EXCERPTS FROM RICHARD BREEN AND JOHN H. GOLDTHORPE’S

EXPLAINING EDUCATIONAL DIFFERENTIALS: TOWARDS A FORMAL RATIONAL ACTION THEORY

JOHN N. ABLETIS, UPD-CSSP-MASocio

Introduction

Over the last half-century at least, all economically advanced societies have experienced a process of educational expansion…

Class differentials in educational attainment have tended to display a high degree of stability…

Over a relatively short period… gender differentials in levels of educational attainment… have in nearly all advanced societies declined sharply…

(Edited version. Table retrieved on March 03, 2010 from www.nso.gov.ph)

(Edited version. Table retrieved on March 03, 2010 from www.nscb.gov.ph)

TertiaryTotal

2,373,486

2,430,842

2,466,056

2,426,976

2,431,378

2,402,315

2,483,645

…the higher the level of education, the larger the number of dropouts. According to the latest Philippine Human Development Report, out of 1000 children who enter grade 1… only 650 children will actually complete the full elementary cycle of six years… Of those 650 who finish elementary school, only 580 will go on to high school. Seventy will dropout of these 580 and only 420-430 will graduate from high school. Of those high school graduates, only 230 will enroll in college… Out of that 230 who go to college, only 120 of them will actually graduate, or obtain a college degree… Of those 120 who finish college only 1 will come from the poorest of the poor- from families at the bottom 10% of the income ladder.

-Prof. Winnie MonsodRetrieved March 9, 2010 from

http://blogs.gmanews.tv/winnie-monsod/archives/6-Enrollment-vs.-dropout.html

(Edited version. Table retrieved on March 03, 2010 from www.nscb.gov.ph)

continuation…

Assumption 1: Class differentials in educational attainment come about through the operation of two different kinds of effect …[i.e. primary and secondary]

Primary effects are all those that are expressed in the association that exists between children’s class origins and their average levels of demonstrated academic ability

continuation…

Secondary effects... are the effects that are expressed in the actual choices that children, together perhaps with their parents, make in the course of their careers within the educational system—including the choice of exit. Some educational choices may of course be precluded to some children because of the operation of primary effects…But typically, a set of other choices remains… overall patterns of choice that are made, are in themselves… important source of class differentials in attainment.

continuation…

sub-assumption Patterns of educational choice reflect action

on the part of children and their parents that can be understood as rational, i.e. they reflect evaluations made of the costs and benefits of possible alternatives… these evaluations will be in turn conditioned by differences in the typical constraints and opportunities that actors in different class positions face and in the level of resources that they command.

the authors seek to dispense ‘culturalist’ accounts of class differentials in educational attainment

continuation…

Assumption 2: Existence of class structure, i.e. structure of positions defined by relations in labour markets and production units….[ with hierarchy of classes] in terms of resources associated with… positions. (i.e. S, W, U)

Assumption 3: Existence of an education system, i.e. set of educational institutions defining various options that are open to individuals at successive stages in their educational careers…[institutions with] education of differing kinds, [entailing] individuals making choices at certain ‘branching points’ that they may not be able later to modify, or at least not in a costless way…

A Model of Educational Decisions

The model [to be presented] is intended to be generic: that is, as one applicable in principle to the entire range of decisions that young people may be required to make over the course of their educational careers as regards leaving or staying on or as regards which educational option to pursue.

continuation…

Notation:P – pass the examinationF – failed the examinationL – leavingπ – subjective beliefs in success at the next stageα, β, γ – subjective chances (probability) of access to a

certain class due to educational outcomesS – service class or salariat of professionals,

administrators, and managersW – working classU – underclass –with precarious place in the labour

market and in only the lowest grades of employment if not unemployed.

Figure 1: Single decision tree

11

Stay for the completion of a (further) level

Leave

π

1 - π

P

F

L

W

S

W

S

U

W

S

U

α

1 - α

β1

1 - β1 - β2

β2

γ1

γ2

1 - γ1 - γ2

Examination

continuation…

In deciding whether to continue in education or leave, parents and their children, we suppose, take into account three factors: Cost of remaining at school (i.e. C > 0) The likelihood of success if a pupil continues

in education (π measures the subjective conditional probability of passing the relevant examination given continuation)

The value or utility that children and their families attach to the three educational outcomes represented by P, F., and L.

continuation…

Societal consensus in regard to a set of beliefs… on the parameters in question…

i. α > β1 and α > γ1…remaining at school and succeeding affords a better chance of access to the service class…

ii. γ1 + γ2 > β1 + β2. Remaining at school and failing increases the chances of entering the underclass [than remaining at school and passing]…

continuation…

iii. γ2 /γ1 > 1; (γ2 /γ1) ≥ (β1/β2). Those who leave school immediately have a better chance of entry to the working class than to the service class. This may or may not be the case among those who remain at school and fail though…their odds of entering the working class rather than the service class are not greater than for those who leave school immediately.

iv. α > 0.5. Staying on at school and passing the examination makes entry to the service class more likely than entry to the working class.

continuation…

In the interest of realism, especially (ii) and (iii) above, it ought to be noted that ‘leaving’ and entering the labour market need not in most educational systems be equated with a definitive ending of the individual’s educational career. Taking this option could in fact lead to further vocational courses pursued in conjunction with employment.

The Generation of Class Differentials

Assumptions: Children of Service class and Working class differ in average ability as > aw , and, [that they differ in] resources [rs > rw] which they can use to meet c, the costs of education… we do not suppose any class-specific cultural values or social norms nor any class differences in the subjective α, β, γ parameters of our model.

continuation…

Three mechanisms through which class differentials in educational attainment may arise at the level of ‘secondary’ effects Relative risk aversion

families of S and W classes want to avoid, for their children, any position in life that is worse than the one from which they start. (This means maximizing the probability of access to S or W, and minimizing the probability of access to U.)… This [means] that… children from middle-class [service class] backgrounds will more strongly ‘prefer’ (in the sense of perceiving it to be in their best interests) to remain in school to a further level of education rather than leave.

continuation…

Differences in Ability and Expectations of Success [To continue in education] ability a ≥ k threshold,

remember as > aw , hence, the proportion of service-class children who meet this condition exceeds the proportion of working-class children

π = f(a) – pupils own knowledge of their ability helps shape the subjective probability they attached to being successful in the next stage of education. If as > aw, then πs > πw.

continuation…

Differences in Resources To continue in education ri > c ,where is the

level of resources available for children’s education in the ith family. If rs > rw , then the proportion of service-class pupils will exceed the proportion of working-class pupils.

Explaining Empirical Generalizations

…widely observed persistence of class differentials in educational attainment in the context of an overall increase in educational participation rates (due to the relative decline over time of costs c of education in all economically advanced countries e.g. compulsory schooling, abolition of fees, student loans)

…there is a widespread increase in the desire to remain in full-time education as educational credentials come to take on increasing importance in the labor market and in securing a relatively advantaged class position.

continuation…

θ = [Фs/(1- Фs)]/[Фw/(1- Фw)]…given the decline over time in c, together with an increase in the proportion of both service- and working-class pupils who consider it in their best interests to remain in education, the odds of continuing in education increase by a roughly constant amount for each class, and so preserve a similar constancy in the odds ratio.

continuation…

Further reductions in c will then have no influence on the numbers of service-class children who choose to continue but will still increase the proportion of working-class children who do so…

If class differences in resources r become smaller, our model would predict that differentials in educational attainment, as measured by odds-rations, would in turn decline.

continuation…

Because gender differentials arise within, rather than between, families, neither changes in the costs of education nor in inequalities in resources among families are appropriate to explaining their reduction. In the light of our model, this may rather be seen as resulting from shifts in the perception of educational returns that have been prompted by changes in women’s labor market participation Social roles of women in the society

ex. “… their qualifications had to be such as to provide them into contact with potential service-class husbands, and this requirement might be met through only relatively modest levels of educational attainment”

[clarification]

…we are not required to suppose that, in making educational choices, children and their parents in fact go through the processes of ratiocination that the model might appear to attribute to them… What underlies our approach is the idea that it is rational considerations that are, not the only, but the main common factor at work across individual instances, and that will therefore shape patterns of educational choices… Our model then aims to represent these considerations in an ‘idealized’ way…

[clarification]

While we do not in explaining class differentials in education invoke systematic variation in values or derived norms, this does not mean that we have to deny their very existence. Thus, in so far as class-specific norms may be identified… we could recognize them as serving as guides to rational action that have evolve over time out of distinctive class experiences and that may substitute for detailed calculation when education choices arise.

EXCERPTS FROM RALPH H. TURNER’S

SPONSORED AND CONTEST MOBILITY AND THE SCHOOL SYSTEM

JOHN N. ABLETIS, UPD-CSSP-MASocio

Introduction

The discussion is all about the manner in which the accepted mode of upward mobility shapes the school system directly and indirectly through its effects on the values which implement social control.

The Nature of Organizing Norms

Assumption Within a formally open class system that provides

for mass education, the organizing folk norms which defines the accepted mode of upward mobility is a crucial factor in shaping the school system…2 different organizing folk norms Contest mobility – is a system in which elite status is

the prize in an open contest and is taken by the aspirants’ own efforts (e.g. the case of US)

Sponsored mobility – elite recruits are chosen by the established elite or their agents, and elite status is given on the basis of some criterion of supposed merit and cannot be taken by any amount of effort or strategy (e.g. that of England)

Social Control and the Two Norms

Every society must cope with the problem of maintaining loyalty to its social system…Norms and values especially prevalent within a given class must direct behavior into channels that support the totally system, while those that transcend strata must support the general class differential…The most conspicuous control problem is that of ensuring loyalty in the disadvantaged classes toward a system in which their members receive less than a proportional share of society’s goods.

continuation…Contest Mobility Sponsored Mobility

• [to ensure loyalty to its subjects, the system use a] combination of futuristic orientation, the norm of ambition, and a general sense of fellowship with the elite. Each individual is encouraged to think of himself as competing for an elite position…

• [About threat to the system:] sufficient internalization of a norm of ambition tends to leave the unambitious as individual deviants and to forestall the latter's’ formation of a genuine subcultural group able to offer collective threat to the established system [-instead, gang deviancy is more likely to take the form of an attack upon the conventional or moral order].

• Insecurity of elite positions [since] there is no “final arrival” because each person may be displaced by newcomers throughout life

• control… is maintained by training the “masses” to regard themselves as relatively incompetent to manage society, by restricting access to the skills and manners of the elite, and by cultivating the belief in the superior competence of the elite… elitists must still be restrained from taking such advantage of their favorable situation as to jeopardize the entire elite…

• principal threat to the system would lie in the existence of a strong group the members of whom sought to take elite positions themselves

• perfect setting for the development of an elite culture characterized by a sense of responsibility for ”inferiors” and for preservation of the “finer things” of life

Contest Mobility Sponsored Mobility

• popular tolerance of a little craftiness in the successful newcomer…leaves considerable leeway for unscrupulous success.

• there is not the same degree of homogeneity of moral, aesthetic, and intellectual values to be emulated, so that the conspicuous attribute of the elite is its high level of material consumption –emulation itself follows this course. [No] effective incentive nor punishment for the elitist who fails to interest himself in [classical subjects]

• the uncompromising recruit reflects unfavorably on the judgments of his sponsors and threatens the myth of elite omniscience; consequently he may be tolerated and others may “cover up” for his deficiencies in order to protect the unified front of the elite to the outerworld

• a good deal of the protective attitudes toward and interest in classical subjects percolates to the masses…[class functions to support the quality of aesthetic, literary, and intellectual activities]

continuation…

Formal Education

constant strains to shape the educational system into conformity with that [organizing] norm. These strains operate in two fashions: directly, by blinding people to alternatives

and coloring their judgments of successful and unsuccessful solutions to recurring educational problems [???]

indirectly, through the functional interrelationships between school systems, the class structure, [and] systems of social control

continuation…

Contest Mobility Sponsored Mobility

• [the case of US…] a major preoccupation has been to avoid any sharp social separation between the superior and inferior students and to keep the channels of movement between courses of study as open as possible

•The English system… [has] retained the attempt to sort out early in the educational program the promising from the unpromising so that the former may be segregated and given a special form of training to fit them for higher standing in their adult years.

from Ballantine, 1989, p. 79

Students in different ability grouping have quite different school experiences. These in turn affect their life chances, self-concepts, motivations, IQ and achievement levels, and other aspects of school and work experiences. Of the three major ways in which reproductionist theorists argue that classes are reproduced (public vs private schooling, SES composition of school communities, and ability grouping students), research shows tracking to be the most important mechanism in the reproduction process. Colclough and Beck show that students from manual class backgrounds are over twice as likely to be placed in a vocational track as are other students. Table 3-2 shows the importance of each of these factors in the reproduction of class.

Source: Jones, J. D. & Vanfossen, B. E. in Ballantine, 1989, p. 80

TABLE 3-2

Source: Abletis, J. N. (2009). Labeling as a Consequence of Homogeneous Student-Sectioning at Justice Cecilia Muñoz Palma High School and its subsequent effects on Selected Student Related Variables, PUP BS Sociology Undergraduate Thesis

Number of Years the Student-Respondents spentin their present “section-status” *

*corrected version

from Gillborn & Youdell, 2001, pp. 87-88

… Figure 4.6 illustrates the tiering models currently in operation [at Taylor Comprehensive and Clough GM]. Pupils are entered in a particular tier and can only attain the grades associated with that level. In tow-tier model, for example, pupils in the Higher Tier can attain grades A* through D; a pupil performing below the level required from a grade D will usually be given a U (Ungraded) result. Tiering means that a pupil placed in the Foundation Tier cannot attain the highest grades (A*-B)…

The increasing use of selection lends institutional weight to differential teacher expectations about the ‘ability’ of various pupils. It is our contention that these processes are effectively leading to the rationing of educational opportunity.

from Gillborn & Youdell, 2001, pp. 88-89

A*ABCD

Two Tiers

CDEFG

Three TiersA*ABCD

BCDE

DEFG

Higher TierIntermediate TierFoundation Tier

Pupils(patient

s)

Triage

Safe(non-

urgent cases)

Under-achiev

ers (suitable cases

for treatme

nt)

Without hope (hopele

ss cases)

Figure 4.6

Effects of Mobility on Personality

supposed effects of upward mobility on personality development the stress or tension involved in striving for

status higher than that of others under more difficult conditions than they

the complication of interpersonal relations introduced by the necessity to abandon lower-level friends in favor of uncertain acceptance into higher-level circles

the problem of working out an adequate personal scheme of values in the face of movement between classes marked by somewhat variant or even contradictory value systems

Bibliography

Breen, R. and Goldthorpe, J. H. (2001, orig. pub. 1997). Explaining Educational Differentials: Towards a Formal Rational Action Theory. In D. E. Grusky (Ed.). Social Stratification:Class, Race, and Gender in Sociological Perspective, 2nd ed., Colorado: Westview Press, pp. 459-470

Turner, R. H. (2001, orig. pub. 1960). Sponsored and Contest Mobility and the School System. In D. E. Grusky (Ed.). Social Stratification:Class, Race, and Gender in Sociological Perspective, 2nd ed., Colorado: Westview Press, pp. 319-324

Ballantine, J. H. (1989). The Sociology of Education: A Systematic Analysis, 2nd ed., New Jersey: Prentice Hall

Gillbourn D. and Youdell, D. (2001). The New IQuism: Intelligence, ‘Ability’ and the Rationing of Education. In J. Demaine (Ed.). Sociology of Education Today, NY: Palgrave Publishers Ltd.

Abletis, J. N. (2009). Labeling as a Consequence of Homogeneous Student-Sectioning at Justice Cecilia Muñoz Palma High School and its subsequent effects on Selected Student Related Variables, PUP BS Sociology Undergraduate Thesis

http://blogs.gmanews.tv/winnie-monsod/archives/6-Enrollment-vs.-dropout.html NSO and NSCB (sorry I’ve lost my notes on the specific sources from which the tables

presented were derived, except those from my udergrad thesis)

triage, n. of action f. trier to pick, cull… 1. The action of assorting according to quality… 2. The assignment of degrees of urgency to wounds or illness in order to decide the order of suitability of treatment.

(Oxford English Dictionary)