Social Inequality in Education: A Constraint on an American High-Skills Future

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  • Author(s): Lewis, Theodore
  • Language:
    English
  • Source:
    Curriculum Inquiry. Dec 2007 37(4):329-349.
  • Publication Date:
    2007
  • Document Type:
    Journal Articles
    Opinion Papers
  • Additional Information
    • Availability:
      Blackwell Publishing. 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148. Tel: 800-835-6770; Tel: 781-388-8599; Fax: 781-388-8232; e-mail: [email protected]; Web site: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/jnl_default.asp
    • Peer Reviewed:
      Y
    • Source:
      21
    • Subject Terms:
      Equal Education; Global Approach; Developed Nations; Labor Force Development; Vocational Education; Skill Development; Job Skills; Role of Education; College Bound Students; Noncollege Bound Students; Socioeconomic Influences; Social Class; Democracy; Competition; Social Influences
    • Subject Terms:
      United States
    • Accession Number:
      10.1111/j.1467-873X.2007.00390.x
    • ISSN:
      0362-6784
    • Abstract:
      Countries everywhere are turning to education in the quest for competitive edge in the global economy. How to attain the high skills needed in new reformed workplaces is a preoccupation that can be observed across developed countries. In this widening discourse of high skills and competitiveness, the U.S. skills production model is being seen as undesirable because it is perceived to be premised upon educational inequality and skills polarization. This article agrees with such characterization of the U.S educational condition. It examines skill tendencies in new reformed workplaces and conceptions of how schools must respond, then interrogates assumptions underpinning college-bound-non-college-bound formulations that would have low socioeconomic status (SES) children pursuing watered-down academic fare, or vocational education, while high SES children are set on college pathways. I contend that curricula approaches that are premised on alternative post-school destinations leave the children of underclasses in the same unfavorable position as their parents, such curricula serving only to reproduce inequality. The article rejects curriculum tracking, and the notion of the non-college bound, and instead argues for the democratization of high status knowledge as the best response to the challenge of a high-skills future.
    • Abstract:
      Author
    • Number of References:
      90
    • Publication Date:
      2007
    • Accession Number:
      EJ780413