Assess the view that the modern education system is meritocratic.

   However, not all Functionalists share this view. Tumin said that Davis and Moore’s work was too simplistic because there was no way of measuring the functional importance or particular jobs.

   Other structural theorists like Marxists see education as ‘reproducing social inequality’ (Item A) and reject the view that education is a meritocracy. They see that education really functions in the interest of the ruling class, Althusser saw education as an Ideological State Apparatus, which legitimates class inequality in society. Bowels and Gintis showed that there was a correspondence between the education system and the economy. The economy ‘cast a long shadow over education’. This means that the schools exert ideological control and molded according to the needs of capitalism. Through the hidden curriculum children learn to be obedient and to respect authority. Relationships between teachers and students are said to mirror those of employers and employees.

   Willis did an ethnographic study on 12 working-class boys where he showed that the boys could see through the system even though it meant that they still ended up with working-class jobs. He argued that the education system prepared working class kids for working class jobs, thus proving that we are not living in a meritocratic society.

   A recent report by the Rowntree Trust showed that far from there being greater equality in society, children – especially boys – from poorer backgrounds, were doing worse than before. This clearly shows that the Functionalists were wrong in their views. Recent evidence also shows that increasing numbers of successful professionals like lawyers, MPs, judges etc, generally come from Oxbridge and top public schools.

   Overall, we can see that the system is a long way from being meritocratic and still today the wealthier your background the more likely you are to succeed.