Is Education the Best Tool to Get Ahead?

It is undeniable that political, economic and social pressure has expanded opportunities to more members of our society. We know that important legal battles have been won over time, granting more access and opportunity to more diverse groups of people. Yet, the more things change for the better, the more they stay the same…how is this? How is it that we grow socially, improve universal education, make positive strides towards equal membership in social life, but power continues to manifest itself in greater stratification in nearly every domain of society, including school? Is is plausible that the relationship between increased education and social mobility may in fact be a myth?

Is the relationship of more education and social mobility a myth?

I often ask myself this question because I am an urban educator and I desire to see my students do great things; moreover, I want them to experience fulfilling lives. In my search into the perceived relationship among education and mobility, David Labaree, an academic and social critic, posits that as a society we have yet to transcend or satisfy the competing desires of access balanced against the loss of historic and social advantage. Framed in this manner I understand a context in which schooling remains a form of social currency and the bank is open to more people, but even if we shattered the piggy bank, larger forces of privilege and power are at play which maintain existing social systems.

While educational access has indeed grown, the relative advantage among social groups remains the same. In short, those seeking a radical shift in the reorganization of society through schooling have selected a worthy strategy, but the institution itself is insufficient in meeting the goals of progressive reform, seeking to reduce poverty while increasing diverse representation of all people along all walks of life.

"those seeking a radical shift in the reorganization of society through schooling have selected a worthy strategy, but the institution itself is insufficient in meeting the goals of reformers"

I ultimately think Labaree forces us to critically diminish the presumed role of education (in isolation) and its impact on social change, and challenges us to rethink the value on what is actually taught...if we seek a changed social system free of social dominance. I contend that it is unnecessary to reorient the goals, aims and tactics of progressive reformers. Further, we must not lose faith in the potential of education to deliver good. I offer that the focus of instruction should include and promote social change along a parallel path of a reinvigorated body politic, committed in action to a more equitable way of being. I arrive at the conclusion that one cannot exist without the other; social change cannot be produced without education, tranformative education cannot be produced without social change.