'The Book' - Blog 16

Chapter four continued...

Although higher levels of schooling and economic success tend to go together; intellectual abilities developed or certified in school have little causal contribution to getting ahead economically. Thus the economic function of schooling is primarily something else.

The public around the time the book was written believed in the nearly exclusive importance of I.Q and skills obtained. The education system has etched the meritocratic perspective into pop culture. Yet for the most part schooling is not more productive for those who have a higher I.Q. The authors believe that this justification of the meritocratic orientation of higher education in the name of 'economic rationality,' is actually a facade that facilitates the stratification of the labour force. Education reproduces inequality by justifying privilege and attributing poverty to personal failure.

Onto chapter five...