Neoliberal Lives: Work, Politics, Nature, and Health in the Contemporary United States by Robert Chernomas & Ian Hudson & Mark Hudson

Author:Robert Chernomas & Ian Hudson & Mark Hudson [Chernomas, Robert & Hudson, Ian & Hudson, Mark]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Public Policy, History & Theory, Capitalism, Political Ideologies, Comparative Politics, Political Science, Economic Policy
ISBN: 9781526110213
Google: jm-5DwAAQBAJ
Goodreads: 55404605
Publisher: Manchester University Press
Published: 2019-07-01T11:27:12+00:00

5

Education: public good or finishing school?

Introduction

Since you are presumably actually reading this book, and not merely scanning its pages before settling it on your shelves, nestled between Ayn Rand's Fountainhead and Dan Brown's DaVinci Code, to impress visitors, it is probably safe to assume that literacy, and even numeracy, are not overwhelming obstacles in your daily life. Imagine if that were not the case. Imagine not being able to read street signs, drug prescriptions or even a ballot. A National Center for Education Statistics adult literacy survey found that 14 percent of American adults had “below basic” levels of literacy, which meant that they could not “locate easily identifiable information in short, commonplace prose texts” or follow “written instructions in simple documents” (National Center for Education Statistics, 2005; Thomas et al., 2008). While functional illiteracy is at the extreme low end of educational capabilities, even those with considerably more formal education often do not possess the skills necessary to lead what we have described as a flourishing life. The same study indicated that only 25 percent of college graduates could successfully use “printed and written information to function in society, to achieve one's goals, and to develop one's knowledge and potential” (Lederman, 2005).

The idea that all children should go to school is a relatively recent one. It was not so long ago that an education was the privilege of the elite. Only families of substantial means could afford to forgo children's contribution to the family income and pay for the costs of schooling. For those from less well-to-do families, education was cut short by an early entrance into the dark, satanic mills or long days in the field. In this context, education serves to reinforce income and class divisions from one generation to the next. Talent and ability are wasted as education is disproportionately restricted to those fortunate enough to have rich parents.

The idea of education as a great equalizer was at the heart of Massachusetts politician Horace Mann's advocacy of public schools in the 1800s. According to Mann, universal public education was crucial in equalizing the opportunities between rich and poor: “education, then, beyond all other divides of human origin, is a great equalizer of conditions of men—the balance wheel of the social machinery” (Cremin, 1957). This optimistic view of the social leveling abilities of education drove Mann's implementation of the first public school system in the country. It is true that greater proficiency in literacy and numeracy are associated with better labor market returns. Those with college degrees earn more than those without (Hout, 2012). Among OECD countries, workers scoring at the top level of literacy earn 61 percent more than those at the lowest level. Predictably given the labor market inequalities outlined in Chapter 2, the returns to educational proficiency in the US are higher than most other nations. The percentage change in wages associated with an increase in literacy in the US is the second highest in the entire OECD (OECD, 2013, p. 232).

Yet Mann also had a limited view of the role of education.

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