Chapter 3: Intergenerational Transfers of Advantage Flashcards
How many adults in Canada have a post-secondary education?
Canada has an incredibly high amount of adults with post-secondary education;
63% of men, and 67% of women
- Business is the most common field of study of both women and men
According to Reich’s, Work of Nations, what are the three types of employment that we can group people into?
- Routine production
- factory work, automotives, assembly lines - In-person services
- person-person, hairdresser, retail, rehab, counselling - Symbolic-analytical services
- person-person is not required, engineer, marketing
Which type of employment did Reich argue that we needed most of in Canada and why?
Symbolic-analytical services (person-person not required)
- We cannot compete with countries like China where assembly is cheap-labour
Statistically, Reich could be correct since Canada is becoming an overqualified country, less jobs that need lower education and more jobs with higher education. Trades are remaining steady.
What qualified as a good job?
Good jobs offer:
- intrinsic rewards
ex. salary, benefits, company car = material
- extrinsic rewards
ex. autonomy, authority, creativity = emotional
They often require higher education.
What is human capital? Why should we invest in our human capital?
Human capital: employment-related skills, experiences, and credentials a person obtains
- If we work towards increasing our human capital, we can get better jobs, a better salary, and have less risk of unemployment
What are the different ranks of education?
- less than high school
- high school
- trades
- college
- associate’s degree
- bachelor degree
- masters degree
- professional degree
- doctoral degree
Why should employers invest in human capital?
If employers invest in human capital they get a better, more productive, and more innovate workforce
Why should nations invest in human capital?
If a nation invests in human capital there is less unemployment and a more competitive economy
If meritocracy works, what would society look like?
- The status you are born into should not determine where you end up (the job you get, the income you earn, etc.) and it should not determine how much education you receive
- Instead, your education should become the key determinant of where you end up
- If we assume that intelligence and the ability to work hard equally distributed, we should see no difference by: gender, race, ethnicity, social background, but we do
Which children are the most at risk for not obtaining post-secondary education?
Rural and aboriginal children.
Describe Krahn and Baron’s study, the method (chapter 3).
- Longitudinal survey of grade 12 students in Alberta surveyed in 1996
- Same people re-surveyed in 2003 (now 25ish) on questions about educational and occupational aspirations and achievements
What gender differences did Krahn and Baron find?
- Gender differences remain important; women are more likely than men to receive university degrees
- Women were more likely to have received a community college diploma or a university degree, while men were more likely to have completed an apprenticeship
- By 25, female sample members were earning significantly less per month ($2412), on average, then male study participants ($3478)
so, women are more likely to complete university, but more likely to earn less
What did Krahn and Baron find on parental education?
Parental education predicts child’s education; having at least one parent who completed university made it three times more likely for their children to have done so
- Higher levels of parental education = more likely to be in academic stream and complete university, but no direct effect on income; the effect is indirect because university graduates make more money
What did Krahn and Baron find on minorities and rurality?
- Visible minorities more likely to have completed university
- Aboriginal respondents significantly less likely to have completed university
- Urban respondents more likely to have completed university, but living in a city means lower incomes
Aboriginal youth face the most barriers; more likely to grow up in poor families in rural communities; in 2011, only 10% of working age Aboriginal Canadians had acquired a university degree, compared to 26% of the rest of the population
Immigrant youth face discrimination, language barriers, and problems of low income, but tend to have higher than average post-secondary educational goals; they are more likely than native-born Canadians to attend and complete university
What are assumptions to support streaming?
- Students learn better when they can learn at the same rate, are surrounded by those with similar knowledge and can support each other in their future learning
- Bright students are held back in mixed classrooms, and slower learners are overwhelmed in mixed classrooms
- Positive attitudes about self is developed, especially for slow learners
- It improves teaching and classroom management for teachers, and they are based on fair assessments of aptitudes
What are the two theoretical perspectives viewed in class?
- Correspondence Theory
2. Labelling
Describe the correspondence theory.
Theory proposed by Bowles and Gintis (1976) in Schooling in Capitalist America.
- School structures are capitalist workplace structures
- Hierarchies which teach authority and respect (principal → teacher → students) - School interactions are social relations in workplace
- The principle is the manager, the teachers the supervisors, and students the workers - Educational experiences are future workplace roles
- Middle class learns to be managers, while working class learners to be workers
Who is most likely to be place in applied streams?
Role of streaming and stream placement: in the US, working-class and black children are over-streamed into applied/lower streams
Describe the labelling experiment.
Experiment done by Rosenthal and Jacobson (1968) in Pygmalion in the Classroom.
- Experimenters tell the teachers that they have a test that will determine the top 10 students in the class of next year, the test is false and names are randomly picked
- They found that these 10 kids did end up being the top 10 performing kids - teachers are treating them differently
- Teacher thinks you’re smart (or is being told you’re smart) → teacher treat you differently (calls on you more often; given you more opportunities to speak, encourages) → you notice the attention and begin to behave accordingly; work hard to continue to please the teacher → you begin to enjoy school more and actually learn more → you end up doing better (this is a circle, it starts again)
What did Ray Rist find on teachers labelling habits?
- Ray Rist (1960s-70s) found that teachers label children early on; not on achievement but on other markers such as race, gender, appearance, and class
- The teacher’s behaviours reinforces labels; subjective assumptions become objectified
- Labels become a self-fulfilling prophecies
What did Jeannie Oakes find in regards to streaming?
No evident to support that learning outcomes in mixed ability groups exist; bright students are not held back and slower learners are not falling further behind
What did Jeannie Oakes find in regard to the self-concept of those in applied streams?
- There are lower levels of self esteem in applied students
- Teachers and peers develop more negative attitudes
- Long-term effects on students’ aspirations
- Inflated self-concepts of those in higher streams/tracks
What did Jeannie Oakes find in behaviour of students in applied streams?
- Less involved in extracurricular activities
- Exhibit more deviant behaviour
- Lower track placement related higher dropout rates
What do we need to consider when looking at the fairness of streaming?
- Tests
- Culturally biased
- Some tests are poorly designed
- Minimal test differences = different track placements
- Normal curve distribution
- Tests don’t measure future potential; only on the spot knowledge - Teacher recommendations
- Class, gender, and ethnic biases (labeling) - Parental choice
- Class and parental involvement in school
