Essay Education and Social Inequality

Australia. A country associated with the ideals of mateship, integrity and equality; a nation renowned for its people and characterised by the strong belief in ‘a fair go’. Australia’s history is one of a constant belief in the value of egalitarianism, amid changing levels of inequality. Many have said that this ideology is culturally ingrained in the Australian identity; however, the notion of Australia as a classless nation is a persistent myth of egalitarianism that must now be superseded. It manifests in an unwillingness to acknowledge the causes of the deep inequalities that permeate Australian society.

With the world renown hallmark as the ‘lucky country’, it can be difficult to comprehend how the very people we have to thank for the prosperous land on which we live, are amongst the most disadvantaged in the world, rivalling many from developing countries. The dispossession of land, displacement of Australia’s first people and unremitting discrimination since European settlement, has given rise to intergenerational disadvantage in areas such as education, employment and health (***). Whilst the three areas are intertwined, education is unmistakably a quintessential vehicle for building resilience and improving socioeconomic outcomes for Indigenous Australians(***). Teachers and schools alike play a key role in acknowledging and addressing past and present injustices through:

Education is fundamental to growth, the growth of the individual, and the growth of a nation. Anthropologically this can be seen from the earliest of developments of human societies where practices emerge to ensure the passing of accumulated knowledge from one generation to the next. In the centuries since the invasion and colonisation of Australia in 1788, colonist authorities and governments have dominated the making of policies regarding most major aspects of Australian life, including the lives of Indigenous Australians. The enactment of these policies and legislation, whether targeted at society as a whole or directly at education, has had significant and most often negative causal impact on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, resulting in not only poor educational outcomes, but the loss of cultural identity, the development of serious issues in health and wellbeing, and the restriction of growth of Aboriginal communities. Moreover, there has been an ongoing pattern of the adoption of ill-informed policies in Australia, resulting in these poor outcomes and cultural decimation. Aboriginal people have developed a wariness, a mistrust, and even an attitude of avoidance to engage with non-Indigenous officials and those who they associate as their representatives, i.e. personnel working within

Public education gives all students the opportunity to gain a quality education within Australia. This education is of a high quality and free, thus creating fairness for all.

Individuals with higher levels of education tend to have better health, greater social engagement, longer life expectancy and they generally feel happier (OECD 2013). Throughout the Australian history, Aboriginal communities were deprived of basic human rights which resulted in poor quality of life and poor education outcomes

     Will Durant, a businessman and the founder of General Motors, once said, “Education is the transmission of civilization.” Unfortunately, education is still one of the most deliberated and controversial issues in the United States. Thus far, the privilege or right to receive education has not attained the level of equality throughout the nation; poor districts obtain less educational funding while rich districts obtain more, creating an immense gap between the quality of schools in poor and rich areas.

Australia has suffered a large gap in education due to socio-economic class. Generations ago, social class was a major part of society that separated the different classes especially in education. The wealthy attended school and only a percentage of the poor received little education as most left school to help provide for the family. These days, although the Australian government is funding schools giving the opportunity of an education to all families regardless of their class, social class is still an intimidating debate among society. So, the question is does social class still have an impact on Australian education? This essay will discuss reasons, through field research and studies, as to why various social classes are still apparent

Though this policy attempts to achieve a support of diversity and an increase of equity among the Victorian community, its affects are hindered by an education system that favours the middle class and above. As stated by Reid (2013, p. 13), the equity espoused within policy ‘is produced by policy processes which are counterproductive to the achievement of equity.’ This means that, in order to really achieve equity for all students, the education system needs to

The quantitative data I used in this research study had sufficient evidence to identify a trend in educational systems: a trend where those of higher social class receive a higher quality education; a trend that, I concluded, needs to be resolved in order to eradicate inequality due to social class. Being able to identify these injustices, and having the educational background to use as a tool when looking at societal issues, should prove to be extremely invaluable when working as a

One of the concerns regarding social justice in education is that there are marginalised groups within society do not having equal access to the learning and life opportunities that they deserve. The concept of social justice stresses that every individual within society is entitled to have equal rights and opportunities. This means that an individual from a lower class background deserves the same opportunities as a person from a wealthier background. It is about becoming aware and recognising that there are certain situations where the application of the same rules to unequal groups can sometimes lead to imbalanced results. It is therefore crucial that the government create a curriculum that can empower every student regardless of their

Cultural capital is an idea that was used by Bordieu to contribute to his explanation of inequality in social settings (Zepke & Leach, 2007). It comprises the “norms, values and practices of a society” (Zepke & Leach, 2007, p.657). “Cultural capital includes cultural resources and activities that are expressed in the relationships between parents and children” (Tramonte & Willms, 2010, p.203). This results in cultural capital being different in different social settings. This can create inequality because of the difference in values, knowledge and skills that individuals can bring to a certain environment. One issue can be the conflict between teacher and student because of their cultural capital and can result in unequal educational outcomes because the cultural capital of others is valued higher than other students.

As with most institutions, vested interests have a hand in shaping education. There are more stakeholders in education with differing views on how education should run than in the past (Meadmore, Burnett & O’Brien, 1999). Education is driven by internal and external agendas (Meadmore et al., 1999), but the neoliberal agenda is a mostly external influence. In the Australian context, neoliberal policy is supported by a broad middle spectrum of politics (Forsey, 2008). Hill and Kumar’s (2008) identify the capitalist class and business as stakeholders. This is true, as under corporatism large interest groups wield stronger influences over states and organisations. However, Hill and Kumar (2008) view leans towards a rationale

How is it in the year 2017, we are still considering there isn’t a class structure in Australia? There are so many examples occurring in our everyday life such as, where one person is living geographically could justify their wealth or where someone went to school could justify how intelligent this person is. But with these examples, it seems like it is an invisible factor that we have become accustomed or prone to these types of justifications. Verity Archer a writer in the book “Sociologic: Analysing Everything life and culture” said “we all think were in the middle-class wise, this belief is a core part of our national identity” . This is similar to what I am trying to explain, that we all think we’re on the same level, however, we’re all on an imaginary level of various class-structures . Two sociologists Karl Max (1818-1883) and Erik Olin Wright (1947) had two similar but different views on the way our society is classed and how their theories are adapting in our everyday lives, with the privileged minority of Australia to reinforce ongoing inequality to the working-class. The aim of this essay is to see how in today’s reality, the theories of Max and Wright are adapted into our workforce, education and family structures. We get an insight in what the theories are trying to explain? And the differences between the two theories

Bowles and Gintis felt it was important to write this article, because they believe that the politics of education are better understood in terms of the need for social control in an unequal and rapidly changing economic order. This point is illustrated on page 396 when the authors say, “The unequal

Although education should be the way out of poverty and inequality, there is the evidence that still, ‘graduates who went to private schools earn substantially more than those who went to state schools’ (The Institute for Fiscal Studies, 2014). The gap was quite substantial as it amounted up to 17 per cent, depending on the university and subject they studied. Nonetheless, even for those who came from a similar background, graduated from the same university, studied the same subjects, achieved the same grade, and chose a similar career, those, who attended state schools, still earned 7 per cent less than graduates from private schools. Such evidence suggests the question, why the higher education, which is perceived as the route out of poverty into equality and prosperity, does not level the opportunities and does not prevent the discrimination. Would implement a social justice approach be able to close such gaps? Social justice with equal distribution of opportunity, income and wealth achieved through respective policies in the politics, economy and social welfare (Craig, 2002).