Sponsored and Contest Mobility and the School System

Abstract

This chapter suggests that a framework for relating certain differences between American and English systems of education to the prevailing norms of upward mobility in each country. It describes two ideal-typical normative patterns of upward mobility and suggests their ramifications in the general patterns of stratification and social control. In addition to showing relationships among a number of differences between American and English schooling, the ideal-types have broader implications than those developed. The grammar schools supply what by comparative standards is a high quality of college preparatory education. The most obvious application of the distinction between sponsored and contest mobility norms afford a partial explanation for the different policies of student selection in the English and American secondary schools. Brief note may be made of the importance of the distinction between sponsored and contest mobility with relation to the supposed effects of upward mobility on personality development.