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ESS221 Schools and Society

TOPIC 5

MOBILITY AND EDUCATION

LEARNING OUTCOMES By the end of this chapter, you should be able to: 1. Explain the meaning of social mobility, types of social mobility, and the determinants of social mobility. 2. Give reasons why group mobility occurs and condition that permits mobility. 3. Describe mobility of ethnic among the Chams and Bosnians. 4. Explain the types of mobility in the labor market and how it has affected the women in Hong Kong, China and United States. 5. Describe the resources that parents can transmit to their children. 6. Relate education to social mobility and how it has affected globally. 7. Describe the academic mobility programs in the South-East Asian Region and how it has enhanced understanding and cooperation between institutions and countries. Key words: social mobility, academic mobility, upward mobility, downward mobility, vertical social mobility, group mobility, functional value, symbolic value, inter-firm mobility, intra-firm mobility, within-job mobility, class structure, intergenerational, family social capital, community social capital, ethnic capital, parental education, parental income, investment modal, stress modal, role model, academic mobility INTRODUCTION In the previous chapter we examined the contribution of ecology and its influences on human development. In addition, we examined the classroom interactions between the teacher and students, the teaching programs conducted in the Asian countries and how people perceive the teaching profession, and what are the characteristics of effective teachers. In this chapter, we are concern with the various types of mobility and how it has affected people globally. 5.1 Nature and amount of social mobility

What is social mobility? The term social mobility refers to the ability of someone to move from one position in the social order to another, from one class or socio-economic status to another. Social mobility is seen as a mechanism for an individual to achieve his personal goals. How do we measure social mobility? It can be measured by comparing an individuals present position with his parents. If the individuals present income, lifestyle, and working condition are better than his parents then he is said to display an upward mobility. For example, if he holds a professional job such doctor or lawyer whereas his father was a truck driver and a school dropout, you can

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say that he has displayed an upward mobility. On the other hand, if he leads a lesser comfortable life compared to his parents then he is said to display downward mobility. For example, a clerk whose mother is a doctor or father is a lawyer. The social mobility allows people to move up or down the class ladder. The opportunity for improving ones life or falling below the class ladder is a major force that moves people to go far in school and to work hard at their studies. A child may be born into a family that present obstacles that may deprive him of the chance of success in life or he may be born into a family that provides him all the opportunities to succeed in life. In every society there is social stratification where people are grouped into categories above or below one another along a scale of socio-economic status which will place them as either superior or inferior class. Conditions that permits upward mobility There are conditions that allow working class to move into the middle and upper class in a society (Havighurst, 1961). The use of technology to replace semi-skilled and unskilled employees. With the use of modern technology, there will be a demand for technical and highly skilled workers and this would mean better paid positions. A move from labor intensive, unskilled jobs to jobs requiring technical training. For example, change from agriculture base to manufacturing industry, faming with human labor to farming with machinery. Move into industries that require highly technical trained and well-paid workers. Ensuring high productivity so as to increase salaries. This in turn encourages people to spend on services provided by professional people. This increases the mobility of such professions. Providing free land and incentive to start business. This creates owners of wealth. Conditions that permits upward and downward mobility They are: Provide free and easy access to education that is based on achievement rather than of birth. Applications for middle and upper status jobs to be based on application procedures that are based on achievement rather than on birth. Allowing upward mobility to lower classes, thus increasing their living standards. This in turn enables them to provide better education and health for their children, increase future upward mobility. Activity 5.1 What is the difference between upward mobility and downward mobility?

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How are people placed in the different classes? The two criteria to place people in different classes are ascription and achievement. If the society adhere to ascriptive as their criteria then individuals are assigned their position according to factors such as kinship ties, family prestige, ethnicity, religious affiliation, sex, age, or religious groups that exert their influence on modern society. On the other hand, if the society stressed on achievement as its criteria then individuals can strive through entrepreneurial activities in business, industry, and acquisition of knowledge which has a high place in todays modern society. In primitive societies individuals claim their status by being involved in war, in hunting activities, or in medicine or the supernatural. In todays society we find every society has both these criteria but with different degrees of ascription and achievement. Examples of society that stressed on inheritance of family status and influences are found in the United States such as the Kennedy family, in Greece is the Onassis, and also in ancient China. These elite societies believed in passing on their social status to their sons. Types of social mobility The transition from one level of the social class to another is fairly flexible and it may happen frequently. The movement of an individual from one social level to another is known as vertical social mobility. There are two types of vertical social mobility, the ascending and descending. Societies can be said to be open or mobile and closed or immobile depending on the extent that the individual move along the vertical scale. There are societies in which its members hardly move, where the members remain forever in the social class in which he was born. This society is known as a closed or immobile society, where it does not allow individuals to ascend or descend from their class of origin. An example will be the caste society in India and other similar caste group, and ethnic minorities were subjected to social barriers or created social barriers. In developed countries, there are the lower socio-economic societies that have less access to certain social and educational facilities and jobs. On the other hand, the open society will have individuals ascending and descending the social mobility frequently. An example will be the present modern society where the economy changes ever so often that an individual who is a supervisor in a factory may lose his job the next day where he is retrenched because of the economic recession. How does social mobility occur? According to Lipset and Zetterberg (1966) there are two processes of vertical social mobility, they are social mobility due to the available vacant positions and social mobility due to the interchange of ranks. As we know mobility is caused by the increase in the population and this may result in growth of members in the different levels of the class. However, there are cases where mobility is not caused by such a change but due to interchange of status position, and this is described as pure or true mobility.

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The determinants of social mobility There are various ways of social mobility, such as political power, marriage, family affiliations and education. But the most sought after is education which is available to the masses, as educational facilities are easily available all over the world. Education is thus the primary channel of mobility as it is: High educational achievement is the aspiration of most people. Few would question about a persons integrity when he has high academic qualification. Education has high relationship with income and occupation. The higher the educational level, the more prestigious the occupation, leading to higher annual income. This in turn is associated with property, prestige, and power.

Formal education is closely linked to vertical mobility. In this aspect, schools play an important role in sorting out individuals into their prospective levels. This is done through the system of examinations, supervision and promotions. Thus, education can assist the movement of persons into the top position in society or elite mobility. As such, we can see that formal education is a prerequisite into the established professions, like doctors and lawyers. In view of the role of education in social mobility, we need to be clear on the dual function of education in stratification system. First, education plays the role of a mechanism whereby social class positions are maintained across generations. The higher the social class of an individual, the better the education he gets. This enables him to maintain or advance his social class position. Second, education acts as a mechanism for social mobility. In this aspect, access to education is the key to the amount of mobility an individual can make in a society. However, this is only possible if everyone gets an equal education that can provide a channel of mobility to those who are disadvantaged. For this group of people, education helps to maintain their mobility or reduce downward mobility. Activity 5.2 What causes social mobility? 5.1.1 Group mobility

In this section we are going to examine why people move away from their home and seek a new life else where. We will focus on rural population, as group mobility, moving into the urban cities to start a new life. This is particularly true during the period between 1960s to 1990s in central Asia (Patnaik, 1995). Countries in the central Asia region (Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kirghizia, and Turkmenia), which have indigenous nationalities are among the poorest regions of the USSR. They are poor in all social and economic aspects. However, within Central Asia the European nationalities experienced a higher socio-economic status compared to the indigenous groups. Why is there a difference between the two groups?

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Indigenous group; mostly rural (60%) overpopulated has low agriculture production employment is mainly seasonal, employment is in household and private subsidiary activity, less in non-agricultural jobs or urban areas Urban pull Salaries in the industrial sector were higher compared to agriculture. This was the determining factor for group mobility. As there was a surplus of manpower in agriculture, this had an impact on the income of the farmers. Thus, these farmers see a need to move to the industrial sector where jobs and salary were more stable. Besides the attraction of the urban industrial sectors as a key to group mobility, we do find the urban social group moving up or down on the socioeconomic scale. In countries like Australia, Britain, Brazil, and United States (Havighurst, 1961), since 1900, there was an upward mobility for the working class societies. The Australian working class has improved tremendously with the government implementing a control over salaries, a system for family allowances (based on the number of children), and old-age benefits. In Britain, the working class has improved their status with better health services, insurance for those unemployed, retired, and disable, and free public secondary education. These have increased the group mobility of the British working class. Similarly, in Brazil, the economic gap between the urban and rural working class has narrowed due to the increase in the countrys economy. In America, the working class is seen as an upward mobile group, possessing certain symbols of middle class status, such as electrical devices in the home, paid vacation, and secondary and tertiary education for children. Activity 5.3 What is the main cause of group mobility? 5.1.2 Mobility of ethnic, racial and religious groups

Earlier on we have learned that mobility occurs when there is lack of jobs opportunities and people tend to seek better life in the cities where there was better hope of acquiring a stable paid job. However, in certain parts of the world mobility was determined by other factors besides economic venture, such as mobility of ethic groups due to political reasons. For example, in Cambodia during Pol Pots reign, the Cham people were targeted for extermination by the Communist regime (Mohamed Effendy Abdul Hamid, 2006) . The Chams were believed to be involved in the activities of the Cambodian royal court, they had martial potential, and most importantly they were Muslim. Many of them fled to Malaysia for refuge. There were about 10,722 refugees of Malay Cham that entered Malaysia from 1975-1988. Most of them were placed in refugee camps in Kelantan and were taught Islamic education, the Malay language, and the Malaysian

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way of life. In 1977, they were allowed to work in plantations and engaged in business. Their children were allowed to study and many graduated from higher institutions of learning. After 25 years, many of them became citizens of Malaysia. What qualities enable the Chams to successfully settle in other societies? Historically, the Chams are part of the Malay world as they can speak the Malay language. They also share similar culture and religion with the Malays. Besides the Chams in Asia, there are other ethnic groups that moved out of their country due to war. For example, in Europe, 1.3 million Bosnians fled their country during the Bosnian-Herzegovina war into neighboring countries such as Sweden and Finland (Eastmond, 2006). Some of them were granted permanent residence and stayed on even after the war ended while others returned to Bosnia. As such, families are divided between those living in Sweden and those living in Bosnia. This created the seasonal or temporary transnational life and mobility between the two countries, where family visits were made during holidays. This has also boost the local economy as bus and air services carry people between the two countries. Thus, mobility can take in various forms and reasons. But basically, people are drawn to make the move when there is a need for safety, survival, and economic benefits. 5.2 Education, opportunity, mobility and earnings

Education and mobility Education has a functional value as well as a symbolic value. Education is said to have a functional value when a person attends university to study education and later when he graduates, he becomes a teacher. In this case education has a functional value. On the other hand, a person who graduates with a degree in engineering but does not want to work, instead he uses the degree as a symbol of status. Similarly, when an uneducated man works hard and earns enough to send his child to study in a private college and graduates and holds a professional job, the sons education is a symbol of value. In terms of functional value, we find that United States is among the countries that stressed on this aspect in their society. In America, after 1900, parents begin to believe that educating their children would open opportunities for better jobs and salaries. Schools and higher institutions begin developing their courses and programs to fulfill the needs of the job market. Students enrollment increase in technical and engineering courses as they perceived job opportunities in industries. Great Britain and Australia began to stress on education as a functional value only after 1940s. There was more emphasis on educating children at the secondary and tertiary levels. Prior to this, they believed that people can be successful politics, business, and public service even without a formal education. It was never perceived as a key to acquiring wealth and social mobility.

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The functional value of education serves both individual and group mobility. For example, for individual mobility, a person from lower class can be trained to manage positions in the higher management level in an organization, thus allowing him to enter the middle class level. This is evident in America where the number of teachers, lawyers, doctors had increased from 6% in 1950 to 25% in 1970. Britain and Australia began focusing their educational system on its functional value. In Britain, free education was offered at the secondary school level and encouraged poor but deserving students to proceed into universities by offering scholarships. In Australia there was an increase in the enrolment of students at the secondary schools. Activity 5.4 Explain why most countries educational system has a functional value? Mobility and earnings In the labor market there are three types of mobility: (1) inter-firm mobility, (2) intra-firm mobility, and (3) within-job mobility. Most job changes are inter-firm mobility. For example, Australian and British chemists reported that approximately 40% of all job changes are internal (Creedy & Whitfield, 1988). The inter-firm mobility can be divided into voluntary and involuntary mobility. The voluntary job mobility could be due to: pressure from employers, poor quality performance, immediate salary increase, long-term prospects in a new firm or frustration. On the other hand, involuntary job mobility could be because of redundancy, dismissal or closure of the organization. It is also least likely to allow an individual to gain an increase in responsibility on the job. In terms of income, voluntary job mobility on average has the largest increase in earnings compared to involuntary job mobility. This is because an individual who opted for voluntary job change is motivated by the desire to gain an immediate increase in salary. There are also those who change jobs because of transfer or promotion within the organization - intra- firm mobility. This refers to a change in occupation status but does not involve a change of firm. Intra-firm was a major contributor to upward mobility and was reported to be the second most important form of job mobility in the British and Australian chemists study.

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Within-job mobility on the other hand, is only evident after some time. This is because you can only gauge the within-job mobility by comparing the level of responsibility held and the type of task undertaken at the beginning and end of each job held by the individual. In terms of earnings, most inter-firm mobility generates significant increase in earning compared to intra-mobility. Similarly, voluntary mobility is likely to generate higher income compared to involuntary inter-firm mobility. In recent years, there has been a large transnational city movement by skilled workers into the world cities. Mobility can take place due to various factors: socially, economically, technologically, culturally, and geopolitically. We have learned that mobility may be caused by political reasons that have uprooted groups of people to move to another country. However, there are cases of mobility by groups who are drawn by the criteria set by government to lure professionals into their country. An example of a country that aimed at such mobility would be Australia (Ho, 2006). Women from Hong Kong and China see this as an opportunity to venture into Australia for occupational mobility. These women are highly educated, 25% of Hong Kong and 21% of China-born women had a university degree compared to 13% for the total Australian female population. Similarly, Hong Kong and China men are attracted to Australia for what it has to offer them. To further understand how education, opportunity, mobility and earnings are interrelated, we will turn to women in United States as an example (Katz et al., 2005). Generally, women in U.S. may have entered the job market not because they wanted to but because they had to. This is especially so for wives or widows who need to earn to provide adequate food, shelter, and clothing. However, women have been excluded from the job market, either entirely or deprived of best opportunities. Thus, they were only allowed into low-wage or dead-end jobs. Matters became worse when married women were prohibited into white-collar industries and teaching. It was only after World War II that women with formal education and married women were expected to enter the job market. Education was the key factor for women to be employed. This was because there were more jobs that demanded advance education. Throughout the twentieth century there were more women graduating from high school and college. The supply of educated women seeking jobs was the major force that drove women to join the workforce. In terms of ethnicity, job mobility was more accessible to White women compared to Blacks. Black women tend to lack educational qualifications, less working skills, and this may reduce their level of job mobility. They were mostly employed in domestic or agricultural sectors rather than clerical, managerial, and professionals where they lack educational qualification. In terms of occupation, women were generally employed in white-collar office handling feminized work such as clerks, bookkeepers, stenographers, typists, and secretaries. This

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has changed between 1970 and 1990 where women were accepted into managerial positions. With the Equal Pay Act of 1963, Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission, qualified women were allowed into the ranks of managers and Black women were allowed into public jobs. Between 1960 and 2000, there were more women among professionals, in teaching, clerical, and sales. Thus, we can see that job mobility among women were based on various reasons: - the attractiveness of jobs to women, and - shortage of male workers. On the other hand, employers seek women employees because: - anti-discrimination legislation and law, - jobs that require communication skills with clients, - jobs that service other women, and - they work for less pay. Because of job opportunities are available to them, women are returning to schools to earn higher degrees that would enable them to be more mobile. Today, women are best in jobs such as real estate, advertising, and investment. Activity 5.5 Explain the following mobility: a. inter-firm mobility b. intra-firm mobility c. occupational mobility

5.2.1

Schools perpetuating class structure

In todays modern society, schools have a more complex role to play, one of it is in initiating social mobility. Through education a person can achieve a higher position, the amount of access to it is one of the keys to the amount of mobility possible in a society. Thus, the school system is seen as a tool to either assist or hinder mobility of a person. School by itself is not sufficient in itself to enable mobility. A person requires other things to enable him to move. For example, if there are no available positions in the upper strata, no prestigious jobs to earn a good living, then schooling does not assist mobility; it has no effect on the class structure. In developed countries, societies are varied and their cultures are taken into account by the school system. For example, in the United States, there is a huge mixture of ethnic, ruralurban differences, and well-developed social class cultures with its own language, behavior, values, and beliefs. On the other hand, in developing countries, they may not have the metropolitan culture of the cities but they do have dominant and subordinate

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groups. For example, in Africa, where people are still living a tribal life, the groups are fewer and the cultures more distinctive. In countries with varied ethnic groups, schools have a task of selecting which culture that needs to be transmitted to the children. For example, in Malaysia, the school system has incorporated the cultures of the three ethnic groups, Malays, Chinese, and Indians in their curriculum. However, if parents wish their children to acquire their mother tongue, then they can enroll in the vernacular primary schools available for the three groups. In certain countries, example, Haiti, where the upper ruling class dominates the school system, they ensure that everyone learns their language and culture and less on the culture of the subordinate groups. This is to ensure they retain the upper position in the society by monopolizing the education system. Schools function according to the system of status and social class of the societies in which they exist. If the surrounding society comprised disadvantaged groups, schooling is one of the ways of mobility for them, similar to those of the dominant group who wished to maintain their status. For the disadvantage, schools can provide them the opportunity to get an education, provided all groups get a chance. 5.2.2 Transmission of status

In this section we are going to learn about what resources parents have that can be transmitted to their children. This process of transmitting parents resources to their children is term as intergenerational or across generations. What can be transmitted across generation Overall economic productivity of parents is likely to make children on average, better off than their parents. Parents income, education, beliefs, and attitudes are likely to have an impact on children when they are adults. In addition, parents can also transmit resources through intentional or unintentional actions. It can also be transmitted privately as in the case of child-rearing costs; or publicly, as in education, health, and other programs that are appropriate for the childs development. Intergenerational transfers can be either positive or negative. Positive transfers may be in the form of financial transfers such as gifts, and positive values, and aspirations. Negative transfers may refer to gender discrimination, poor health, and abuse. It can be assumed to a certain extent that whatever that is being transferred to children by their parents may have its consequences. For example, parents who are educated are more likely to have children who are better off in their education as a result of genetic influences or because these parents tend to adopt better child-rearing practices compared to less educated parents.

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What is transmitted and how it is transmitted Previously parents provide their children with basic necessities such as food and clothing but today, parents are proving addition resources (known as capital) such as financing their education, providing good health and nutrition. In addition to these parents may also transfer their life style (tastes, values and beliefs). Human capital As mentioned earlier, one of the resources parents tend to transmit to their children will be their human capital. This comprised parents knowledge, experience, and talents (i.e. education and learning process, healthy life style) that will contribute to the childs productivity, enabling the child to perform specific tasks (Becker, 1991). Parents acquire their human capital through schooling and maintained it through training and further education. Parents who undergo these training are then rewarded in the form of income and higher physical well-being. Thus, human capital will include not only the formal but also informal collection of parental skills that will have an effect of childrens outcome. Material and financial capital Wealthy parents passed their wealth to their children in the form of gifts or inter-vivos transfers and after death in the form of inheritances and bequests (Kohl, 2004). Intergenerational transfers may strengthen childrens social class. For example, between 12% and 26% of European individuals inherited their parents home (Di & Yang, 2002). This form of transfer may also have an effect on childrens later earnings directly or indirectly. Direct effects come when these gifts and bequests are worth a fortune if sold. Indirect effects come when you acquire earnings from the gifts and bequests and these in turn provides income for better food, health, education, housing (and neighborhood) conditions and capital for investment activities. For example, in the United States children whose parents own homes are more likely to attain higher education and this in turn leads to permanent income and this is particularly significant among low-income groups (Shlay, 2006). Social capital Social capital refers to the interactions that involved shared norms, values and understandings that enhance cooperation within or among groups of people (Cote & Healy, 2001). Social capital can take place within family households, the neighborhood, and the school (Coleman & Hoffer, 1987) where peers and society can influence children and adolescents. There are two kinds of social capital: family social capital and community social capital. Family social capital: this involves the interactions between parents and their children (time efforts, resources and energy that parents invest in their children (Coleman, 1988).

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Community social capital refers to the social support networks, civic engagement in local institutions, trust and safety, and degree of religiosity. Community social capital will benefit children of those communities where the adult members feel responsible for all children. They display high level of expectations and values about education. Children living in this type of community benefits as interactions occur inside and outside of school; a childs friends and associates in school are sons and daughters of friends and associates of the childs parents (Coleman, 1990). Within the social capital, there is bonding which connects people together such as among family members or among members of the same ethnic group. Therefore, the quantity and quality of the social capital transmitted to children is vital to their development. Ethnic capital In addition to parental inputs, the characteristics of the ethnic environment where the children are raised is important. The ethnic environment acts as an external factor that may enhance the human capital process. When the environment in which the child is raised is strong, ethnic differences can persist across generations. For example, friends and relatives from the same ethnic background who do not live in the same neighborhood may serve as a role model and leave an impact on the child, thus contributing to the enhancement of the ethnic capital. Similarly, children are more likely to interact with peers from the same ethnic group, the impact of peers from the same ethnic group will be more compared to that of other ethnic groups. How resources affect childrens present development and later outcomes This section will discuss how parents education, income, personality, genetic factors, and the environment where children are raised may influence their development.

Parental education Studies have shown that parental education has an effect on childrens development either directly or indirectly. For example, education may have an influence on parents income as it may modify the resources allocated for housing, schools, and child-care. This meant that if parents income is low then it is likely that they would not be able to get loans to buy house, etc. Parents education may also affect household size and the opportunity of education among the siblings. For example, higher educated mothers may want to work and decide to have lesser number of children (Becker & Lewis, 1973), and less children would mean more opportunities for furthering in their education. If one of the parents (father) is highly educated and has an income that is sufficient to support the family, then the spouse (mother) may decide not to work and thus, spend time doing domestic activities and educating the children.

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Parental education may also influence the environment in which children spends their childhood and adolescence (Feinstein et al., 2004). For example, highly educated parents are more likely to spend on educational materials. These parents tend to create a cognitively stimulating home learning environment where there are more verbal and supportive teaching styles (Harris et al., 1999), assist in their childrens homework, organize daily routines and resources that will enable them to achieve their parenting goals effectively (Hango, 2005). Educated parents may be more conscious of health and misbehavior that may disrupt the development of their child (example, smoking, drugs). They are more likely to have resources to protect their children from health-related problems. Parental income Parents income may have an effect on childrens schooling. Children raised in low income household were found to attain lower school performance (Duncan et al., 1998). These children in turn are more likely to have lower income or earnings and worse health in adulthood (Sigle-Rushton, 2004). Children from poor families are also linked to teenage pregnancies and may cause social disadvantage in later life (Hobcraft & Kiernan, 2001), as well as future effects on health. On the other hand, higher income allows parents to buy better health care and goods that produce better health. Poor families, due to unemployment, normally receive welfare benefits to help support their daily expenditures. Studies have shown that benefits from welfare have negative effects on childrens development. For example, parents who received welfare support may reduce their incentive to look for a job, a poor role model to their children. Welfare benefits given to support children however, are generally related with an improvement in their educational achievement and test scores (Mayer, 2002). For example, if the mother works, needs to pay for child care services then the welfare support is more likely to have a positive effect on the child. Thus, the effects of low income are more likely to have an effect throughout childrens lives and this is an important share of parents transmission of their socioeconomic status on childrens life. Investment model

There are models proposed by Becker (1965) that may further explain the transmission of parents status. According to the investment model children tend to benefit if their parents have higher income. Parents with higher economic resources are able to buy goods and services, better inputs for their childrens development. As such, poor parents tend not to be able to provide children with some of these goods and services that may enhance their development example, housing, ample conditions for learning, food, books, cultural visits and computers. As a result, their children are unlikely to do well in school.

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Stress model When parents are financially stable they tend to experience less parental stress and this allows them to handle their children more effectively. For example, low income would mean parents are constantly short of financial support for their daily household consumption. In addition, low income parents are more likely to express divorce, separation, unemployment which may increase parental stress and consequently have negative effects on child development. Role model Parents are role models to their children. For example, low income parents may have values, standards and attitudes that may influence childrens later development (example, a culture of poverty and welfare). For example, the theory of the culture of poverty suggests that people tend to become, are and remain poor due to their beliefs, attitudes and behaviors. These behaviors are transmitted in the form of capital across generations. Household and social environment Parents income alone will not have much influence on childrens development unless it is related with family structure, parenting style, their values and attitudes, the daily experiences in handling household matters, and the social environment where the child is raised. Family structure, for example, children raised in single-parent families were found to achieve lower educational achievement, they are more likely attend fewer years of schooling and drop out of high schools (McLanahan & Sandefur, 1994). This is because both income and time allocated to children are lower in single-parent families compared to dual-families. The type of family structure may also leave an influence on other types of child development. Studies have shown that children from single-parents household that received welfare benefits are likely to be out of job when adult (Astone & McLanahan, 1991; Biblarz & Raftery, 1993). It was also found that girls raised in single-parent households are more likely to experience marital breakdowns and have children out of wedlock (McLanahan & Sandefur, 1994; Wu & Martinson, 1993) and become teenage mothers. The size of household members may affect childrens future development. For example, household with more than two siblings has a negative impact on childrens educational achievement in the United States (Nguyen & Haile, 2003). Similarly, a large family size may be less conducive to educational achievement of children, in terms of their cognitive and non-cognitive development (Grawe, 2005). Besides size and birth order, gender too influence the health of children, especially in UK (Burgess et al., 2004). Activity 5.9 Explain why children raised by single mothers may have problems later in their adult life.

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Parenting Another parental factor that is transmitted to children is the way parents raised their children. Studies have shown that poor parenting may leave an impact on the social and emotional development of children and this in turn affects their future life chances (Mayer, 2002; Baumrind, 1991). Parenting practices and behaviors can transmit risk behaviors across generations. The four parenting practices proposed by Baumrind: authoritative (high levels of warmth and supervision), authoritarian (low warmth but high supervision), permissive (high warmth but low supervision), and neglect (low warmth and low supervision). Among the four practices, authoritative parents tend to display behaviors that leave a positive effect on childrens development as children from this type of parenting were found to have higher self-esteem, competence, and lesser mental health problems (Maccoby & Martin, 1983). While the other types of parenting were found to create several negative outcomes (Patterson, 1998). Neighborhood The immediate environment where the child lives may influence future outcomes. Thus, it was found that children are affected by neighborhood conditions and this effect operates through the experiences of their parents (Vartanian & Buck, 2005). These effects are explained in theories on how neighborhood influences childrens outcomes. The neighborhood advantage theory suggests that resourceful neighborhood may have positive effect later in adulthood. Children who grew up in neighborhood with libraries and playgrounds are more likely to benefit from these resources and therefore be advantaged when adults. On the other hand, children living in neighborhood lacking in these resources but instead have higher exposure to crime and negative values will leave negative impact on children when adults (Aaronson, 1997; Harding, 2003; Kling et al., 2006). The relative deprivation theory stressed on the disadvantage of children who are deprived when they do not own the same things as other children in their school or neighborhoods (Townsend, 1987). The epidemic theory (Wilson 1987; Crane. 1991) suggests that the effects of neighborhood are similar to epidemics. The effect of negative neighborhood on the child is modest to a certain point but once beyond this point the effect becomes highly contagious. It becomes contagious because of high incidence of social problems, lack of economic opportunities and roles. This accumulated negative effects is assumed to enhance individual poverty (Alba & Logan, 1993; Duncan et al., 1997; Galster et al., 2000). Overall, studies have shown that there are several resources that contribute to childrens development. These resources influence childrens cognitive and non-cognitive abilities that will leave an impact on their future life chances. Among these resources are parental education and income which transmits their beliefs and values into the homes and social environment where the child lives. This suggests that better family resources during the early years of the child are related to higher quality of education and a conducive

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environment for enhancing cognitive skills (verbal and non-cognitive habits) which may improve future life chances. 5.2.3 Social mobility and education

Education has always been the determinant for social mobility. Lack of proper education is seen as a major impediment to social mobility. For example, in India, majority of the lower caste are landless and possess few resources and as such they were unable to obtain adequate education to allow them to move up the social ladder. Global education mobility In the late 1980s, there was a move towards cooperation and educational exchange with the West. Through academic cooperation there was students exchange programs where the west was seen as the center of learning for higher education. United States and Britain became the target destination of thousands of students from all over the world pursuing the various academic programs at prestigious universities such as Oxford and Cambridge in U.K. and Harvard and Stanford in U.S. . In addition, this was made possible with geographic proximity of the countries (transportation links), common history (commonwealth countries) and cultural traditions (European students going to U.K. and U.S.) and medium of instruction (English Language). Various programs were set up to enhance inter-university cooperation program agreements that may allow for the following: student mobility exchange of academic staff common projects on university courses, intensive teachers training linkage and cooperation between various universities in different countries research projects, conferences, seminars, publications Student mobility may involve programs such as professional development. There is cooperation between the various universities to create common courses for all partners. This will influence student mobility. For example, beginning of 1945, many countries in Central and East Europe and China were allowed to send their students to Russia. This had increase foreign student enrolment to nearly 7 percent a year on average. This influx of student into Russia was due to the inter-university cooperation and agreement to create programs whose objectives were determined by the government authorities and not by the universities themselves (Merkurlev, 1996). For example, at the University of St. Petersburg Russia, from 1945, the university trained over 4,000 foreign undergraduate students to Masters level, 1,332 as candidate of Sciences (equivalent to a PhD), more than 3,500 students who undergo their practical training there. This reflects the importance of education and the creation of the education mobility. What is the future prospect for student mobility? Merkurley (1996) suggested these:

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There is no point sending students abroad the whole duration of the program. This is because students tend to vary in their level of academic achievement when leaving school. It would be wiser to send them at a later stage of their life after completing a few years of studying at the local universities. For example, after completing two years at the local university, students may spend their third year abroad, fourth year at home again, and then a short period abroad just before graduating, not necessary in the same foreign university. This is particularly suitable for students in the humanities. As for the science students, especially postgraduate dissertation, it would be better to further their studies abroad. Students may be sent to do a one year research project, or short study visits. Universities too need to agree on academic recognition of qualifications or study abroad in partner universities. An example would be the double degree where students may receive degrees from both institutional partners. Learning a foreign language is seen as an obstacle to education mobility as it is a tool for communication in cooperation as well as an instrument to convey cultural values. Students in Eastern countries need to master the English Language in order to further their studies in Western universities. Thus, schools need to prepare their students in acquiring the level of proficiency needed to enable their students to further studies abroad. The problem of brain drain of gifted scholars from eastern to western countries. It is forecast that there will be shortage of skilled manpower in the scientific and high tech industrial sectors of most western countries. Therefore, there is a need for countries to ensure their scholars are not encouraged to stay on after they graduated but t o return home to serve their own county.

With the increase in globalization, there is a global population flow where people are spending a period living abroad, whether to study, to develop a career, travelling, or holidaying with the possibility of emigrating in future. Such mobility arises from personal motivation and financial aspect is not the determining factor. For example, young New Zealanders have moved to London, where they perceived living and working abroad is a central part of reaching adulthood (Conradson & Latham, 2005). These New Zealanders held well-paid professional jobs in their country but choose to leave and travel instead. In London, they held temporary jobs and spent their days off visiting museums and galleries, weekend trips away from London to parts of Britain or to Europe. They want to be away from the pressures of permanent jobs and enjoy the experiences that are unavailable in New Zealand. Thus, this style of mobility is more towards the process of cultivating and nurturing the individual self. 5.3 Case studies from selected Asian education systems

Academic mobility in the South-East Asian (SEA) Region The South-East Asian region comprised 11 countries: Brunei, Cambodia, East Timor, Indonesia, the Lao Peoples Democratic Republic, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Students in these countries were sent abroad to more developed countries for education and training. This is in line with each country wanting to

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develop its human resources in order to fulfill the nations vision for human capital development. Students who studied abroad were still in constant contact with their professors and peers after they return home and this communication is useful for them later in jobs and other appointments in their life. During the beginning years of the academic mobility, the exchange was mainly one way, where students from SEA went abroad and academics from developed countries pay visits to offer advice and technical assistance in the SEA countries. With more students returning home to hold positions in the government and private sectors, the human resources of these nations soon became stronger and the one-way flow gradually decline. However, certain fields such as science and technology there is still a need to send students abroad. Universities were set up in these nations and have now reached a level that will enable them to contribute to the international academic community. Academic mobility programs are conducted for the following categories: 1. Academic staff exchanges to provide opportunities for staff to be familiar with the educational structure, administrative system, and academic activity of other countries. The program allows students to spend longer periods for exposure to other aspects of education besides their field of study. Through this exchange programs, there will be a flow of students not only from the developing countries to developed countries but vice versa. This will enhance mutual understanding and cooperation between countries and institutions. An example is the Commonwealth Exchange Program where not only staff but students go for exchange programs between member countries in the Commonwealth. Students from Malaysia are sent to U.K. for further studies at the undergraduate level and academic staff undergo their Master and Ph.D at renowned universities in the U.K. . 2. There are joint cooperative programs for university administrators and lecturers to share their expertise and resources on projects based on common needs and problems. Joint research conducted in several fields at the institutional level has contributed to the academic community. 3. Local institutions have learned to adapt to the needs of foreign partners in terms of courses and programs. Today, we find that there are joint degree programs, sandwich programs, and joint curricula in specialized fields.

The role of ASEAN in reinforcing academic mobility The Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) was established on August 8th 1967, comprised the foreign ministers of Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand. Since then, ASEAN has created numerous exchange programs for its member countries on joint research projects and seminars based on the principle of intraregional sharing of expertise and resources for the maximum benefit of the region as a whole. One of the projects is the ASEAN University Fellowship Programme for research, teaching and sectoral study to allow academics and lecturers from institutions in another

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ASEAN country to further their knowledge and expertise. The program will pave the way to the setting up of centers within institutions of higher learning in the region, which will serve as academic partners and host, and Masters program will eventually be offered. ASEAN has also established close relations with international partners namely, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Korea, Canada, the European Community, and the United States. This cooperation will further enhance greater mobility and exchange within both the intraregional as well as the global academic community. SEAMEO One of the international organizations that aimed at strengthening academic mobility within South-East Asia is the South-East Asian Ministers of Education Organization known as SEAMEO. SEAMEO comprised nine member countries including Cambodia, Lao PDR and Vietnam in addition to the six ASEAN countries, and has five associate members: Australia, Canada, Germany, and New Zealand. The objective of SEAMEO is to contribute to peace, prosperity and security by promoting regional cooperation among South-East Asian countries, by organizing joint programs, activities, and projects in the areas of education, science, and culture. UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) is another international body which has contributed to mutual understanding in the educational development of South-East Asia. Through this body, there is greater sharing and exchange of ideas, resources, expertise and experience among academics and educators in the region. One of its greatest contributions to academic mobility is the endorsement of the Regional Convention on the Recognition of Studies, Diplomas and Degrees in Higher Education in Asia and the Pacific (Wichit Srisa-An, 1996). This has increased the mobility of teachers, students, researchers, and professionals among the ASEAN countries. In addition, nongovernmental organizations and professional societies in the region, such as the South-East Asian Institution of Higher Learning (ASAIHIL), the Institute of South-East Asian Studies (ISEAS), and the South-East Asian Research Review and Advisory Group (SEARRAG) have also contributed to academic mobility.

ASAIHL The South-East Asian Institution of Higher Learning (ASAIHIL) has 123 member institutions of higher learning in 13 countries both within and outside the region. Among the countries involved are Malaysia, Brunei, Hong Kong, Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand who are full members, while Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, Sweden, and the USA are associate members.

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The main objective of setting up ASAIHIL is to foster the development of its member institutions, instill the sense of regional identity and interdependence and liaison with other regional and international organizations on research and teaching. Its main activity is the different forms of exchange programs for professors and students. This is conducted in the form of academic exchange, fellowships, seminars, workshops and symposia. On the whole, the South-East Asian countries have experienced academic mobility through the various channels of organizations set up by member countries within and outside the region. The strong spirit of cooperation among member countries in the region is the main factor contributing to the increase in education mobility in this region.

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS This chapter introduced you to some of the factors that contribute to the different types of mobility. We learn about mobility: 1. The types of mobility and the determining factors of social mobility. 2. The reasons why mobility occurs and conditions that permits mobility. 3. Mobility of ethnic among the Chams and Bosnians. 4. The types of mobility in the labour market and how it has affected the women in Hong Kong, China, and United States. 5. The resources that parents transmit to their children. 6. How education is related to social mobility and its effects globally. 7. The academic mobility programs in the Southeast Asia Region and how it has enhanced understanding and cooperation between institutions and countries. SELF-CHECK 1. What is the meaning of social mobility? Explain the types of social mobility. What are the determinants of social mobility? 2. Explain why group mobility occurs and what are the conditions that permits mobility. 3. Explain the differences of ethnic mobility between the Chams and the Bosnians. 4. Explain the types of mobility in the labor market. How has it affected women in Hong Kong, China, and United States? 5. Describe the different resources that parents can transmit to their children. What are the advantages of these resources to childrens development? 6. Explain how education is related to social mobility. How has it affected globally? 7. Describe the various academic mobility programs in the Southeast Asia Region. How has each of these programs enhanced understanding and cooperation between institutions and countries.

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TRUE/FALSE Correct those statements that are FALSE. 1. Social mobility refers to a person from a lower class moved to a higher social class. 2. A clerk who works hard and is still employed in the same organization is said to experience downward mobility. 3. Social mobility can be considered as a motivation factor for students to do well in their studies. 4. One of the ways to encourage upward mobility is to terminate low income jobs. 5. In order for upward mobility to benefit the lower class society, job applications need to be based on achievement rather than on birth. 6. One of the Ascriptive criteria is based on who knows who. 7. Bill Gates and Donald Trump are examples of mobility through achievement. 8. Most people who lived in rural societies are said to be living in a closed society. 9. New York metropolitan is an example of an open society. 10. Politics is one of the most popular ways of upward mobility. 11. Group mobility is common among rural population. 12. When there is political instability in the country there is a tendency for people to move to another country. 13. Education has two values, functional and symbolic, and most countries stress on the symbolic value. 14. Job mobility can happen when you are not satisfied with decisions made in your office. 15. When the economy is unstable due to war, involuntary mobility may be enforced on workers. 16. Most organizations prefer to promote inter-firm mobility rather than intra-form mobility among their staff. 17. Transnational city mobility tends to be common among unskilled workers. 18. Parents feel that it is their duty to transfer whatever they know to their children. 19. Human capital refers to the formal and informal learning experiences of parents. 20. Children from low income will benefit if their parents are educated. 21. Community social capital benefits children especially those in the rural schools. 22. Ethnic capital refers to people of the same ethnic group that contributes to the development of children. 23. Parents education and income are important resources to childrens academic development. 24. Single educated parents can produce high achieving children. 25. It is an advantage to have many siblings as they can help each other in their studies. 26. Good parenting helps to enhance childrens learning. 27. Neighborhood advantage theory gives us an idea of what our community should have that will benefit the development of children. 28. Relative deprivation theory explains the disadvantage of being poor. 29. Epidemic theory describes the effects of long term negative neighborhood on children. 30. Global education mobility is more likely to benefit children from wealthy families.

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ANSWER: 1. T 2. F 3. T 4. F 5. T 6. T 7. T 8. T 9. T 10. F 11. F 12. T 13. F 14. T 15. T 16. F 17. F 18. F 19. F 20. F 21. F 22. T 23. T 24. T 25. F 26. T 27. T 28. T 29. T 30. F

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