Meritocracy in its purest form is a social system that gives the greatest power and highest social positions to people with the most ability, where the talented are chosen and moved ahead on a basis of their achievements. It filters people based on capability and flair rather than on class privilege or wealth. In the context of Singapore’s education system which is known to be meritocratic in nature, students’ capabilities are assessed through national examinations. Students are streamed into different schools based on their calibres. In such a system, it would mean removing the catchments where well-off children are bolstered from bearing the consequences of a lack of merit. However, does Singapore’s education system really reflect meritocracy? …show more content…
In other words, one’s parents’ statuses and wealth would be able to triumph over others’ hard work and talents. With rising parental intervention, it would lead to an unequal balance in advantages placed on students due to the differing social classes of their parents. Parents with education are more likely to have a larger social capital with can help earn an edge for their child over their peers. Children of parents who are either part of an alumni association or parent volunteer would stand a higher chance of getting a spot in a renowned primary school. In the top primary and secondary schools, a lopsided number of students are from well-to-do and educated family backgrounds: 6 out of 10 live in private property, when only 2 out of 10 of Singaporeans overall do. Moving on to higher education, students with parents of higher statuses can depend on them to tap on their connections to help them climb up the social ladder such as securing an internship or job spot. This defeats the purpose of having a meritocratic education system as parents of the upper tier possess greater leverage due to their social capital which can determine their child’s future, instead of their own merits and capabilities.
In conclusion, Singapore’s education system may only seem meritocratic on the surface as there are factors present that are able to override the efforts of it being
The parents as the role models for their children that means many children will do what their parents mostly do, hence, is really important that the parents teaching their child. However, the research find out that the parents with higher socioeconomic states are more involved in their kids’ schooling (Chu et all, 1996) The reason seems obvious to me due to the importance of parents’ education, if the parents having more school, than parents could be like a ‘coach’ for their kids, that parents could guide the road of succeed. Also, the parents with higher education might provide a favorable environment since is easier to get a steady job with higher education. According to Kean, (2005), the parents with higher education have positive influence on children’s outcome, cause the majority of parents who are very educated might influence their kids though beliefs and behaviors, that will lead children and youth to a positive outcome (Kean, 2005). Parents’ educations have an influence on children in many different ways, although the parents’ expectation can affect children as well. Kean illustrated if parents expect high achievement, then it predicts better chance for achievement for their children (Kean, 2005). Moreover, sometimes parents’ expectation showed how
The fourth chapter in Putnam’s Our Kids is titled “Schooling”, and it focuses on how education plays into class inequality. The argument is that while schools do not cause the opportunity gap between poor kids and rich kids, but the schools allow it to grow. Putnam claims, “schools as sites probably widen the class gap,” (182). How the schools act as these sites, is based strongly on the physical segregation of rich people from poor people. Putnam refers to this segregation as “residential sorting”, and states that, “residential sorting by income [...] has shunted high-income and low-income students into separate schools,” (163). Rich parents want their kids in the best schools, with the best teachers and the best peers, and are able to afford
In the study of The Way Schools Work we learned to question the ideals of meritocracy and the American dream. However, Conflict Theories challenge the system of meritocracy, in which people are sorted and selected on the basis of talent and ability. On the contrary, “Conflict Theories, on the other hand, imply a system of inheritance in which people’s life chances are largely determined by their starting point within an existing structure of inequality” (McNamee and Miller Jr. 2014, 11). According to these theorists mentioned in The Way Schools Work (Boudin 1974; Bowles and Gintis 1976; Carnoy 1972; Carnoy and Levin 1985; Persell 1977), they speak about how schools reproduce status in several ways. First, they use formal language, and hold
In her article she points out how social class has become the main gateway to opportunity in America. The widening academic divide means that kids who grow up poor will most likely stay poor and the kids who grow up rich will most likely stay rich. About fifty years ago the main concern about getting a good education relied on your race but now it's about your social class. Researchers are starting to believe that children who come from higher income families tend to do better in school and get higher test scores.
Since countries and cities are different, it seems that it is difficult to compare different education systems. With the influence of the globalization, the social problems tend to be common problems in the world. Canada and China are in different education systems but still have the same problem with educational equity. With the period change and policies seems to be improve by the government in both countries. When facing with the ethnic minority communities, China used several methods to give privilege to the groups in order to improve their education level. For example, after 1977, the educational policy was more in favor of the minority groups by empowering certain ethnic regions with the ability to administer the exams in the local language
When it comes to equal opportunity and education, in receiving “quality education”, also directly implies studying in a more “quality environment.” This is why the education system should be more equal to everybody. Regardless of the system of the school rather it is private or public, students from upper or lower class do get the same education, just not the same treatment. Private school produces kids that are more presentable, but in no way they are any smarter than kids going to public schools.
In this documentary, many of the individuals were “born rich,” meaning that they have inherited an excessive amount of money, not because of their intelligence and talent, but because they are heirs to wealth. The director of the film, Jamie Johnson highlights the life of the rich, in which the wealthy 1% have more than the rest of the 99% of people. Meritocracy is non-existent in the life of the rich. A rich person has many educational benefits, because they have the networks and connections that those of the middle and lower classes do not have. The rich have the right access to schools because of their wealth and power that comes from their wealthy status. For example, in the documentary one of the rich kids, Luke Weil, attended Brown University and was describing his entry to the Ivy League as expected. He did well on the boards, but it was “incidental” (Weil, movie) because without it he would have still went to Brown University or any other Ivy League University because of his inherited wealth. Interestingly, even when he attended Brown University, he was not a good student, where in his first year he did not attend more than eight academic events, including tests and exams. As a result, he was put on academic probation because he was not attending classes so he was
Social justice is advocating for all people to be entitled to their human rights. It is a view that everyone deserves equal economic, political, social and educational opportunities. In the United States, everyone does not have equal opportunities and are treated fairly, which leads to the different civil rights movements and reform efforts. A social justice issue that does not receive a lot of attention is that children in the U.S do not have equal educational opportunities. Typically, geographic location determines if a child would receive a high quality education. A high quality education would involve a strong vision and leadership, ambitious standards and effective teachers and principals (Stewart, 2012). Unfortunately, all
The analytical lens that will be constructed aims to allow for an interpretation of how students who are attempting to be upwardly-mobile are helped with moving beyond roadblocks that prevent mobility. This is mobility is achieved through a combination of adherence to meritocratic systems and the borrowing of cultural capital. I will argue that reproduction occurs when reliance on meritocracy in the educational system and the limited cultural capital of the student’s working-class parent/s are solely employed. In order to move beyond a mere reproduction of the parent’s social class, I argue that the student must interact with individuals or groups from higher social spheres who know how to activate cultural capital in specific instances
The means of justifying these inequalities are important for the entire world. Education played and will always play a big role in everyone’s lives. Equality in education will eventually guarantee every person a better position in society. Educational inequality is the difference in learning effectiveness and results as faced by students with varying backgrounds. The effects of educational inequality are not only left within the circles of education, but also remain further to have an impact on other life aspects. All over the world, there have been unending calls to reform education at each level. With various causes that are very much connected to society, history and culture, the educational inequality has apparently been one of the most difficult challenges to address. Regardless of the challenges faced in removing educational inequality, education has continued to be a very important part of society with a big expectation of moving it forward. In the current-day America, very many disadvantaged children have continued to grow up missing key skills. Discrimination has continued to persevere in educational achievement between racial issues. Above all, low performance levels among these disadvantaged children have over the years been responsible for the long-term issues, especially in such an society with higher levels of skills and a failing incomes offered to those people that are less-skilled.
The implications for teaching presented by Connell’s article are immense. The concept of equality in education and the equality of access to education are matters that are determined by the social constructs of the society in which we live. The notion of equality in education means that educators must approach all material and subject matter with a premise of unbiased predetermination. Music, math, science, fine arts, English, Japanese, history, etc… must all be considered on a par. Our current educational system does not treat all subjects as equal in our public education system. The stereotypical reading, writing and arithmetic (primary subjects) take precedence over the fine arts and like subjects (secondary subjects). Social justice criteria as presented in this article, establish that economic variables are a means of determination for favouritism within the educational institution. Where the primary subjects receive ensured funding, the secondary subjects receive funding when deemed viable. This creates inequality at the very base of the institution itself. The result is degradation to all facets of the educational system.
Socioeconomic status can be defined in terms of family wealth and assets as well as educational background. For this reason, many comparisons can be made between socioeconomic status and education. Furthermore, academic achievement and the level of education reached by an individual, is determined by socioeconomic status. Research has shown that environmental circumstances and family issues greatly influence a child's future because the impact of the socioeconomic status depends on the level to which an individual becomes successful in life. Research also shows that family conditions can impact a child’s education and their quality of life. For example, being raised in a high-economic culture increases the chances that a child will attend
...tionally and these inequalities continue, although it does indicate that there is an element of bringing about equality beyond the meritocratic system. It is hard to envisage a Britain without an education system; however the survival of the meritocratic system by which success is measured is not so certain.
Education is a vital part of society. It serves the beneficial purpose of educating our children and getting them ready to be productive adults in today's society. But, the social institution of education is not without its problems. Continual efforts to modify and improve the system need to be made, if we are to reap the highest benefits that education has to offer to our children and our society as a whole.
In recent years, Hong Kong education system has undergone a great change. In the past, students studied five-year junior secondary education, two-year senior secondary education and three-year tertiary education. Since school year 2009/10, secondary and tertiary education composed of three-year junior secondary education, three-year senior education and four-year tertiary education (3-3-4 Scheme). Apart from the academic structure of education system, new compulsory subjects like Liberal Studies was also introduced to facilitate independent thinking of students. The examples given above showed that the HKSAR government is working hard to change the education system from similar to the British system, to similar to the Chinese system. Given that Hong Kong’s education system changes from time to time, how will the sociologists see from these changes? The following essay is going to discuss the education system of Hong Kong based on the following three sociological perspective: the structural-functional approach, the social-conflict approach and the symbolic-interaction approach.