Class Counts: Education, Inequality, and the Shrinking Middle Class [Paperback]

Allan Ornstein (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0742547426 | ISBN-13: 978-0742547421 | Publication Date: March 15, 2007

Class counts. Class differences and class warfare have existed since the beginning of western civilization, but the gap in income and wealth between the rich (top 10 percent) and the rest has increased steadily in the last twenty-five years. The U.S. is heading for a financial oligarchy much worse than the aristocratic old world that our Founding Fathers feared and tried to avoid. The middle class is struggling and shrinking, the Medicare and Social Security trusts are drying up, and education is no longer the great equalizer. A moral society, one that is fair and just, sets limits on the accumulation of wealth and inherited privilege and also guarantees a safety net for the less fortunate. This book describes the need for a redistribution of wealth in order to make U.S. society more democratic, fair and just, and outlines the ways in which we can begin to make these very necessary changes. This is a timely and powerful book, one that should be read by anyone interested in preserving the social fabric of American life.

Editorial Reviews

Review

useful for studies in inequality. (Choice )

Class Counts makes a useful resource for lively and relevant discussions for doctoral level social justice or educational leadership and policy courses. It would effectively supplement an advanced educational foundations course....Educators and their students will find Class Counts helps them become more informed voters. (Leslie S. Kaplan & William A. Owings Teachers College Record )

About the Author

Allan Ornstein is professor of education at St. John's University. He is a former Fulbright-Hayes Scholar and is the author of more than 400 articles and 50 books on education and social issues, including Foundations of Education, 9th ed; Education Administration: Concept and Practices, 4th ed., and Curriculum Foundations, Principles, and Issues.

Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers (March 15, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0742547426
• ISBN-13: 978-0742547421
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 6.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #962,468 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Review by Dr. Sheldon Marcus, November 4, 2009

By 

Sheldon Marcus (Fordham University, New York, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Class Counts: Education, Inequality, and the Shrinking Middle Class (Paperback)

Class Counts, a recent book by the prolific Allan Ornstein, proves that one need not be a Marxist to subscribe to the theory of class struggle. In his book, Ornstein, a thinking conservative, in the David Brooks mold, details how class status in our contemporary society is negatively impacting the ability of most working people to achieve the "American Dream". He describes how the gap in income between the rich and the poor has increased steadily over the past 25 years. The growing disparity in wealth is making it difficult for schools to continue to be the great American engine enabling "have not" students to reach adulthood and move up the economic and social ladder. Public schools in inner cities are getting worse while tuition in private and state universities is growing at a significant rate. The poor and the lower middle class are simply being priced out of the "game" of life.
Despite the numerous reforms spurred by the "Nation at Risk" report, there is little evidence that after almost 30 years of proclaimed "successful reforms", schools serving the poor are doing a good job in inner city America and blue collar suburbs.
As always, Ornstein's book is combative and opinionated, but supported by data. He makes a persuasive case that our society is headed in the wrong direction as a result of the growing importance of social class. Despite a heavy reliance on data, Ornstein's book is a fast read and will not put anyone to sleep. One may not always agree with him, but one must always consider what he says.
Although the book was published in 2007, it is extremely valuable to read as we approach 2010. This is due to the fact that the recent economic crisis has made the content of Ornstein's book even more relevant and timely today than it was in 2007. Simply stated, the book was predicting what has turned out to be the current economic reality. Ornstein has written a penetrating although pessimistic book about the American future. It is a book one must read.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Class Counts, September 21, 2009

By 

Dr. Richard T. Scarpaci - See all my reviews

This review is from: Class Counts: Education, Inequality, and the Shrinking Middle Class (Paperback)

Ornstein, Allan. (2007). Class Counts: Education, Inequality, and the Shrinking Middle Class, NY: Rowman & Littlefield Pub.

Allan Ornstein uses Class Counts as a civics lesson on social class, wealth, and inequality, which sets the stage for eventual societal change. He links class distinctions as a basic topic argued by our founding fathers who resolved that we were not to be an aristocracy but a society of educated people.

A major premise of the book is that equality of opportunity does not lead to equality of outcomes. Schools do not assist in achieving equality because school achievement and economic outcomes are highly related to social class and family background. Education has in many instances been used to maintain the status quo, and contain the marginalized. The book maintains that public education as the great equalizer is all but dead, and individual initiative, education and equal opportunity are things of the past. A small number of families are seen as dominating business and political interests, not because of genius or excellence but family connections. Only through the redistribution of wealth can society help the marginalized. The author advocates for a "third revolution that that will soften the hidden depths of inequality gripping the social and economic fiber of our nation." The text is confrontational especially when the author is pontificating. The plausibility of some of the arguments presented adds to the texts provocative nature.

The book is stimulating, challenging and a joy to read. Social mobility, political equality and equal opportunity are seen as things of the past. Those with inherited wealth are described as members of the "lucky sperm club." The American Dream is seen as a thing of the past strangled by America's "financial oligarchy." Some might see these positions as recipe for tyranny. The text offers a solution which would purport to reform the tax code by taxing unearned income at higher rates than earned income while progressively increasing taxes on luxuries, estates, gifts, investment income, and home mortgages.

If Ornstein is right our children's futures are in jeopardy. His philosophy rooted in progressive thought must be used to carry the torch and create schools that are effective in academics, ethics, social skills and cultural change. The practice of teaching must be focused on developing the American Dream for all. Class Counts is a book that must be read and digested by all educators if we are to avoid the apocalypse that could strike our schools.

Allan Ornstein is a prolific and controversial author who never ceases to amaze. As a man of substance he advocates for redistribution of wealth to create a just society. The present is described as an accumulation of past experiences as evidenced in the authors dedicating the text to his friends of fifty years.

The author sees class as the prime issue of our age. The lowest classes have no government that represents them while laws are made by and for the rich. The trend towards "meritocracy of the intellectual elite" has aggravated class inequalities rather than alleviated them. A new form of arrogance has been created by this trend toward meritocracy. As seen in "statesmen engaging in negative nabobs of negativism." The author's way to achieve equality is through enlightened socialism, income redistribution, and affirmative action; which should be based on class not race. This text offers food for thought whether you agree or disagree with its premises.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Review of Class Counts, July 18, 2009

By 

Dr. William Owings - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Class Counts: Education, Inequality, and the Shrinking Middle Class (Paperback)

The following is a review of Class Counts that was published in the Journal for Effective Schools.

Allan Ornstein should be a familiar name to most school administrators since he is a prolific writer with several seminal textbooks on the market. His newest book, Class Counts, is in the author's own words, "...a 340-page ramble that my old handball, basketball, and baseball buddies might appreciate." Ornstein lists some of his old buddies from P.S. 42 who had no pedigree, legacy, or inherited wealth, power, or privilege. Some never achieved the American Dream, a few, however, went on to achieve solid middle class status.

Ornstein points out that increasingly, one's social class may count more than their education level as people try to achieve the American Dream - hence the title.

Ornstein's thesis is that it is that public education is no longer the engine of social and economic mobility. It is becoming more difficult to climb the ladder of success in our country. He cites the fact that in the last fifteen years, real household income rose 2 percent for the bottom 90 percent of Americans, but rose 57 percent for the top 1 percent of wage earners. It soared 85 percent for the top 0.1 percent, and skyrocketed 112 percent for the top 0.01 percent! Given a similar economic outlook, Ornstein observes, most in his generation would be in much worse socio-economic shape had they grown up and started their high school or college education today.

The author asserts that with increasing income disparities and inequality of educational opportunity, education is no longer society's "great equalizer." While America believes in social mobility - that one generation or individual can and should rise above the previous generation's or family's attainment level - facts show this is becoming more difficult. Only 3 percent of students attending the top 146 colleges and universities come from the bottom economic quartile, further exacerbating wealth and class gaps. Likewise, Ornstein cites statistics to show that income quintiles have "hardened," decreasing social mobility. Between 1979 and 2000 income gaps between the poor, middle class, and rich have increased. To put this into perspective, after tax income for the richest 1 percent increased 201 percent. The middle quintile increased 15 percent while the bottom fifth increased only 9 percent.

This income inequality, Ornstein notes, is eroding public schools' role in producing the educated meritocracy. Instead, America's postindustrial economy is in danger of developing an aristocracy of inherited wealth. Schools can no longer equalize the social and cultural advantages that exist between social classes. With globalization driving down Wal-Mart prices and U.S. middle-class wages, the majority of Americans is falling further behind the mobility curve. To bring it home: "What is the value of an education and what is happening to the middle class when a teacher can barely afford a bungalow, and some captain of industry, entertainer, or sports figure lives a more luxurious life than the land barons of the aristocratic Old World that we had hoped to eliminate in the New World?"

Ornstein begins Class Counts with a Western Civ. overview of social class, wealth, and inequality. His discussion extends from Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton to Teddy and Franklin Roosevelt to George W. Bush. Class distinctions, Ornstein argues, are not new. Our founding fathers debated this topic. They asked: Should the country be run by an aristocracy of the bright and wealthy or by the general masses that did not even understand the debate's abstractions? The founders finally agreed that America's hope rested with an educated populace.

While the U.S. never lost its social class distinctions, America embraced the idea of equality under the law to pursue property, life, and liberty. The American Revolution gave the common man a new pride and power, new opportunities, and multiple chances to succeed. This provided a new respect for talent, hard work, and merit. Hence, ordinary Americans came to believe that everyone was the same as everyone else and everyone had equal opportunity to achieve the American dream.

Class Counts shows how tax policies since the Reagan administration have benefited the wealthiest Americans to a much greater extent than the rest of the population. A plethora of statistics demonstrates how such policies have exacerbated wealth gaps, excluding many from the prosperity many see but can not attain.

The author offers a final chapter on recommendations and solutions in Class Counts. Most involve restructuring Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, healthcare, college tuition, and tax structures. For educators, he encourages using a more relevant, globalized curriculum and reminders to become informed voters (and vote for individuals who will accomplish necessary societal changes).

What does this mean for educators? Ornstein argues that most educators believe in "equal opportunity" and see school as a process involving the acquisition of skills and the inculcation of better work habits in order to increase the individual's productivity. Since income is related to productivity, more education brings higher income. Education also serves as a screening device to sort individuals into different jobs. The more talented and highly educated individuals will obtain better jobs. "The resulting stratification, based on merit or performance, is acceptable to most of us in a democratic society."

The democratic system breaks down, however, when inherited wealth becomes entrenched and when the gap between the wealthy and unwealthy (with similar amounts of education) increasingly becomes lopsided. As "the relationship between education and income diminishes - and class, rank, and privilege increasingly outweigh talent, ability, and performance," Ornstein implies that public schools become less an engine for meritocracy or social mobility.

"Most of us who believe in the American dream are willing to accept elitism based on intellectual pursuits and merit, as opposed to elitism based on inherited wealth and privilege. However merit...is becoming a diminishing asset." By reducing the importance of merit, we invariably reduce mobility. If we reduce mobility based on merit, do we also reduce public schools' role as a means for talented but less affluent students to rise, economically and socially? Ornstein concludes that "It is doubtful if grossly underfunded schools, managed by bureaucratic and sometimes cruel policies and staff by many unprepared teachers, can make a dent."

Ornstein continues, "Not only do schools have little measurable effect on students' test scores and future earnings, what accounts for the assumed relationship between education and occupation and income are a number of underlying variables related to education such as family structure, inherited intelligence, peer group, and socioeconomic class." "Those who start at the lower income brackets have less social capital that those who start in the middle or higher income categories. Those with less social capital come to school with few cognitive skills, and the gap worsens as the students pass from grade to grade. Parents with more social capital move into high performing school districts, provide private tutoring, and work the system through university alumni associations, professional networks, and social contacts to assist their children's careers, ensuring class advantages. While Ornstein's view may be politically incorrect, and be anathema to effective schools advocates, his array of supporting data will give any thoughtful educator pause.

Class Counts is not a mainstream education theory text. It is, as Ornstein admits, somewhat of a rant. But the book deserves attention. In a world where leaders in effective schools are excessively focused on the fine scale achievement gaps between middle-class white and traditionally underserved minority and disabled students, perhaps it is wise to examine the larger frame. Do public schools still offer a meritocracy where talented and able students can work hard, learn, and gain the attitudes, knowledge, and skills for social and economic advancement? Or has our culture changed so much that even middle-class students with a good education have little chance of making the social and economic gains available only a few generations ago?

We have long known that disenfranchised students have difficulty meeting schools' academic goals. Nevertheless, schools employing the effective schools correlates allowed traditionally underserved students to successfully answer the question, "What's in it for me?" The problem Ornstein raises, however, is much larger. If Ornstein is correct, we are now moving towards an entire middle class of students becoming disenfranchised from education. If the middle class cannot use public schools to advance their education and opportunities, what hope is there for less affluent students? These questions deserve serious and thoughtful discussion.

Education can be faulted for many failures. Effective schools, in our opinion, are generally proactive in meeting students' learning needs. It might do us well to consider what Allan Ornstein has to say about our country's increased hardening of class boundaries and shrinking middle class. Does the evidence suggest that our American dream of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness is fading?

If Ornstein is correct, not considering the larger realities that confront our students' futures may leave us unable to help them. This would be a failure from which our students cannot recover. If Ornstein is incorrect, Class Counts still gives... Read more ›