Meritocracy, Inequality, and Mobility - Essay Example

Introduction Merit in education system all over the world has been increasing compelling the educationists to think of a way of rewarding the best achievers. Initially, meritocracy was unheard of since people used to be given jobs on basis of their parents achievements or the persons looking and behavioral standards while in school. In the UK, meritocracy has been practiced at different levels, however, rules and regulations which have been enacted make it easy for all to be included in the education system as well as the equal opportunities for education making it easier for even have-nots to learn equally as those form wealth families; equality in education. Review of the Literature Social mobility has become an issue even in politics since each and every policy now deals with whether it will allow people to change or rise from the current situation (Marshall, G. & Swift, A. 1996). According to Saunders, P. (1997), mmobility in Britain compares to that in the US only that, that fro Britain is declining since the haves have benefited from education opportunities. According to Scott, J. (1999), class is a matter of social background within which one is brought up in. to him, class is reflected right in our attitudes and in our lifestyles as well as in our talking accents and in the way we dress. To him further, social stratification is a particular way of dividing people in a particular way on emphasis of the idea that, individuals are distributed in levels of social hierarchy due to their economic relations or their economic value. These are real social groupings are able to reproduce themselves over time and are forged together through economic relations and the associated social relations as well as social interactions i.e. groupings of people who have similar occupations, similar marriages, who are kins etc. To Saunders, P. (1997), the interrelations between social stratification and things like gender, ethnicity and age are very complex and all combined structure these social divisions; inequalities are gendered, are racialised and are aged. To him, social exclusion and discrimination which is based on gender and ethnicity generate inequalities in life chances in Britain and other countries. Swift, A. (2002) argues that, surveys of children who were born in the 1950s and the 1970s reveals low mobility due to increasing positive relationship between family income and educational attainment by the children. According to him, additional education opportunities which allow them to stay in education at age 16 and age 18 benefits children from better off backgrounds. Breen, R. & Goldthorpe, J.H. (1999) argues that, those who were born in the early 1980s have the gap of those staying in education till age 16 narrowed and that the inequality while accessing higher education has widened further. However, according to him, the proportion of people from the poor families obtaining a degree has gone up from 6 per cent to 10 per cent. Thus, the relationship between attainment in school and the family income aimed at accessing for higher education, forms part of the low mobility. In a society where meritocracy is the way of doing things, an individuals economic success is determined entirely by his/her abilities not by his/her parents socio-economic status (Breen, R. & Goldthorpe, J.H. 1999). In Britain according to Breen, R. & Goldthorpe, J.H. 1999, the production of human capital is less meritocratic and is more influenced by social background of the children parents. The definitions of meritocracy is defined by Scott, J. (1999) by saying that, a social system in which all the rewards and occupational positions present are allocated basing on merit and not in inscriptive factors likes class, ethnic group or wealth. According to him, modern societies are more meritocratic than those in the past pointing out that, the education systems in societies is also meritocratic although some evidence does exist showing that factors listed above exert a considerable amount of influence on an individuals life chances. In education system, merit has not been fully embraced by all but it is at better stages. As Breen, R. & Goldthorpe, J.H. (1999) puts it, some people still believe in the past when a child from a well off family will just get a job few days after finishing school; whatever level. However, some advancement has been made towards the recognition of merit. This has been occasioned by the fact that, merit makes people to struggle to do better always. With better results it means that, one can do better even in the job market. This is evidenced since after the post-war, the education system used to segregate children into three development levels namely; high achievers who went to Grammar school, those who went to moderns secondary schools while the third group comprising of those who had shown manual and technical ability went to Technical Colleges. However, in the ‘70s and ‘80s, a comprehensive education system was developed which based on catchment and was less selective as it streamed the children under a policy of better student integration. Further, in 1988, the Education Reform Act led to the introduction of the National Curriculum where all children had access to the same tools and as well as teaching and subject. According to Breen, R. & Goldthorpe, J.H. (1999), the problem of lack of equality as well as merit has been addressed and new acts have been and have suggested the establishment of an education experience which is meritocratic; which will not have external influences such as class and distribution of wealth while harmonizing the content matter for the students so as to reduce inequality in the system and at the same time raise the meritocracy of the system.. Data Analysis About 2000 children were selected for this study to highlight inequality, mobility and the meritocracy in education in the UK. The data was analyzed using SPSS and the results follow. Results Table 1: Father social class at child’s birth Father social class at child’s birth Professional 75 Intermediate 244 Skilled non man 183 Skilled manual 937 Semi skilled 201 Unskilled 155 Group Total 1795 From the table above, most of the fathers of the children in study were in intermediate class with 244 representations. Skilled manual had the highest representation with 937 while semiskilled had 201; unskilled had 155 while professionals were 75. Table 2: Social class of current or last job Social class of current or last job 23 Professional 76 Intermediate 375 Skilled non man 613 Skilled manual 448 Semi skilled non-man 11 Semi skilled man 326 Unskilled 77 Group Total 1926 After education as it is seen from the table above, those in the intermediate class rose to 375; thus a change while the skilled manual had 448 representatives. Professional remained to be 76. Table 3: School type Vs Father social class at child’s birth Father social class at child’s birth Group Total Professional Intermediate Skilled non man Skilled manual Semi skilled Unskilled School type 16 Comprehensive 16 88 68 477 109 77 835 Grammar 16 41 25 73 17 2 174 Secondary modern 4 30 18 172 34 29 287 Indep & direct grant 23 33 20 13 3 92 Other 2 18 2 8 30 Group Total 59 192 133 753 162 119 1418 Most of the kids who participated in this study are from fathers who are skilled manuals and attend the comprehensive schools. Comprehensive schools are much favoured by many since many students are studying in these schools. Table 4: Highest level of education attained Vs Social class of the father Father social class at child’s birth Group Total Professional Intermediate Skilled non man Skilled manual Semi skilled Unskilled Highest education qualification at 23 Higher degree 3 1 3 7 Degree 35 53 30 70 7 2 197 Teacher 3 3 4 10 Higher 4 30 8 56 8 2 108 Nurse 3 12 4 29 4 3 55 At least 2 A level 11 25 15 36 7 3 97 1A level or ONC TEC 7 28 23 100 27 15 200 5 O level or craft 5 31 28 128 24 17 233 O levels & something 1 9 6 29 4 5 54 O levels only 4 24 43 150 28 31 280 No O levels something 3 2 28 1 1 35 Apprenticeship 1 2 18 6 1 28 Other 1 2 15 4 2 24 None 1 22 19 271 81 73 467 Group Total 75 244 183 937 201 155 1795 From the table above, students of the skilled manual fathers attain the highest levels of education than in other social groupings followed by those whose parents are in the intermediate class. Professional have the smallest number of students completing the whole process of education. Table 5: Parental interest in child’s education Vs Father social class at child’s birth Parental interest in child’s education 7 Group Total Both over concerned Both very interested Both little interest 1 over 1 very 1 over 1 not very 1 very 1 not very either little Other combs Father social class at child’s birth Professional 1 33 2 1 3 18 8 66 Intermediate 4 97 9 2 5 41 4 60 222 Skilled non man 3 59 6 2 2 25 6 61 164 Skilled manual 7 169 103 1 12 111 62 388 853 Semi skilled 1 33 28 3 19 17 73 174 Unskilled 8 31 2 10 13 76 140 Group Total 16 399 179 6 27 224 102 666 1619 Skilled manual fathers are very interested in their children getting the right education followed by intermediate fathers. Table 6: Highest education qualification Vs job hours Current job hours of work 23 Group Total Varies 0-21 hrs 21-40 hrs 41-60 hrs 61-80 hrs 81-100 hrs Highest education qualification at 23 Higher degree 5 1 6 Degree 8 1 129 19 3 3 163 Teacher 9 1 10 Higher 4 77 15 3 99 Nurse 2 4 41 4 51 At least 2 A level 2 1 57 11 1 1 73 1A level or ONC TEC 7 115 65 6 1 194 5 O level or craft 8 3 140 55 9 215 O levels & something 3 1 35 8 1 48 O levels only 10 13 160 50 3 2 238 No O levels something 2 2 20 7 2 33 Apprenticeship 2 1 17 7 1 28 Other 3 1 6 3 3 1 17 None 14 10 186 80 12 2 304 Group Total 65 37 997 326 44 10 1479 Among all the education levels, many work for about 21-40 hours in a week. Among those working for more than 40 hours are those without a referenced level of education where some 304 representatives fall into. Table 7: Net earnings per week Vs Highest education qualification at 23 Net earnings per week from main job 23 Group Total 0-100 101-200 201-300 301-400 100.72 Highest qualification at 23 Higher degree 5 5 Degree 132 19 2 153 Teacher 10 10 Higher 80 15 95 Nurse 50 50 At least 2 A level 69 2 71 1A level or ONC TEC 150 32 3 1 1 187 5 O level or craft 171 27 198 O levels & something 46 2 48 O levels only 202 25 227 No O levels something 25 4 1 30 Apprenticeship 20 5 25 Other 12 2 14 None 259 25 284 Group Total 1231 158 6 1 1 1397 From the table above, most of the students grow up to earn about £ 0-100 per week. The higher rank in education earns a bit netter than the others; those who have a degree or higher are better off. Technical subjects likewise earn better. Table 8: Total months unemployed Vs Highest education qualification Total months unemployed Group Total 0-20 21-40 41-60 61-80 81-100 Highest qualification at 23 Higher degree 7 7 Degree 217 1 218 Teacher 11 11 Higher 113 1 114 Nurse 59 1 60 At least 2 A level 105 3 108 1A level or ONC TEC 212 6 218 5 O level or craft 248 8 256 O levels & something 58 1 59 O levels only 296 20 1 317 No O levels something 42 1 43 Apprenticeship 32 32 Other 26 1 27 None 485 25 10 7 2 529 Group Total 1911 67 12 7 2 1999 From the table above, it is evident that, with the right education in the UK, then the possibility of staying longer without a good employment is surely reduced. Table 9: Net earnings per week from main job 23 Vs Sex Sex of child Mean N Std. Deviation Male 84.7155 765 31.78774 Female 60.1674 632 18.90057 Total 73.6100 1397 29.39161 Table 10: Independent Samples Test   F Sig. t Sig. (2-tailed)           Net earnings per week 49.54 0.00 17.08 0.00 The means in earning for both males and females are significantly different at 95% CI Figure 1 Figure one confirms that, the majority of the people earn about 0-100 pounds in a week irrespective of the highest education qualifications. Figure 2 Discussion As per the data analyzed, it is evident that, parents who have skills in their working are more likely to take their children to attain high education levels compared to the others. This is so because, those parents who have learned and who know the importance of education maybe due to what they get from their work makes them to see it this way. In the UK further, there is the possibility that, once you append a lot of your time in school, then the probability of you searching for a job for a long time is almost zero. This is a clear indication that, education pays in this country and that, parents should be prepared to give their children education opportunities. Reference Bond, R. & Saunders, P. (1999) Routes of Success: Influences on the Occupational Attainment of Young British Males British Journal of Sociology Vol. 50, No. 5, pp. 217-249. Breen, R. & Goldthorpe, J.H. (1999). Class Inequality and Meritocracy: A Critique of Saunders and an Alternative Analysis British Journal of Sociology Vol. 50, No. 1, pp. 1-27. Marshall, G. & Swift, A. (1996). Merits and Mobility: A Reply to Peter Saunders Sociology Vol. 30, No. 2, pp. 375-386. Saunders, P. (1997). Social Mobility in Britain: An Empirical Evaluation of Two Competing Explanations Sociology Vol. 31, No. 2, pp. 261-88. Carchedi, G. (1987). Class Analysis and Social Research Oxford, Basil Blackwell Scott, J. (1999). Classes and Stratification London: Hutchinson. Erikson, R. & Goldthorpe, J. (1992). The Constant Flux: A Study of Class Mobility in Industrial Societies Oxford: Clarenden Press Swift, A. (2002). Would Perfect Mobility be perfect? University of Oxford, Sociology Working. 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