A majority of the people in the world lacked an education 150 years ago. A century and a half later, most have received at least some formal schooling, pushing forward an “education revolution” that has affected nearly every facet of human life. Professor of Education and Sociology David Baker discusses in his new book how education has transformed our culture into “The Schooled Society.”
Dr. Baker examined more than four decades of educational trends—specifically the rise of university-level schooling and its effect on primary and secondary schools. He connected these trends to changes in values, ideas, and other norms in a number of cultures around the world. Using data from the U.S. Census Bureau, the Departments of Education and Labor, and other agencies, Dr. Baker demonstrates education’s ability to change culture instead of react to it.
“Education has the power to construct new types of knowledge, politics, and religions,” he said. “It drives society, which in a way takes the old way of thinking and turns it on its head.”
Dr. Baker writes that it is often believed that social change happens in the world first, and education only partially, if ever, catches up. Based on extensive review of data sources, Dr. Baker challenges this long-held belief that education adapts to changes in society. In reality, Dr. Baker says, with the extensive education revolution, education often leads the way, and is the central social institution that influences all others.
“In the United States, we are so used to having a large amount of education we often don’t clearly see its effects,” he said. “If you look at regions of the world that have many people with little to no education, you can see the dramatic influence education has on a culture.”
The Social Vaccine
As populations of people learn, they are able to transform their behavior and make healthier choices. For example, countries with more educated citizens often have lower levels of fertility and mortality rates than countries that have less educated citizens. When it comes to behavior-related diseases like smoking, obesity, and the HIV virus, education can be the ultimate “social vaccine.” Dr. Baker added that “It’s more than teaching citizens to be better workers. Schooling teaches people to think better and make better decisions.”
Dr. Baker used a visit to Sub-Saharan Africa as an example of the impact education can have on a culture. While on the trip in 2009, Dr. Baker noticed a pattern in the region’s HIV rates. Prostitution was prominent across all education levels within the region, and with it a high rate of HIV virus. But researchers were finding that the more educated men were contracting HIV earlier and more frequently than their less educated counterparts. At first glance, this phenomenon seemed unusual. However, after examining the causes behind this seemingly uncommon occurrence, Dr. Baker found that the governments of these African countries were producing misinformation.
“The more superior cognitive ability from schooling to understand a complicated disease was completely negated as educated people were absorbing iatrogenic information,” said Dr. Baker. “Once the information was corrected, behavior began to change. Behaviors are often adopted by the most educated first, and as better information is uncovered and disseminated, educated individuals are much more likely to respond by changing their behavior for the better. This process is called the Population Education Transition (PET) Curve.”
PET has been seen in other health-related phenomena. “You see it in smoking. In the 1930s and 40s, tobacco was a status symbol. Wealthier and more educated people were more likely to smoke,” Dr. Baker said. “Fast forward to the 1960s, the surgeon general releases a warning about smoking’s effects, and everything flips.” In 2012, according to the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 42 percent of those with only a high school education smoke, while 6 percent of those with a graduate level degree smoke.
Education Helps People Think Outside the Box
“There is another challenge related to being less educated”, Dr. Baker said. “People with less education are often exposed to over-simplified messages when they are the very ones who need the most explanation.” In other words, less educated people need clearer, more multifaceted messages. They need more explained, but in a way that they can digest. Research has shown that more educated people get complicated messages and they are adept at connecting the dots by themselves. Education helps them think outside the box.
In recent research stemming from the theme of his book, Dr. Baker and his team traveled to parts of Peru and Sub-Saharan Africa to study populations of adults with very little education. They examined neurodevelopment and decision-making processes of citizens in these regions and found that adults with just a few years of education were better at reasoning, planning, and thinking abstractly than adults who had no formal education. “On average, people with no education fall back on custom and traditional problem-solving methods. Therefore it is difficult for them to think for themselves in new ways,” he said. “It’s not that they aren’t intelligent. They just don’t think outside of the box as well—and very dramatically so.”
Based on data from decades of social science research, “The Schooled Society” describes a new way of thinking about the power of education. As a society’s citizens become educated, their everyday lives are transformed and the educational social revolution continues to strengthen in the current postindustrial era. Dr. Baker’s book makes the case that education is more a cultural force than a functional necessity. It challenges the belief that education at all levels is reactive, and instead showcases its powerful global impact.
“The School Society” was published by Stanford University Press. Dr. Baker is an affiliate of the Population Research Institute (PRI). Some of his research featured in the book was funded by both PRI and the Social Science Research Institute.