The school as a legitimization mechanism of social and academic inequalities

Abstract

This academic paper is aimed at discussing the mechanisms that have transformed the school into an agency that legitimizes social and academic inequalities. To that end, three factors have been stated which allow to understand how the school tends to reproduce specific characteristics of the dominant social culture, they affect the academic and teaching processes inside the schools. The
first factor is related to equal opportunities which in the practicum generate unequal academic competence due to students’ different social status. The second factor is associated to social inequalities impregnated in school practices which foster exclusion and academic failure. The last factor states merits as teaching practice show students’ academic and social differences. As
conclusions, it is stated that equal opportunities lead to legitimize the unequal competence among students to obtain the diplomas and a different social status. Moreover, the social inequalities foster exclusion and academic failure just simply by those inequalities have been legitimized as entry, permanence, and exit requirements in the schools. The merit contributes to emphasize students’
social and cultural differences because they have become the legitimated stimulus to justify students’ academic performance, due to the belief that high grades are synonyms of intelligence and learning.