B.Ed Notes English Medium - Causes of Inequality in respect of Educational Opportunities (2024)

FAQs

What is the main cause of educational inequality? ›

Unequal educational outcomes are attributed to several variables, including family of origin, gender, and social class. Achievement, earnings, health status, and political participation also contribute to educational inequality within the United States and other countries.

The disparity is caused by a number of factors, including: (1) capacity - how well off a state is based on their economy and resources, and (2) effort - the states willingness to provide funding for education.

Inequalities are not only driven and measured by income, but are determined by other factors - gender, age, origin, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, class, and religion. These factors determine inequalities of opportunity which continue to persist, within and between countries.

Inequality is continually socially reproduced because the whole education system is overlain with a dominant group 's ideology. The premise that education fosters equal opportunity is regarded as a myth, perpetuated to serve the interests of the dominant classes.

High unemployment is a significant driver of inequality, especially for young people. Gender, race, and land ownership are three other main causes. In South Africa, women earn 38% less than men even when they have similar education levels.

One example of educational inequality is a student of Hispanic descent being placed in lower-level classes due to race. Another example is a female student being encouraged to take a cooking class instead of a car repair class due to the car repair class being full of male students.

Stop the expansion of charter and private schools as it is not affordable for all students and creates segregation. Deprioritize test based funding because it discriminates against disadvantaged students. Support teachers financially, as in offering higher salaries and benefits for teachers to improve retention.

Statistically, pupils with a better social class background are more likely to have greater educational achievement. There are many aspects of someone's class which contribute to their educational achievements, such as class values, hobbies and culture.

Education can cultivate social and cultural knowledge and skills which can impact an individual's social mobility. It allows them to create relationships, build networks and social connections that can then open the door to various different job opportunities.

It is conceivable that inequality of opportunity proxies unequal access to good schooling or discrimination in the labour market, to name two candidate channels. Both of these mechanisms would suggest that inefficiencies disproportionally affect the growth prospects of the disadvantaged.

What is an example of opportunity inequality? ›

Inequality of opportunity is concerned with access to key dimensions necessary for meeting aspirations regarding quality of life. It has economic dimensions (e.g. unequal access to decent work, financial services, land ownership, etc.), social dimensions (e.g. unequal access to health care, education, nutrition, etc.)

Introduction. The theory of inequality of opportunity (IOp) recognizes how individual achievements are due to both the circ*mstances people find themselves in and the effort they exert.

Education promotes social inequality through the use of tracking and standardized testing and the impact of its “hidden curriculum.” Schools differ widely in their funding and learning conditions, and this type of inequality leads to learning disparities that reinforce social inequality.

The quote by Savage Inequalities, "Public education is the cornerstone of democracy, and its inequality undermines the foundations of our society," highlights the importance of equitable access to education for all citizens.

Increasing secondary schooling does reduce inequality by reducing the gap in access to school. However, as predicted by our model, among these older students, those from low-income families benefit less from a year of secondary schooling than do those from higher-income families.

Disparities in academic access among students in the United States are the result of several factors including: government policies, school choice, family wealth, parenting style, implicit bias towards the race or ethnicity of the student, and the resources available to the student and their school.

The dimension of educational inequity

The proportion is much larger in developing countries: 31 per cent in sub-Saharan Africa and 21 per cent in Central Asia, vs. 3 per cent in Europe and North America. Learning, which is the purpose of schooling, fares even worse.

Individuals with low SES have less access to education and educational materials. In addition to a lack of resources, students from low SES often have distracting factors that affect their ability to focus on school, such as hunger, neighborhood violence, and additional home responsibilities.