372 nscc introduction to sociology figure 118

372 | NSCC Introduction to Sociology

Figure 11.8. Critical sociologists see the education system as a means by which those in power
stay in power. (Photo courtesy Thomas Ricker/flickr)
Educational attainment is closely linked to social class. Students of low socioeconomic
status usually do not have the same opportunities as students of higher status, no matter
how great their academic ability or desire to learn. For example, 25 of every 100 low-income
Canadian 19-year-olds attend university compared to 46 of every 100 high-income Canadian
19-year-olds (Berger, Motte, and Parkin 2009). Barriers like the cost of higher education, but
also subtler cultural cues, undermine education as a means of equality of opportunity.
Think of a student from a working-class home who wants to do well in school. On a Monday,
he’s assigned a paper that’s due Friday. Monday evening, he must babysit his younger sister
while his divorced mother works. Tuesday and Wednesday, he works stocking shelves after
school until 10:00 p.m. By Thursday, the only day available to work on that assignment, he
is so exhausted he can’t start the paper. His mother, though she would like to help, is so
tired she isn’t able to encourage or support him. Since English is her second language, she
has difficulty with some of his educational materials. They also lack a computer and printer
at home, so they have to rely on the public library or school system for technology access.
As this story shows, many students from working-class families must contend with helping
out at home, contributing financially to the family, having poor study environments, and
lacking material support from their families. This is a difficult match with education
systems with a traditional curriculum that is more easily understood and completed by
students of higher social classes.
This leads to social class reproduction, extensively studied by French sociologist Pierre
Bourdieu. He studied cultural capital , the accumulation of cultural knowledge that helps
navigate a culture. This changes the experiences and opportunities available to students
Education | 373

from different social classes. Like economic capital, cultural capital (cultural taste,
knowledge, patterns of speech, clothing, proper etiquette, etc.) is difficult and time
consuming to acquire.
Members of the upper and middle classes have more cultural capital than families of lower-
class status, and they can pass it on to their children. As a result, the educational system
maintains a cycle in which the dominant culture’s values are rewarded. Instruction and
tests are biased toward the dominant culture and leave others struggling with content
outside their social experience. For example, there has been a great deal of discussion over
what standardized tests such as the IQ test and aptitude tests truly measure. Many argue
that the tests group students by cultural ability rather than by natural intelligence.