The Role of Education in Social Equality

The Role of Education in Social Equality

Introduction

Education has always been perceived as the ultimate answer to social inequality. Once a person scores high grades, they can gain entry into university and thereafter a well-paying job thus pulling one out of poverty. Earlier, students from low income families were given the chance to study at college because the government funded university tuition fees. This gave all students an equal opportunity to pursue high education regardless of their socio-economic backgrounds. However, with tuition fees on the rise and the government cutting short funding programmes, many students from low income families cannot afford university tuition fees and thus miss the opportunity to get higher education. This raises the question of whether education promotes social equality or social inequality. This paper is going to look at how education promotes both social equality and inequality. Also, what changes must be made to ensure education maintains its commitment to social equality.

Social Equality

Education is important in shaping the future economic wellbeing of the young people who will in turn control the economy of the country. One way of making sure education reaches as many people as possible is by making it affordable. When people off all social classes access the same quality of education, all of them are given an equal chance of succeeding. Therefore, offering education to all people is a way of achieving social equality.

In higher education institutions, all types of students are admitted. They vary in gender, race, sexual affiliations, religion and social class. These variations offer diversity from which students learn from outside the traditional classroom learning. According to Brennan and Naidoo (2008), higher education imports equity and social justice agendas from the wider society and, in common with other large organizations, looks at ways of improving its performance in these respects. This implies that higher education institutions harbor all types of people with different social backgrounds.

When students from different backgrounds are given equal opportunities to gain admission into universities, social equality is achieved. This state of social equality is further maintained because the students learn from the same professors and share hostel rooms. Since most of the students end up working together, there will be a fair field for competition since they all attended same universities under similar living and learning conditions. Considering that, higher education is a tool for social equality since different students access the same facilities regardless of their social backgrounds.

Social Inequality

Although education is supposed to be the ideal tool for social equality, it has increased and reinforced social inequality. In line with Haveman and Smeeding (2006), the role of the higher education system, especially the public component, has had two primary goals: economic efficiency and social equity. Therefore, education is among the key fundamentals of social equality. However, the education system has served as a catalyst for social inequality.

First and foremost, education facilities are distributed according to class. Degrees have been glorified and commercialized than before. You will find parents from high social classes investing a lot of money to ensure their children get admitted into university. Some enroll their children into private schools where they access the best educational facilities. This puts the children from low income families at a disadvantage since they cannot afford private schools. Furthermore, seeing that private schools offer their teachers better salaries, most experienced teachers prefer to teach in private schools rather than in the congested public schools. This places other kids at a disadvantage because of their monetary abilities. This goes to show how education promotes social inequality.

Furthermore, the merit for picking students to join higher learning institutions are dependent on social class. The standards for picking students to enroll into universities depend on their intellectual ability, motivation to study, learn and achieve intellectual satisfaction as well as their preparedness to join such institutions. However, in line with Haveman et al. (2006), ability, motivation, and preparedness are all linked to the economic position of the children’s families. Children from well-to-do families tend, on average, to have more of all three traits; children from disadvantaged families, to have less. This places children from low income families at a disadvantage since their environment encourages little motivation and most of the time zero preparedness. Therefore, since ability, motivation and preparedness are greatly influenced by the socio-economic environment, children from low income families rarely get admission into higher learning institutions.

In addition, the cost of university tuition fees has gone up and it has made it impossible for many underprivileged students to access university education. College prices were nearly flat during the 1970s but increased rapidly during the 1980s and 1990s, when tuition rose two and even three times as fast as the price of other consumer goods. This trend, together with the growing inequality of family income, has raised the cost of attending college far more for students in low-income families than for those in well-to-do families (Haveman et al., 2006). When tuition fees go up, low income students apply for student loans which ease the financial burden. However, as much as the student loans seem to be helping, they become a financial burden in future where one struggles to pay the loan as well as settle other bills including tax. Most of these low-income students do not ideally rise from poverty considering the debt they incur upon graduating. This promotes social inequality since the high tuition fees affect the underprivileged students only.

Changes to Ensure Education Promotes Social Equality

Most important is to subsidize the cost education in public universities. High tuition fees place low income students at a disadvantage since most of them cannot afford. This has made public universities seem like private universities because of the cost and economic imbalance of students. This is in line with Marginson (2011), who states that, public universities that come to see themselves as private firms catering for other private economic interests will embrace the producer/consumer mindset. The most important public goods produced in higher education are universal knowledge and information; therefore, all people must be given an equal chance regardless of their socio-economic background.

Also, the merits considered while enrolling students into higher learning institutions should be reviewed. The merits for entry into university should be independent of socio-economic background so as to give all students a fair chance of getting into university. If the merits are influenced by the environment, most low-income students fail to get enrolled and that promotes social inequality.

Conclusion

In summary, education can indeed end social inequality since it is a chance to pull oneself out of poverty. However, if some factors such as the cost of education and enrollment merits are not revisited, education will increase the gap between social classes and therefore reinforce social inequality.

References

Brennan, J., & Naidoo, R. (2008). Higher education and the achievement (and/or prevention) of equity and social justice. Higher Education, 56(3), 287-302.

Haveman, R., & Smeeding, T. (2006). The role of higher education in social mobility. The Future of children, 125-150.

Marginson, S. (2011). Higher education and public good. Higher Education Quarterly, 65(4), 411-433.