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It's not clear whether education inequality is the cause or consequence of wealth inequality.

by xapata 6y ago

MikeTheGreat 6y ago
I'm not a statistician (so I can't definitively say how you establish cause vs. correlation) but since you can a child's parents' economic status has a significant impact on the child's academic performance [0], I'm going to say that education inequality is a consequence of wealth inequality ---------------- [0] https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1083795 https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1083795. AFAIT this is from "Journal of Education and Practice", which is a peer-reviewed journal
- lotsofpulp 6y ago
  They're intertwined. Many things in life you can't learn from textbooks, which you can from having friends who have parents who are doctors and lawyers and business owners. When they cluster together, by living near each other in higher priced homes and towns, and send all their kids to similar schools, you end up with an unequal education for the kids because while the teachers and the books can be the same, the learning environment as well as access to adults with better resources can't be made the same.
- xapata 6y ago
  Statistics lets us identify correlation. Science lets us infer cause.
Ancapistani 6y ago
Why not both? My parents went from poverty to middle class during my childhood, and I was able to go to college with a reasonable familial safety net to support me as a result. I promptly discovered the joys of chronic depression compounded by undiagnosed ADHD, then failed out, but honestly I feel like it doesn't matter a bit in my day-to-day life. Meanwhile, my wife and I homeschool/unschool both of our children and are therefore deeply involved in their education. I expect that this will mean that they have man advantages over their peers - if I didn't expect this, I wouldn't have invested so much time and energy into it!
SuoDuanDao 6y ago
The two phenomena probably coevolve.
Rury 6y ago
I don't think either are particularly caused by the other. I'd argue both are naturally and ultimately caused by inherent subjectivity and bias in the populace. "What's house X worth?" - Some people might be more willing to trade more money for it than others, and hence inequality ensues. Someone might become a millionaire simply from being in the right place at the right time, and/or buying/selling at the right time. Or, "What's fair compensation for job X?" - Again different people may value job X differently. Hell, the worst high school teacher I've ever had turned out to be the most highly paid (over $160k a year - 20 years ago). Either it was simply out of generosity, or someone held him in high esteem. If the latter, it definitely wasn't me. Likewise in education: "Not everyone can go to university X - who gets to go and who doesn't?" - While a criteria may be used and itself may be objective, which criteria to use it ultimately subject to opinion. In ways, this is sort of similar to Goodhart's law. "What's a degree from university X worth?" - Again opinion is a factor. etc. etc...

It's not clear whether education inequality is the cause or consequence of wealth inequality.

by xapata 6y ago

It's not clear whether education inequality is the cause or consequence of wealth inequality.

I'm not a statistician (so I can't definitively say how you establish cause vs. correlation) but since you can a child's parents' economic status has a significant impact on the child's academic performance [0], I'm going to say that education inequality is a consequence of wealth inequality ---------------- [0] https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1083795 https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1083795. AFAIT this is from "Journal of Education and Practice", which is a peer-reviewed journal

lotsofpulp 6y ago
They're intertwined. Many things in life you can't learn from textbooks, which you can from having friends who have parents who are doctors and lawyers and business owners. When they cluster together, by living near each other in higher priced homes and towns, and send all their kids to similar schools, you end up with an unequal education for the kids because while the teachers and the books can be the same, the learning environment as well as access to adults with better resources can't be made the same.
xapata 6y ago
Statistics lets us identify correlation. Science lets us infer cause.

Ancapistani 6y ago

Why not both? My parents went from poverty to middle class during my childhood, and I was able to go to college with a reasonable familial safety net to support me as a result. I promptly discovered the joys of chronic depression compounded by undiagnosed ADHD, then failed out, but honestly I feel like it doesn't matter a bit in my day-to-day life. Meanwhile, my wife and I homeschool/unschool both of our children and are therefore deeply involved in their education. I expect that this will mean that they have man advantages over their peers - if I didn't expect this, I wouldn't have invested so much time and energy into it!

SuoDuanDao 6y ago

The two phenomena probably coevolve.

Rury 6y ago

I don't think either are particularly caused by the other. I'd argue both are naturally and ultimately caused by inherent subjectivity and bias in the populace. "What's house X worth?" - Some people might be more willing to trade more money for it than others, and hence inequality ensues. Someone might become a millionaire simply from being in the right place at the right time, and/or buying/selling at the right time. Or, "What's fair compensation for job X?" - Again different people may value job X differently. Hell, the worst high school teacher I've ever had turned out to be the most highly paid (over $160k a year - 20 years ago). Either it was simply out of generosity, or someone held him in high esteem. If the latter, it definitely wasn't me. Likewise in education: "Not everyone can go to university X - who gets to go and who doesn't?" - While a criteria may be used and itself may be objective, which criteria to use it ultimately subject to opinion. In ways, this is sort of similar to Goodhart's law. "What's a degree from university X worth?" - Again opinion is a factor. etc. etc...