educational attainment

Examples of educational attainment in the following topics:

• The Bottom Line: Family Background

  • Student achievement is highly correlated with family characteristics, including household income and parental educational attainment.
  • Evidence suggests that the lifetime educational possibilities of most kids are set by the time they are six years old.
  • This is due to the fact that several family background characteristics are very strong predictors of future educational attainment, including parental support, parental expectations for schooling, household income, and parental educational attainment, with the last two being the most important factors.
  • Researchers can actually predict a child's lifetime educational attainment by using background characteristics observed when the child is in the first grade, and these predictions turn out to be just as good, or even better, at predicting educational attainment as similar predictions based on observations made when the student is in high school.
  • Examine the various factors within family background that give students an advantage in the educational realm

• Education

  • ., educational attainment is strongly correlated to income and occupation, and therefore to social class.
  • This disparity can be attributed to the greater educational attainment of professors, who hold doctorate degrees.
  • In the U.S., income is strongly related to educational attainment.
  • Although the incomes of both men and women are associated with higher educational attainment (higher incomes for higher educational attainment), there remains an income gap between races and genders at each educational level.
  • The more education a person attains, the more likely they are to be employed in high paying occupations.

• Marriage and Responsibility

  • As of 2003, one's level of educational attainment was a significant predictor of the educational attainment of one's spouse.
  • People without a high school diploma are unlikely to marry someone with more educational attainment and people with a college degree are likely to marry people with a similar level of educational attainment.
  • Part of the reason why education is so influential in determining the level of education of one's spouse is because people tend to form groups based on levels of education.
  • But jobs after one completes his or her education also tend to be grouped by level of education.
  • As a result, people spend more time with individuals of a similar level of educational attainment.

• Social Class

  • Society is stratified into social classes on the basis of wealth, income, educational attainment, and occupation.
  • Social classes are groupings of individuals in a hierarchy, usually based on wealth, educational attainment, occupation, income, and membership in a subculture or social network.
  • While social scientists offer competing models of class structure, most agree that society is stratified by occupation, income, and educational attainment.

• Education

  • Educational attainment is tied to social class, with upper class individuals acquiring higher degrees from more prestigious schools.
  • This results in, on average, 10-30% of Ivy League undergraduates being the children of alumni, meaning that high educational attainment can be passed down through generations within the upper-middle and upper classes.
  • Just as education and social class are closely intertwined, stratification in education contributes to stratification in social class.
  • Educational attainment refers to the level of schooling a person completes — for instance, high school, some college, college, or a graduate degree.
  • Households with higher educational attainment are likely to have higher incomes than those with low educational attainment -- members of the lowest income bracket tend to have no more than a high school education, while the highest income bracket members tend to hold graduate degrees.

• Occupation

  • High educational attainment is generally a pre-requisite for entering high status professional occupations.
  • Because the professions are considered highly skilled, require high educational attainment, and provide high incomes, they are associated with high social status.
  • Occupational prestige is one way in which occupation may affect a person's social class independent of income and educational attainment.
  • For example, being a university professor has high status and requires high educational attainment, but does not always result in high income.
  • Conversely, funeral directors generally have high incomes and often high educational attainment.

• Class Structure in the U.S.

  • American society is stratified into social classes based on wealth, income, educational attainment, occupation, and social networks.
  • Social classes are hierarchical groupings of individuals that are usually based on wealth, educational attainment, occupation, income, or membership in a subculture or social network.
  • In the above outline of social class, status clearly depends not only on income, but also occupational prestige and educational attainment.
  • In other words, there is inequality in America, with some people attaining higher status and higher standards of living than others.
  • While social scientists offer competing models of class structure, most agree that society is stratified by occupation, income, and educational attainment.

• The Upper Middle Class

  • The upper-middle class refers to people within the middle class that have high educational attainment, high salaries, and high status jobs.
  • Their professions require high educational status, are well-compensated, and are held in high esteem.
  • According to his definition, the middle class consists of an upper-middle class, made up of professionals distinguished by exceptionally high educational attainment and high economic security; and a lower-middle class, consisting of semi-professionals.
  • Educational attainment is a distinguishing feature of the upper-middle class.
  • Advanced education is one of the most distinguishing features of the upper-middle class.

• Politics

  • Educational attainment, an indicator of social class, can predict political participation.
  • Wealthy, well-educated Americans are more likely to vote and to donate money to politicians than lower class individuals.
  • Educational attainment, an indicator of social class, can predict one's level of political participation.
  • Those with high educational attainment are more likely to vote in elections than those with little education.

• Social Mobility

  • In some cases, social mobility is intergenerational, as when children attain a higher or lower status than their parents held.
  • An example of absolute social movement is when a region's economic development provides quality education to a social group that previously did not have access to education, thus raising the group's literacy level and socioeconomic status.
  • Relative social mobility might refer to the opportunities presented to a middle class child born in a particular area of the United States, who might be predicted to attain a college level education and a maximum income of $80,000, for example.
  • Human capital refers to such individual traits as competence and work ethic, which may enable increased educational or professional attainment.
  • In such countries, social standing is based on such personal attributes as educational attainment, income, and occupational prestige.