ABSTRACT
In ethnically stratified societies, privileged ethnic groups usually attain higher average educational levels than members of subordinate ethnic groups. Several factors underlie this pattern. First, educational attainment is enhanced by privileged social origins, and students from advantaged ethnic origins benefit from the educational, occupational, and economic attainments of their parents. Second, dominant social groups use the educational system to secure their privilege across generations. By virtue of their cultural and political domination, educational selection is based on criteria that favor their offspring (Collins 1979). Third, dominant ethnic groups may control the political processes by which school systems are funded and structured and are able to promote those schools or educational districts attended by their children (Lieberson 1980, ch. 6). As a result of these factors, students from advantaged social origins do better in school and obtain more schooling, which, in turn, enables them to obtain more desirable occupations.
