Essay about Bowles and Gintis Education and Inequality

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In Samuel Bowel’s and Herbert Gintis’ Education and Inequality, Bowels and Gintis investigate how education in the United States is unequal, especially to those indivduals who are financially unstable. In today’s extremely judgmental society, many are at a disadvantage based solely on their class, race, sex, etc. The quality of one’s education is compromised for a number of unfair reasons having to do with artificial inequalities.

Bowles and Gintis felt it was important to write this article, because they believe that the politics of education are better understood in terms of the need for social control in an unequal and rapidly changing economic order. This point is illustrated on page 396 when the authors say, “The unequal …show more content…
370). In the first half of the article the jest of it was to show that education is important, the second half of the article, however, prevents inequalities in the education system. According to studies and research the number of years of schooling for an individual is dependent upon their parent’s educational background and socioeconomic status.

The results can be put into context by comparing them to the retail work field. For instance working in a retail job you have the levels of hierarchy which range from the district managers, managers, assistant managers, shift supervisors, and laborers in this case cashiers. You may find people of lesser wealth and educational background being the laborers or cashiers. However some may have equal IQ thus this can represent that those of lower economic status have the ability to obtain managerial positions although their levels often do not make it there.

The main inferences/conclusions made by Bowles and Gintis lean towards the idea that inequalities are what set up our hierarchy, instead of the education and knowledge one possesses. Contrary to Liberal Education theorist’s idea that Education is the means of realizing US ideals of equal opportunity, US education is highly unequal. The chance of attaining much or little schooling is substantially based on an individual's race and parents' economic level.

If we take this line
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