{"product_id":"the-education-trap-schools-and-the-remaking-of-inequality-in-boston","title":"The Education Trap: Schools and the Remaking of Inequality in Boston","description":"\u003cp\u003eWhycontrary to much expert and popular opinionmore education may not be the answer to skyrocketing inequality.  For generations  Americans have looked to education as the solution to economic disadvantage. Yet  although more people are earning degrees  the gap between rich and poor is widening. Cristina Groeger delves into the history of this seeming contradiction  explaining how education came to be seen as a panacea even as it paved the way for deepening inequality.  The Education Trap returns to the first decades of the twentieth century  when Americans were grappling with the unprecedented inequities of the Gilded Age. Groegers test case is the city of Boston  which spent heavily on public schools. She examines how workplaces came to depend on an army of white-collar staff  largely women and second-generation immigrants  trained in secondary schools. But Groeger finds that the shift to more educated labor had negative consequencesboth intended and unintendedfor many workers. Employers supported training in schools in order to undermine the influence of craft unions  and so shift workplace power toward management. And advanced educational credentials became a means of controlling access to high-paying professional and business jobs  concentrating power and wealth. Formal education thus became a central force in maintaining inequality.  The idea that more education should be the primary means of reducing inequality may be appealing to politicians and voters  but Groeger warns that it may be a dangerous policy trap. If we want a more equitable society  we should not just prescribe more time in the classroom  but fight for justice in the workplace.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44965120770101,"sku":"ByrdShop_0674249119","price":27.81,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780674249110.jpg?v=1770489258","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/the-education-trap-schools-and-the-remaking-of-inequality-in-boston","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}