Blogger: Malik Abdul (Philosophy, Politics, and Economics)
The Effect of Income Inequality on Children’s Education in the UK.
Income inequality is a very relevant issue in our society.
Income inequality has many negative impacts on those who find themselves at the bottom of the economic ladder. In this blog I will explore how income inequality affects children’s education in the UK.
One affect is the access to private education. Only 1 in 16 children in the UK attend private schools, and private schools tend to perform better on paper (Markinstyle, 2021). Of course, this causes inequality as a child who attends a private school is more likely to get better grades and go on to graduate, and so earn a higher paying job, than a child who goes to a public school. This is completely out of the hands of the students.
Furthermore, private education prepares children for higher education better than public education. It is a lot more formal, and students are given more responsibility with their work, giving them more independence and imitating higher education. This style of education works to private students’ advantage as they reach university. However, public students don’t have as freedom. From my experience, public schools teach you what to think, rather than how to think, which has to be unlearned later into one’s educational journey.
The affect of income inequality on education is not as simple as private versus public education. Students from economically poor families are more likely to attend schools characterized by worse infrastructure, fewer qualified teachers and less ambitious peers compared to those in more affluent areas, leaving them more likely to end up with lower learning outcomes (Antoninis, 2016).
I think that the best way to solve this issue would be to increase public spending on education, with emphasis on upgrading public schools in poorer areas. Not only would this help to create better learning outcomes for less affluent students, it would also help to decrease income inequality, as public spending on education has an immediate impact on income inequality and poverty by redistributing public resources (Walker, 2019). Furthermore, I would reform the public education system, with the aim to prepare students better for higher education and balance the playing field between public and private students.
References;
Antoninis, M. 2016. Inequality in Education: the Challenge of Measurement. World Social Science Report 2016; Challenging Inequalties, Pathways to a Just World, p. 63-67.
Pandurov, M. 2021. 21+ Private School vs Public School Statistics for 2021. Available at; https://markinstyle.co.uk/private-school-vs-public-school-statistics/#:~:text=1%20in%20every%2016%20students%20in%20England%20attends%20a%20private%20school.&text=Looking%20at%20the%20education%20workforce,England%20attend%20fee%2Dpaying%20schools.
The Equality Trust, 2019. The Scale of Economic Inequality in the UK. Available at; https://equalitytrust.org.uk/scale-economic-inequality-uk
Walker, J. 2019. The Power of Education to Fight Inequality. Oxfam International.