Equality: a major factor in success and staying in school

The equation is simple: if there's €10,000 to divide between 100 individuals, and five of them take €1,000 each, that leaves €5,000 for the other 95. Instead of receiving €100 each, they will instead receive €52.63. These euros would have been used to buy books, pay teachers, maintain the premises... which ultimately translates into lower chances of success for the majority.

We can replace €s and $s with selection processes, special advantages and anything that concentrates resources, whether it's the best students, equipment or skills.

The more gaps there are, the faster the chances of success are reduced. Of course, we can increase the resources available, but if the rules of sharing are distorted, this will only increase the gaps.

We knew this at the time of the French Revolution, and we also knew it at the time of many previous revolutions: when inequalities go so far as to obliterate any hope of improvement for the majority of people, we have the seeds of large-scale problems.

There is no doubt about it: a good education system is a positive factor, but the most important factor in educational success is... the quality of the family environment.

In a favorable environment, you can take advantage of the school system and reap the benefits of education. In the opposite case, resources are less and less put to good use, and changes are not very significant, even if resources are added without tackling inequalities.

Equal income = better education for all.

Whether on an international scale or within a country or region, the greater the income gap, the lower the overall educational performance and the higher the drop-out rate.

But what's most surprising is that this has much less to do with income levels than with income gaps. In other words, a wealthy region with large income disparities systematically performs worse at school than a less wealthy region with fewer income disparities. Of course, a wealthy country with fewer disparities performs better than a less wealthy country, but the difference is statistically much smaller, if not marginal.

Social mobility

The value of education as a social springboard is extolled: education can change one's status. This is all the more true when inequalities between rich and poor are low. In countries where the gaps are wide, social mobility is proportionally reduced, whether as a child or an adult. Here again, this has less to do with income levels than with the gap between the less well-off and the better-off.

Why is this?

There are many explanations for this phenomenon, but the best summary revolves around community and a sense of responsibility. The greater the gaps, the more the community crumbles, the higher the fences and the more insecurity reigns. Hope for change is diminished, and the future fades in favor of a present of survival and an idealization of the past. On the contrary, with smaller gaps, the future is rich, the possibilities numerous and the community alive.

Inequalities within a group are a destabilizing factor, for any kind of group and any form of inequality. Mixing different skill levels can be interesting, provided that the gaps can be bridged; if the gaps are too wide, segregation is bound to occur. Worse still, as social judgment is one of the most powerful, everyone's anxiety will increase in the same proportions as inequality, including at school.

How to reduce inequality

In this short Ted talk, Richard Wilkinson clearly explains why equality is better for everyone, and also suggests a few ways of promoting it.

Unsurprisingly, these means obviously concern income-sharing and, more generally, a better distribution of responsibilities through the democratization of top management, via cooperatives or employee shareholding. On the other hand, they concern the disappearance of privileges such as tax credits, tax loopholes (which can be likened to a misappropriation of public money) and their equivalents in different circles.

The reproduction of a system at university

You don't have to go far to find examples: universities offer a good portrait of the dynamics of this phenomenon. The discrepancies between the incomes of the best-paid (deans, administrators, emeritus professors) and the least well-paid (support staff, maintenance staff, lecturers) clearly illustrate their competitive situation in an economic logic: in liberal countries, these discrepancies only increase year after year, and herald an era of contestation commensurate with these discrepancies.

Universities that advocate a policy of reducing the gap between average and top salaries are rare! Even more so if they are in international competition. You can't count on their best-paid administrators to defend it. In such cases, it's better to democratize management.

The first indicator

If we go back to the original idea of a better education system, it will be established in parallel with a reduction in the disparity of advantages and privileges in the population, and this is the best indicator of progress. This can be taught very well.

References

Social Mobility and Education - Equality Trust - July 2014
https://equalitytrust.org.uk/social-mobility-and-education/

The price of inequality - Chart - 2012 - Newstatesman
http://www.newstatesman.com/economics/economics/2012/10/chart-day-price-inequality

Children do better at school in more egalitarian societies. - Equality Trust
http://www.equalitytrust.org.uk/research/l%E2%80%99%C3%A9ducation
"An analysis of all 50 states in the United States shows that scores in math and reading are linked to inequality."

Pay ratios point to massive inequality - David Matthews - Times Higher Education - 2013
http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/news/pay-ratios-point-to-massive-inequality/2008207.article

Equality, not education, is the key to individual transformation - Lynsey Hanley - The Guardian, 2009
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2009/oct/22/schools-reform-equality-failure

How economic inequality harms societies - Richard Wilkinson - TED Conference - 2011
http://www.ted.com/talks/richard_wilkinson

Illustration: Equality Trust