ACADEMICS.web.id – It is undeniable that education is still seen as the key to achieving social mobility and improving the quality of life. Many people flock to the educational system, believing that by entering it, their lives will be guaranteed, prosperous, and reflect an ideal society.
However, all of this seems to have the opposite implication. Samuel Bowles and Herbert Gintis, in their work “Schooling in Capitalist America” (1976), offer a different perspective. They argue that the education system, including higher education, actually functions to reinforce social and economic stratification within a capitalist society.
According to Bowles and Gintis, the curriculum and teaching practices in schools emphasize compliance, discipline, and respect for hierarchical authority. This can be seen in the current dynamics of higher education in Indonesia. Students seem to be reduced to mere cogs to fill the factories.
This is because students are indeed prepared to take roles in the capitalist production structure. It is no wonder, then, that the education system will continue to reproduce bourgeois cultural values such as individualism, competition, and material success orientation, which clearly align with the interests of the ruling class.
Furthermore, Bowles and Gintis see that the education system plays a role in filtering and selecting individuals who are ideal. Ideal for what? To fill positions within the capitalist job structure, based on their socio-economic background. From this, we can see that education is actually not neutral. Education will continue to be a tool to maintain the status quo and the interests of the ruling class in this capitalist system.
Then, if you want to feel the capitalistic atmosphere in a real context, the phenomenon of rising Single Tuition Fee (UKT) is the answer. The phenomenon of increasing UKT in universities can honestly be seen as a manifestation of Bowles and Gintis’ theory. According to data from the Ministry of Education and Culture, the average UKT at state universities in 2021 reached IDR 7.2 million per semester. However, some renowned universities in Indonesia recently raised their UKT significantly.
Certainly, we can clearly see that this significant increase in UKT makes higher education costs more expensive and unaffordable for families from the lower economic class. Moreover, according to data from the Central Bureau of Statistics, in 2021, around 24.27 million people, or 9.19% of the total population of Indonesia, were still living below the poverty line. This means that access to higher education is increasingly limited for poor communities, which will eventually limit their vertical social mobility.
Clearly, the restriction of access to higher education needs to be taken seriously. We can even view this case as an effort to maintain the social and economic stratification of capitalist society. The fact is, universities today play a significant role in producing educated labor to fill positions in the capitalist production system. In other words, by limiting access through high UKT, the oppressed will continue to be oppressed, and the powerful will continue to remain in power forever.
Moreover, if we critically observe, the rise in UKT can also be seen as a hidden interest. The question is, interest for whom? Clearly, the interest in question is the interest of the ruling class (bourgeoisie), to maintain the privilege of higher education for the middle and upper economic groups. This means they will continue to make higher education a luxury only accessible to those who can afford it. Automatically, the ruling class can ensure that their children will have better access to higher education, thereby securing their positions at the top of the socio-economic hierarchy.
Nevertheless, the critique of the education system put forward by Bowles and Gintis does not mean that higher education has no benefits at all. We are indeed trapped by the ambivalence of this chaotic education system. No matter what, higher education still plays an important role in developing the skills, knowledge, and intellectual capacity of individuals. However, in the context of a capitalistic society, these benefits are often distorted by the interests of certain classes to maintain their dominance.
Therefore, efforts to reform the higher education system are crucial. Steps to ensure more open and fair access for all segments of society need to be realized immediately. Primarily, justice and openness that are free from their economic backgrounds.
Ultimately, higher education should serve as a means to achieve social justice and vertical mobility, not as a tool to reinforce existing social and economic stratification. Therefore, through understanding the dynamics of power and hidden interests behind the education system, we can create more meaningful changes. Especially in achieving the true goal of education, which is to educate the nation fairly and equitably.@
