Relationship between Social Class Origins and Educational Attainment - Essay Example

? Topic: Lecturer: Presentation: Relationship between Social Origins and Educational Attainment Social class is always assumed to be the reason behind educational attainment of children due to advantages and disadvantages it brings with it at every stage of educational process. However, debates about whether it is the education system that fails children or it is their families who fail to inculcate proper values leading to educational achievements have been going on with adherent supporters on each side. So the question that begs answers is whether the class origin really affects the education attainment of children bearing in mind the changing family forms over the years. Beller (2009 p. 507) argues that there is a very big gap between theory and practice which contributes to distortions on social mobility and stratification thereby research findings. This leads to incorrect conclusions about the relation between class origin and mobility or social fluidity thus need to be dealt with in order to get a correct picture of the situation. Most research findings are based on the traditional families where man is the breadwinner thus ignores the role played by women in the economy and the changing nature of the family. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the relationship between class origins and education attainment. To achieve this, the research will take into consideration the role played by mothers in affecting educational attainment as well as fathers and other members of the family so as to understand the relationship between class origins and education attainment. It will argue that children are also major contributors to their attainments hence should not be underestimated as shown by Durkheim in his work on mechanical and social solidarity (Morrison, 2006) and the Wisconsin study by Sewell and Hauser (1980). It will also discuss the social psychological factors that affect educational attainment such as academic achievement, significant others, educational aspirations and occupational aspirations. It will argue that the school environment or neighborhood does not play a crucial role in affecting educational attainment as many researchers make us to believe. According to Emile Durkheim, primitive societies have a form of solidarity that enables them to live harmoniously known as mechanical solidarity (Morrison, 2006). The society has values, customs and beliefs that guide the behavior of all members and doing contrary to such values and beliefs is considered out of the norm and deserves punishment. As such, the society is bound together by rules and children grow up following their parent’s footsteps. These values held by the community affect what is valued by children thereby impacting on what they study in schools. However, Durkheim also notes that the family forms are not constant; they keep changing with time. For example, as industrialization creeps in children move to urban areas to look for work thus breaking up family ties and the values that bind them (Morrison, 2006). However, all is not lost as division of labor in the new found occupations bring about a higher order in society known as organic solidarity. They thus progress from mechanical to organic solidarity enhanced by institutions such as educational institution (p. 166). People now cooperate on basis of shared tasks and not family values as in mechanical solidarity. Children thus engage in various occupations different from their parents necessitated by division of labor and specialization. Conflicts between individual and society interests often arise as observed by Craig (1997 p. 210) thus affecting educational attainment. In this view, the education attainment is affected by individual aspirations although social class origins may affect the occupation aspirations of children. If one does not have enough resources to pursue the goals he/she wants then attainments in education are affected. Another important mechanism that link class origins and educational attainment is the childrearing strategies in society. As observed by Lareau (2002) different socioeconomic classes apply different strategies in rearing their children which in turn affect their educational attainment. For example, middle-class parents teach their children to be assertive and courageous in dealing with the authorities in schools and other institutions. They offer adult organized activities to children to cultivate talents, opinions and skills and put more emphasis on language use. They use reasoning and negotiation while talking to their children thus teaching them to be responsible leaders and to deal with authorities effectively thus gaining benefits that help them to get higher educational attainments. On the other hand, working class and poor families are more concerned with natural growth of their children. They use directives when giving instructions thus teach children not to question authorities but also teach them to disobey authorities for their own sake (p. 770). These children are thus poor in gaining educational advantages unlike their peers from middle class regardless of their race or gender. The differences in child-rearing practices as noted by Bronfenbrenner (1961) and Lareau (2002) are a result of differences in economic resources held by families. For example, for Lareau working class and poor families do not have economic thus educational resources hence do not have the confidence to criticize educational professionals and they instill such fear on their children as opposed to middle class families who are superior to professionals and have the knowledge to enable them criticize professionals and get educational benefits for their children (p. 771). In essence, children of middle class have a sense of entitlement whereas those of working class gain a sense of constraint which hinders educational attainment. However, as Bronfenbrenner (1961 p. 6) puts it ‘the gap between social classes in goals and methods of child-rearing are narrowing.” This is due to changes experienced over the past 25years in America thus producing a changing child. For example, there has been increased reliance on indirect psychological techniques of discipline among poor families instead of physical punishment. Beller (2009) uses a mechanism of social mobility and fluidity that incorporates mothers economic resources as opposed to father-only conventional models. She asserts that joint-family measures of class origin are the best in evaluating the relationship between class origin and education attainment. Moreover, families have changed over the years with more women being incorporated in the labor force and their resources cannot be ignored. For her, the economic resources held by the family whether from employment relationships or cultural such as education help to determine the class destination of children. This is because different employment relationships bring different rewards, opportunities and constraints which affect destination (p. 510). She notes that social fluidity between cohorts has declined over time especially for men due to changing nature of families such as increased assortative marriages bringing unequal distribution of resources. Class-related resources are accumulated regardless of occupation thus affecting life chances of children in those families. Parents’ education is also an indirect transmission of resources that affect education outcome. Non employed mothers also contribute to educational attainment of their children as they spend a lot of time with them. However, according to Edin and Lein (1997) mothers especially single mothers go through a hard time to make ends meet and most prefer to be on welfare than to work due to benefits accrued to welfare recipients. Though mothers contribute to educational attainment, they are occupationally segregated in low-paying jobs and cannot afford many basic necessities such as housing and healthcare thus rely on welfare. The skills given during Job Opportunity and Basic Skills (JOBS) training programs only lead them to low paying jobs which cannot take care of their needs. Most single mothers rely on boy friends and fathers to take care of the family. The situation of women thus affects class origins of children and consequently educational attainments. These low paying jobs cannot allow children to register in good schools where their aspirations are raised leading to higher educational and occupational achievements (Sewell & Hauser, 1980). Sewell and Hauser argue that parent’s aspirations also affect the education aspirations of their children and achievement (1980 p 66). If these single mothers do not have higher aspirations they cannot encourage children to take up more advanced careers hence end up as their parents. However, they also argue that ones education ability also affects education attainment regardless of socioeconomic status or race (p. 73). The ability and occupation aspirations that enhance education attainment are result of social psychological factors. They also argue that women fail to get occupation status due to segregation and not due to their class origins. References Beller, E (2009), Bringing Intergenerational Social Mobility Research into the Twenty-first Century: Why Mothers Matter,” American Sociological Review, 74: 507-528 Bronfenbrenner, U (1961) “The Changing American Child-A Speculative Analysis,” Journal of Social Issues, 17: 6-18. Craib, L, (1997). Classical social theory. London: OUP Edin, K and Lein, L (1997), Making Ends Meet: How Single Mothers Survive Welfare and Low Wage Work. New York: Russell Sage Foundation. Lareau, A (2002), “Invisible Inequality: Social Class and Childrearing in Black Families and White Families,” American Sociological Review, 67(5) pp. 747-776 Morrison, K., (2006). Marx, Durkheim, Weber: Formations of modern social thought. 2nd ed. London: Sage Sewell, W and Hauser, R.M (1980) “The Wisconsin Longitudinal Study of Social and Psychological Factors in Aspirations and Achievements,” Research in Sociology of Education and Socialization, 1: 59-99. Read More