Effects of Social Ranking on The Education System and Appropriate Solutions

In today’s society, education is highly valued by most people. The problem with education is that not everyone is getting a fair one that they deserve and a lot of it has to do with the effects of a low socioeconomic status, and these effects get boiled down into three main categories: school, family, and ethnicity. There are many possibilities when it comes to solving this issue; however, three main options have to do with an increase of money getting put into school systems, changing old regulations, and focusing on individual student problems.

When looking at the big picture of the problem with educational success it can be divided into three groups. The first of them being the school itself. Schools in areas with a poorer economy often don’t have enough funding to hire as many teachers as they need, so the class size to teacher ratio is usually very large (Hoschild). This means that students do not usually receive the one-on-one help that they may need to excel in their classes. Another issue found in poorer areas is that it is difficult to acquire and keep teachers with expertise (Duncan and Murnane 147). The children in these poorer areas aren’t receiving the best education they could be because they aren’t getting quality teachers. Another issue that is found in these lower economy areas is that the students are frequently absent or tardy and they transfer between schools more often (Duncan and Murnane 147). This results in large portions of classes being missed, so they never learn certain lessons that may have been crucial to their education. An important factor in school systems is money. This is a problem for schools in low income areas because the money they receive is all based on taxes and donations. Since these schools are so lowly funded, they can’t afford new textbooks, a lot of staff, and teaching aids. This causes a decrease in quality of education because the children aren’t getting the most out of their schools. During a study of 5 elementary schools, Jean Anyon, found a shocking difference between schools in different levels of social class. Schools in higher class areas were “geared to produce future doctors, lawyers, and business leaders,” while those is lower class areas were leading the children on the vocational track (Anyon). This is seen as a way to keep the classes separated. Working classes get curriculum based on manual skills and clerical knowledge while those in the more advantages social classes get taught in more medical, legal, and managerial knowledge (Anyon).

The second category that is affected by socioeconomic status is family demographics. Families from lower incomes don’t have the money to put into their child’s education. Those from higher income have the money to buy their children books, supplies, laptops, and help resources such as tutoring (Duncan and Murnane 146). Something surprising that may affect the education success gap between socioeconomic statuses is how much time families spend together. Those who come from higher class families averaged 1300 or more hours more of quality time spent together from birth to six years of age (Duncan and Murnane 146). The reason that this affects education is because the time spent together helps with the knowledge needed to understand key concepts in social studies and science during middle school (Duncan and Murnane 146). In a study conducted by the University of London's Institute of Education, it was shown that parenting techniques are better in higher social class families because they partook in activities such as reading before bed (Sheperd). Another issue linked to families with lower incomes are children with behavioral issues (Georges). These behavior issues range from problems with extreme aggression to attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (Georges). The children with these issues scored much lower than their peers on tests and were shown to be from lower income families (Georges). Children from lower social classes do not have great noncognitive skills such as self-control and their approach to learning compared to those of higher social class (Garcia and Weiss). Noncognitive skills include being able to communicate to teachers and peers effectively, being able to play well with other children, and a child’s creativity (Garcia and Weiss).

The third factor that affects education is ethnicity because it tends to go hand in hand with socioeconomic class. In a study that was conducted on 11 thousand elementary school children, ethnicity was shown to be connected to lower economic class and poorer parenting (Sheperd). When compared to Caucasian and Asian students, Hispanic and African American students were much further behind when it comes to math and reading skills and it was shown that this gap was mainly due to the social status of the students (Garcia and Weiss). Students who are Hispanic and African American are shown to have many disadvantages because most live in poverty (Garcia and Weiss). These disadvantages include having a single-parent family instead of a nuclear one and not having access to early education such as preschool (Garcia and Weiss). Another reason why ethnicity affects education are racial stereotypes and sometimes even flat out racism students face (Rashid). If a teacher sees everyone in a certain race the same way, then that can affect the help and grades the student receives. Children from ethnic backgrounds also have to deal with a lot of different factors outside of school than most students. These children sometimes have extended family living with them causing their living spaces to be overcrowded and very busy most of the time (Rashid). A lot of the time these family members are unemployed, so these children have to deal with extreme financial distress at times (Rashid).

For years, this problem has been dealt with and many people have tried to solve it; however, nothing that has been put into place has worked to shrink the gap in education. In the past, acts like No Child Left Behind and common core have been put into place, but neither of them really seemed to work. Looking at what has caused the education gap, there are three ways that might help close the gap. The three categories for possible solutions are money, regulations, and individual help. As it is schools get funding from federal, state, and local sources (Blummerman). However, schools mainly rely on local and state funding because they do not receive much from federal sources (Blummerman). Since they rely so heavily on local funding, poorer areas do not get as much money because there’s not a lot of money in the local area and government. If local taxes weren’t the main way for schools to be funded, they could be much better off. If federal funding sources were raised, especially in the higher socioeconomic class, schools could receive more money and could begin to build themselves up again. Another possible solution would be a change in school regulations. Currently there is a regulation in school systems called test-based accountability. This means that schools get more funding if they administer standardized testing for common core academics and if the scores are high (Duncan and Murnane 149). The problem with this is that schools are now teaching for tests causing students to memorize information and lose it rather than learn and retain it. These regulations need to be changed or taken away and replaced all together. The last possible solution is having more options for students that suffer from behavioral issues. These could include onsite counselors trained in helping children with these problems or having recommendations on people that specialize in these conditions offsite to give to parents of these children. Teachers can also play a role in helping the problem. They can continue their own education by going to seminars and the like to learn new teaching methods that may help struggling students get back on their feet. There are many possible solutions to such a big problem, but since the problem is so large it is hard to find a single solution that fits everyone’s needs.

Although some areas of the country are still having difficulty with the quality of education they are giving, this is not the case everywhere. Gary Marks, who conducts research at the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research at the University of Melbourne, has conducted a recent study showing that social class doesn’t affect education as much as people are led to believe (Donnelly). His research over 12 years has shown that the quality of education is affected more by individual characteristics such as: the motivation of the student, the quality of the teacher, the environment in the classroom, and the culture of the school (Donnelly). Marks has stated that “western societies have done a reasonable job in reducing socioeconomic inequalities in education” (Donnelly). He says this because he believes the gap between socioeconomic classes and education would be much larger than it is now (Donnelly). It is possible to give children that come from lower income families the same quality of education that children from high income families receive by giving the children high expectations to meet (Donnelly).

Gary Marks is correct that individual characteristics play a large role in individual characteristics; however, these characteristics show up more frequently in lower socioeconomic class children and areas. Schools that have adequate funding are able to afford teachers with expertise in their fields. Children from higher social classes are also usually much more eager to learn because it is seen as an important quality in their families (Sheperd). Yes, the possibility of giving all children the same high quality education exists, but it is not acted on. Schools don’t have enough money to give the children the quality of education they deserve, so they are taught basic common core instead. The belief that social class doesn’t affect education because the gap is big enough is very fallacious. Just because the gap isn’t as big as it could be doesn’t mean the problem doesn’t exist altogether. One study can’t rule out hundreds of others that have been conducted since the nineteen hundreds proving otherwise. Social class is very much intertwined with educational outcomes.

Even though education should be an equal right to all people it is very far from it. Socioeconomic class is a large factor in what kind of education children will receive. Those who are higher on the scale of class will have a better advantage when it comes to education because they have the money that’s needed in order to attain a quality education. Those who are on the lower end of the social class scale are sadly out of luck when it comes to education because of problems within school systems. As time goes on, hopefully much needed changes will be made to create equality throughout the education system whether that’s changing rules and regulations or adding more money and resources to it. Many will try and say that social class has nothing to with the quality of education because the gap isn’t ‘that big’, but no matter how small a problem still exists. The gap isn’t because of an individual’s laziness or refusal to learn. It is the result of an outdated education system that is in a large need of being replaced.