Identity and Schooling: Some Lessons for the Economics of Education.

Abstract

The article presents a sociological view of education with economic analysis. With the focus on identity and schools, the article, gives a new perspective on the allocation of resources in education. The framework suggested in the article captures phenomena that could not be explained by standard economic modeling. It easily explains the sequence of events at Hamilton High, the implications of school discipline and changes in the legal status of students, the success of notable school reform experiments, such as CPESS and the Comer schools, the trade-offs in the Shopping Mall High, and arguments of non-economists in favor of school vouchers and charter schools. The model combines the fundamental concern of economists--the allocation of resources--with a basic concern of education scholars--the dependence of students' achievement on the gap between their own self-images and the person the school intends them to be. It focuses on the identity and behavior of students, but the motivations of teachers and administrators are also keys to the success of different schools. Thus the extent to which teachers identify with their school's mission may be as important as differences in student motivation in explaining the gap in performance between the two systems.