Social class discrimination in the schooling process: Myth and reality

Abstract

An earlier version was presented at the Annual Meeting of The American Educational Research Association, Boston, April 1980. A recurrent finding is that student's social class is related to school performance (EeUs et al., 1951 ; Heimann and Schenk, 1954; Deutsch, 1960; Coleman et aL, 1966; Fleishmann Report, 1972) and to educational attainment (Folger and Nam, 1967; Spady, 1967; SeweU, 1971, U_S. Bureau of the Census, 1973; Treiman and TerreU, 1975). A variety of causative factors have been suggested. This paper will explore only two: social class bias of school personnel and the relationship of the meritocratic ideology of the schools to the opportunity structure of the American society. Studies of teachers" classroom behavior and the assignment of students to ability and curriculum tracks will be reviewed in an attempt to demonstrate that social class discrimination in the schooling process is both myth and reality. It will be argued that the lower class student suffers at several key points in the schooling process, not because of criteria applied in a biased manner, but because of the nature of the criteria used to make decisions and the negative consequences that disproportionately affect lower class individuals when they are applied. These class-related criteria are discussed as affecting lower class students' opportunities during their school careers and as extending beyond the school to limit their opportunities for postsecondary education and their rewards in the labor market. Meritocratic criteria are then discussed in terms of their role in perpetuating, rather than reducing, educational and economic inequality.