The Marxist View on the Role of the Education System

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The Marxist View on the Role of the Education System In this essay I am going to examine the Marxist view that the role of the education system is to reproduce and justify the existing class structure. Marxists see the educational system as a mechanism for maintaining class inequalities, for example the reproduction of the capitalist system. The capitalist system is one where by the rich (the bourgeoisie) stay rich and the poor (the proletariat) stay poor. Marxists do not believe in meritocracy, this is where the educational system gives equal opportunities to everyone despite their background. They believe that education is designed to help and benefit the bourgeoisie. They believe that schools and teachers reject working class pupils and so the working class pupils will not perform to their highest capabilities. Bowles and Gintis were two Marxists who did not agree with meritocracy. They believed that your social class determined how you would end up in life, for example if you were middle class the teachers would spend more time with you, thus encouraging you to stay on in further education and receive better qualifications and a better job. The working class would be rejected by the teachers, and would spend less time at school therefore not gaining any qualifications and ending up in working class jobs. They conducted a study in New York and found that grades were based more on personality traits than on academic abilities. They believed the low grade students were aggressive, independent and creative whereas the higher grade students persevered, and were dependable, consistant and punctual. Bowles and Gintis concluded tha... ... middle of paper ... ... for individual success can bring worthwhile rewards. Willis also points out however that this rejection of the school values is actually the pupils downfall as it was ultimately reproductive ie. They ended up in manual jobs as a result of having no qualifications. The lads rejection of school makes them the victims of a system where their labour will be exploited in the workplace. Criticisms of the Marxist view are that they are too deterministic. They also ignore the influence of the formal curriculum, and the Marxists place too much blame on the teachers. Also functionalists argue that education performs certain essential functions that no other institute could. They also believe in meritocracy, that the brightest people will get the best jobs and the people who were not so bright ended up in working class jobs.

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