1st Edition

Educating Inequality Beyond the Political Myths of Higher Education and the Job Market

By Robert Samuels Copyright 2018
196 Pages
by Routledge

196 Pages
by Routledge

196 Pages
by Routledge

Politicians and school officials often argue that higher education is the solution to many of our social, and economic problems. Educating Inequality argues that in order to reduce inequality and enhance social mobility, public policies are needed to revamp the financial aid system and increase the number of good jobs. Exploring topics such as the fairness of the current social system, the focus... Read more

Contents

Preface

Chapter 1: The Politics of Higher Education

Chapter 2: College and the Myth of the Good Job

Chapter 3: Why Higher Education Reduces Social Mobility

Chapter 4: The Myth of the Fair Meritocracy

Chapter 5: How College Changed Childhood, Education, and Parenting in America

Chapter 6: Training Undemocratic Capitalists

Chapter 7: The Death of the Liberal Classroom

Chapter 8: Will Technology and the Free Market Save Higher Ed and the Job Market?

Conclusion: Educating Equality

Biography

Robert Samuels is a Lecturer in the Writing Program at the University of California, Santa Barbara, USA.

"Myth-busting and merciless, Bob Samuels demolishes cherished fantasies about equality and opportunity in our universities. Instead he offers a comprehensive plan for social change that, if implemented, would radically re-shape the relationship between college, society, and the economy."
-Marc Bousquet, author of How the University Works: Higher Education and the Low-Wage Nation and Associate Professor, Film and Media Studies, Emory University, USA

"Americans tell themselves a number of stories about the role education plays in who ends up doing what job for how much money. A few of the stories are true, but most are recited just to soothe ourselves to sleep. In Educating Inequality, Robert Samuels makes readers face the dark—and shows us that there are ways to make it less scary."    -John Marsh, author of Class Dismissed: Why We Cannot Teach or Learn Our Way Out of Inequality, and Associate Professor of English, Pennsylvania State University, USA