Education for greater well-being (Thesis)

Is education associated with individual well-being? This is the central question of J.A. Jongbloed's thesis, entitled " Do education systems generate inequalities in well-being? International comparative research".

Here, education is synonymous with the transmission of knowledge and skills (both cognitive and non-cognitive) that influence a person's life, far beyond a career path or income level. A higher level of education implies, for example, better problem-solving skills, a more regular follow-up of national and international news, a greater involvement in society and a greater sense of responsibility.national and international news, greater involvement in political and democratic processes, and a reduction in health-threatening behaviors....

The right to find one's own way

But what do we mean by well-being? In economics, we speak of the satisfaction of a need or desire. In psychology, it means "feeling good". This work proposes a measure of fulfillment using Nussbaum's list of 10 core capabilities, defined as

"the set of functions potentially accessible to a person, whether realized or not ".

These include: life, bodily health, bodily wholeness, meaning, imagination and thought, emotions, reason, affiliation, connection and respect for other species, play, control over one's own environment.

The author gives as an example the professional choice between salary conditions and corporate values: a purely economic interpretation of well-being will let the salary criterion take precedence; however, recognizing oneself in the values of one's workplace is likely to have effects on health, interpersonal relations and... ultimately, on individual well-being.

The hypothesis of this thesis is that the relationship between education and well-being depends not only on the conceptualization of well-being, but also on national contexts, including welfare regimes and two of its characteristics:

• Decommodification: the extent to which individuals can benefit from a (public) service in their own right and maintain a socially acceptable standard of living, independently of market forces (commodity: consumer product)

• The stratification of a society into classes and statuses. Education also plays a role in the stratification of a society, as an individual's chances of mobility are often linked to his or her access to different types and levels of higher education.

The author shows that well-being is directly and positively related to the decommodification - and negatively related to the stratification - of an education system (the Nordic countries are a case in point). For example, well-being will be higher in education systems that promote the reversibility of career paths (instead of early selection and a rigid stream system), and that are more open to the needs of the individual.a rigid system of streams) and which are characterized by more public spending on education or greater accessibility to scholarships.

Among the limitations of this work, the author mentions the failure to take into account discriminating factors such as gender or ethnic origin; or a measure of education based exclusively on criteria of diploma level and number of years of schooling, without qualitative considerations.

However, this work shows that each state produces " its own fabric of social solidarity ". Equalization and redistribution thus play a decisive role in reducing inequalities in well-being.

If the best-educated population benefits from a higher level of well-being through the various social protectionwelfare regimes, a welfare state can reduce inequality of educational opportunity and privilege... And thus act on social inequality and the fulfillment of its citizens.

(Illustration: FllickR, Marco Verch)

Reference

(Last consultation: April 2019)