Fernando Reimers (Ed.).(2000). Unequal Schools, Unequal Chances: The Challenges to Equal Opportunity in the Americas. Reviewed by James J. Harrington, Boston College

Fernando Reimers (Ed.).(2000). Unequal Schools, Unequal Chances: The Challenges to Equal Opportunity in the Americas. Cambridge, MA: David Rockefeller Center, Harvard University Press. xv + 464 pp. $24.95 (paper)     ISBN 0-674-00375-6. Reviewed by James J. Harrington Boston College August 29, 2001 A provocative and immensely helpful book, Unequal Schools is also a handbook for participatory practices in fostering social and economic growth in both developing and seemingly developed nations. It is a volume that can be used in undergraduate courses in Latin American history, government, or economics, and a work that could be definitive in graduate education courses. During the past two decades issues of equity and development have dominated the discussion of education in Latin America. Organizations including the World Bank, the InterAmerican Development Bank, UNESCO, and numerous NGOs have examined ways in which to move underdeveloped and less developed countries into the global economy. After many years and many words, we are still seeking answers. In Unequal Schools, Unequal Chances, Fernando Reimers has added another project to his agenda of participatory solutions to third world problems: here the issue of equity and equal opportunity that education can offer to social and economic development. Reimers offers both a highly original vision and a continuation of the important research agendas begun in the late 1950s and early 60s by Noel McGinn, et al at the Harvard GSOE. Their work had often led to frustrations over the failure of policy to connect and follow the research trail provided in studies across the world [Latin America, Pakistan, Egypt, among others]. A major success in the post-war period in El Salvador is based upon an education system assessment that Reimers led in partnership with the Ministry of Education and the USAID. Earlier work proved a similar point in research to develop education policy in Egypt. This book provides answers, and many more questions for study. This edited volume includes carefully selected, quantitatively based research from across the Americas. The tables, charts, and graphing are valuable as quantitative descriptions of places and topics not commonly available to students or scholars. Enrollment figures are generally available in Latin America, although they do not always accurately describe what they purport to describe. Here these standard data are coupled with measures of inequality and other social, economic, and academic data. International tests, measures and analytic descriptors of spending, as well as comparative social indicators explain and enhance the work here, informing student and academic alike. These combine with often compelling photos of students and locations to underline the message of the text. Reimers himself describes the theoretical premises and the limits faced by the authors. He is apologetic for being so involved personally in an edited volume: he writes three of the introductory chapters and the conclusion. However, it would be hard for Reimers to step aside in a work that is the most recent culmination of his twenty-year research agenda. His chapters explain the theoretical and practical framework of the work, setting the intellectual and social topography. As a result, the book though edited, has a precise, coherent objective and message: there are in the Americas deep inequalities in educational opportunity and attainment for children of different social backgrounds. There is an equally strong belief that research and policy can solve these problems. Reimers emphasizes that an examination of the opportunities of the poor can assist the role of policy in expanding those chances, and those policy matters. In two well-written and interesting chapters he explains the why and what prescribed by educational opportunity in this hemisphere. Reimers knows the interconnection of education, poverty and inequality in the Americas, and he defines these elements in their paradoxical relationship: "In the presence of growing levels of educational opportunity and attainment ... [there are] growing levels of income inequality and very severe, persistent poverty" (page 5). This paradox is the research driven knowledge that development requires an educated population, at least workforce, yet the reality that most of these societies preserve structure that screen people out of the educational system. Unequal Schoolsdescribes a basic conflict between educational success and failure often created by the social and economic context of the student. The research shows that poverty leads to lowered opportunity in Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, and the United States. These countries represent 474 million people and 61% of the population of the Americas. As befits a participatory philosophy, Reimers includes multiple perspectives on each country/region, mixing local and outside views of the area and topics. Reimers is recognized as a leader in international education. He has also become expert in the theory that underlies the participatory premise of this book [and much of his recent work, most notably Informed Dialogue with Noel McGinn (1997)]. While policy may not represent reality, particularly in describing what happens to poor children in school, policy has often been successful in improving the conditions and schools that these children attend. The authors of _Unequal Schools_ continually report on the encouraging ability of policy to make positive gains. What these authors agree on is a desire to increase the amount of success and to move it into the equity domain. What they suggest is that we "examine the learning opportunities of the children of the poor and the role of education policy in expanding those choices" (page 7). The authors' propose a daunting task at the outset: "...to present a current account of the state of educational opportunity for low income groups in the Americas. The goal is to offer various frameworks to conceptualize the dynamics of educational inequality at the micro level and to discuss, based on empirical evidence, the short- and long-range impact of various policy efforts aimed at expanding the learning chances of the children of the poor" (page 9). The opening section of the book includes chapters by Charles Willie and Donald Winkler, in addition to Reimers. Both of these scholars are old hands in the equity discussion. Willie describes foundational concepts of educational equity based upon a quantitative study in South Carolina [USA]. Willie's emphasis on raising the levels by raising all boats - not the water - is based upon his observation that too many have drowned by the rising tide in the traditional approach. It is Willie's view that improving the lot of those at bottom should be used to push those above to new levels. Winkler, a scholar of Latin America and education for many years, discusses the framework for classifying approaches for improving the education of poor children and schools. With Reimers, Willie and Winkler define the theoretical landscape. They ask fundamental questions that are often ignored. Among these is the issue of desegregation. In response to chapter one, Carlos Munoz Izquierdo asks, "how are we to desegregate education in a society that remains economically and socially separated and unequal? Clearly, race and economic class extend their impact across the world. The choice of Argentina as the first locale was based on its position among the first nations committed to universal education. The evidence from Argentina underlines the inherent paradox in the book's theme. The pervasiveness of the problem in Argentina states its power, continuing to exist in a state convinced and committed to its solution. Yet it also shows the possibility of expanding opportunity through policy choices. Argentina has successes, not just continuing problems. Two chapters on Chile show the possibilities of linking educational goals and public policy. In a nation with a proud education history, Garcia-Huidabro and the Scheifelbeins' debate the policies of the 1990s, examining the goals, claims, and evidence. A single chapter on Colombia describes a similar premise linking policy success with educational goals. Yet here too the evidence underlines the pervasiveness of the equity problems, illustrating what Reimers had earlier described as "policies that address inequality, with a major redistributive purpose, could make education an equalizing force in social opportunity." (Page 56) Four chapters on Mexico dominate the middle end of the book. While this is not my principal area of interest, it is evident that Mexico holds an important position as evidence of the success of policy when responding to research! Sylvia Schmelkes details the gap between improving statistics and a continuing growing inequity. The Mexico cases examine its diverse population, as well as the issues of policy and equity for the poor. These include the study of actual attainments to create a baseline [research], the evidence regarding the rural poor, the indigenous v. the “white” population, and an evaluation of the five-year plan in its poorest state. Some evidence describes the incomes, status, and opportunity available to varied households across the population. Other evidence documents the inequality and marginalization of groups. Yet, policy results do indicate a continuing hopefulness! Peru is used to study the role of educational finance in fostering educational inequality. The evidence is damning. Yet here again the examples of success within the very limits of government expenditure continue a thread of hope in this study. Throughout the book, the threads weaving the texture of the story details pervasive problems of children denied opportunity due to insufficient finance, poor facilities, poverty in the home, and lack of materials. Intertwined with these facts are stories of success and hope. One of the fascinating elements of this book is the inclusion of the United States. A full chapter, by Gary Orfield, discusses those parts of the US where continuing, even institutionalized poverty mirrors the impact of third world poverty and its equity void. He questions the use of the United States as a world model when so much inequality remains embedded in the system. Orfield offers quantitative evidence the mid-twentieth century of the persistence of inequality and the failure to alleviate those conditions in an economy without real excuses for its failure. Matching the theme of the book, Orfield underlines the failure to produce equity in the social, economic, and political context in which unequal schools exist: where test scores represent social and economic advantage not education, and where the market offers no protection for those without knowledge. Unequal Schools, Unequal Opportunities fulfills its goals. It provides the evidence to define its context. It also examines and describes successful policy. What is most clear is that the problems have always overwhelmed the effort to resolve them, and in all cases it has been the poor who have suffered the consequences. Equity has deprived the poor, but it has deprived the nation of their talents. The bottom line this book offers is that the need to solve the problems of poverty coexists with the problems of staffing, facilities, and curriculum that may characterize poor schools. Equity is a social and economic problem that becomes an educational issue. The schools exist within a specific context, and are effected by--often determined by--its conditions. Unequal Schools offers data and suggestions for a wholistic approach to making education a positive tool for social and economic development. It is not limited to the developing world, or to Latin America, although that is its focus. Unequal Schools should be a classic! References McGinn, Noel and Fernando Reimers (1997). Informed Dialogue: Using Research to Shape Policy Around the World. Westport, Conn.: Praeger. Reimers, Fernando (ed.) (1995). La Educacion en El Salvador de Cara Al Siglo XXI. San Salvador, El Salvador: UCA Editores. About the Reviewer James J. Harrington Boston College Graduate School of Education Chestnut Hill, MA The reviewer is a teacher of history and doctoral candidate in the Higher Education Program at Boston College. As an independent scholar his research interests include Latin American history, particularly Central America; the history of education and particularly international education; and, higher education.