (1973). Cultural reproduction and social reproduction. London: Tavistock, 178.
Bowles, S., & Gintis, H. (2002). The inheritance of inequality. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 16(3), 3-30.
Condron, D. J. (2009). Social class, school and non-school environments, and black/white inequalities in children’s learning. American Sociological Review, 74(5), 685-708.
Grubb, W. N., & Lazerson, M. (2009). The education gospel. Harvard University Press.
MacLeod, J. (2018). Ain’t no makin’ it: Aspirations and attainment in a low-income neighborhood. Routledge.