Social Inequality In The Bell Curve

Social class refers to the system of stratification of the different groups of people in a society. Social class makes everyone’s lives extremely different. So does education. Not surprisingly, affluent students in well-off school districts have higher rates of high school graduation, college attendance and entry to the more selective colleges. This has little to do with intelligence or ability. Statistics provided by the College Board for 2013, suggest that having more money is the key to getting

When one speaks of intelligence or how bright another person is, the often quoted figure is the IQ or intelligence quotient. It is the most often used standard of how smart a person is. This paper shall look at what intelligence tests measure, how the IQ tests measure intelligence and interrogate their history. It shall then apply the tests to school policy and hence evaluate their validity.

Society’s view on intelligence is becoming watered down from the truth. In Rose’s article, “Blue Collar Brilliance” Rose discusses societies outlook on intelligence. Rose explains how society thinks blue collared jobs don’t involve any intelligence, and anyone can do a blue collared job. He explains how society thinks that since you don’t have to have a high education to perform well in blue collared jobs, it takes little to no intelligence. Rose says, “We reinforce this notion by defining intelligence solely on grades in school and numbers on IQ test” (Rose 279). Rose explains that even though most blue collared jobs don’t require a college degree, they still demand many forms of intelligence. Rose also explains how his brother dropped out of school in the ninth grade but eventually became a successful employee of the company General Motors. In Graff’s article, “Hidden Intellectualism” he explains how there are many students in today’s world who have an outstanding amount of “street smarts” but are failing school. He explains

According to Bynner and Joshi (1999) class differences have persisted since the late 1950’s. It can be seen that all studies carried out by various theorist came to the same conclusion that middle class pupils tend to do a lot better than working class in terms of educational achievement. Pupils from middle class backgrounds tend to pass more exams, stay on at school for longer and are five times more likely to go to university. This gap in achievement widens with age as right from nursery school to university, processes like labelling or the self fulfilling prophecy take

In Gillian Evans’ book of ‘Educational Failure and Working Class White Children in Britain,’ she mainly draws attention between the link of social class and education. Children, who have been brought up in a working class background, do not really have much of a head start in education in comparison to children who come from middle/upper-class backgrounds (Evans, 2006). Educational and economic status of parents plays an essential role on the road to success for their children. What’s more, her chapter proposes that children from working class backgrounds are innate to possess a low level of intelligence, but it can still be argued that a minority of children who come from working class backgrounds do tend to get great results (Evans, 2006). The author has illustrated an outlook on the social structure of intelligence and the way in which a child’s and parents relationship can have an impact on their level of understanding (Evans, 2006). It is commonly known that children tend to always pick things up and the learning process is

Throughout time one of the most obvious class markers has been education and it still remains so. People who belong to the higher classes view education as a higher priority and have more access to the best school in the country. When stuck in lower classes people must attend schools where books, computers, and education are not found at the same level. An article in the Atantic Times mentions that “ Kids who belong to lower social classes fell behind children in the upper classes by about a year or so.” Today, that gap is close to four years.” For those in the upper class their kids are placed in an abundance of classes from an early age such as foreign language, art, and many sports. Children who are in lower classes have no way of getting a head start when compared to children in higher classes Sarah Garland also mentions how “ When children have plenty of time to build social skills and bigger vocabularies in short term reduce their chances of

Nevertheless, education of the “elite” in isolation of the “masses” provides value for society, as those with inherent gifts are given tools to improve their quality of life, while also using their learned moral responsibilities to make a better society, thereby benefitting

Social inequality can practically be made apparent at any moment of someone’s life – whether at work or school amongst peers or simply watching the news in the morning. According to Dalton Conley, social inequality is narrowly defined as “a condition in which a difference in wealth, power, prestige, or status based on nonnatural conventions exist” (2017 p.241). Moreover, social inequality is a process whereby society can determine how a class of people is expected to coexist within predetermined social, political, and economic boundaries. The affected class will live within the predefined constraints, and the affected class will then pass the predefined constraints on to future generations. It is imperative to understand that social inequality is a result of social stratification, which according to

In general, the article is about the link between the inheritable privilege and education in the United States. The privilege is heritable from parents to their kids not only in wealth but also in intellect. Children who were born in the conditional family with higher parental income are more likely to succeed in school and get better jobs. In addition, the author talks more about the meritocracy and what parents do and how to spend money for their children to help them succeed in school. Furthermore, genes are not the main factor that decides the intelligence of people, but money plays an important role. In the article, the author also gives the solutions and suggests the ideas in order to solve the problems.

Throughout the world, social classes tend to separate people into groups. Everything depends on a person’s experience with wealth and power. Therefore, the levels of education determine the value of a person. In the articles, “Blue-Collar Brilliance” and “Why Colleges Shower Their Students with A’s” by Rose and Staples, they go in depth about how education and wealth plays a significant role in today’s society.

The intellectual education as a means of removing poverty and securing abundance is often seen as the road to success, but how much of its truth still applies today? Like in any job, no matter how much hard work put into it, an employee would still be considered an employee and would never become the owner of that company. Could it also be true that the same road education offers to success could also offer a limit to the success you could accomplish in life? An article titled “From Social Class And The Hidden Curriculum Of Work” done by Jean Anyon a professor in the Graduate Center of the City University of New York suggests that “School experience…differed qualitatively by social class...may not only contribute

In life nowadays, social status has a great significance on daily lives today. People with a higher social status tend to be “popular” or an “influence”. With social status comes social inequalities whether it be from government roles, gender status, class status, and/or intelligence. Without social inequalities, we would not be the way we are; we would not be different, we would not have worth, we would not be unique. From certain books, certain authors expose these inequalities through various ways, including society.

People can not put on the news without seeing at least one story about social inequality or injustice, if everyone knows about these inequities why are they not being solved? Inequities are not limited to America, social inequity is a global problem making it extremely important to raise awareness of the topic. Inequities such as racism and sexism impact teenagers in America, but to counteract this persecution authors can use various genres of literature to promote tolerance and reduce the effects of inequities. Racism and sexism violates people’s rights in schools, the workplace, and almost every place in the world. Through the words of authors, society can learn the harmful effects of these inequities, and learn how

These children are defrauded not just of an education, but also of the ability to be socially mobile. Researchers of the American Psychological Association found that education level directly correlates with socioeconomic status. A lack of education undermines any individual’s true capability, preventing them from surpassing their academic limitations. Potential important figures and world leaders may never come to be if not given the tools to become what they can become. The next generation’s Einsteins and Gandhis will not exemplify their prowesses if never given the rudiments

Chapter One on page 6 there is a summary of the book; “Intelligence and How to Get it”, by Richard Nisbett. The theory that applies to this summary is the Marxism Theory. The reason is that Nisbett explains how middle-class groups have higher IQ scores compared to lower-income groups. Nisbett shows middle-class individuals have the ability to access educational material and educational support a lot easier than lower-income individuals. These reasons raise the question, is education really equal between the two groups? If the author is going by Marxism Theory than there is no way that the education between the two groups is equal. In Marxism theory the upper class group has the upper hand compared to lower class group.