The education trap

One of the prevailing education myths is that schools can singlehandedly cure every societal ill.

In the book, The Education Trap, historian of education and work, Cristina Viviana Groeger, argues that despite Boston’s reputation as a bastion of educational equality, its schools have not helped improve the mobility of marginalized groups.

The data supports this. During the period 1850-1940, when access to education increased and school attendance was compulsory, the employment structure of the city remained the same. Whites occupied high-paying, influential jobs and African-Americans did low-paying, service-based work.

Groeger makes the point that all types of schools—grammar, vocational, commercial, etc.—had the same effect on Bostonian employment structure. They deepened the entrenched view that whites should hold better positions.

This narrative challenges us to reconsider the prevailing myth that schools alone can uplift marginalized communities.