michael olneck | University of Wisconsin-Madison (original) (raw)
Papers by michael olneck
Periodically, fears are voiced that the intelligence level of the u.s. population is falling. His... more Periodically, fears are voiced that the intelligence level of the u.s. population is falling. Historically, this fear has been joined to the belief that fertility is inversely related to intelligence. Evidence for that belief is sparse, and may be an artifact of the failure of researchers to consider completed families. An inverse correlation between measures of intelligence.and number of children in young samples may simply reflect differentials in timing and spacing of births, and not in ultimate family size. Drawing on data from only ever-married and relatively older men in the NBER-Thorndike and Kalamazoo Brothers samples, the authors find no inverse relationship between test scores and number of children. Since ever-marrieds are expected to show the greatest negative relationship, these results are all the more telling. "Intelligence and Family Size: Another Look 1.
1 Work effort, savings, and the income distribution: What are the effects of income transfers? An... more 1 Work effort, savings, and the income distribution: What are the effects of income transfers? An associate professor in the Departments of Educational more, did not aggravate racial segregation, and, in the Policy Studies and Sociology at the University of Wiscon-case of Catholic schools, reduced the strength of the link sin-Madison, Michael Olneck is also on the research staff between family background and academic achievement. On April 12 of this year, the New York Times carried an article with the understated headline, "Remarks by Sociologist Stir Debate over Schools." The Washington Post was more blunt: "Private High Schools Are Better Than Public, Study Concludes." The object of their attention was a newly released draft report prepared for the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) by University of Chicago sociologist James Coleman and two collaborators, Thomas Hoffer and Sally Kilgore. The report , "Public and Private Schools," analyzed...
Drawing on analyses of the 1973 and 1962 Occupational Changes in a Generation Surveys, this paper... more Drawing on analyses of the 1973 and 1962 Occupational Changes in a Generation Surveys, this paper reports and attempts to explain empirically the apparent anomaly that between 1961 and 1972 the pecuniary effects of completing high school among men aged 25 to 34 years old rose appreciably. Our finding is new because sociologists studying the relationship between educational attainment and income have generally heretofore omitted measures of a twelfth-grade "diploma" effect. Our finding is theoretically significant because, under conventional assumptions of human capital theory, we would have expected the effects of high school graduation to have fallen between 1961 and 1972 as the proportion of men who were high school graduates rose. We are unable to explain the increase in the effects of high school completion in terms of widening human capital differences between dropouts and graduates, in terms of queuing processes, or in terms of demand factors associated with occupati...
This study used five data sets to investigate the effects of measured cognitive skills cr educati... more This study used five data sets to investigate the effects of measured cognitive skills cr educational attainment, and the effects of cognitive skills and educational attainment on occupational status and earning among men with low test scores, as compared to men with high test scores, and among men with blue-collar fathers, as compared to men with white-collar fathers. Three of the five data sets were not available for the 1972 study by Christopher Jencks. None of the analytical approaches detected evidence that ability differences have larger effects in educational attainment among men with low scores than among men with high scores, nor among men with blue-collar as opposed to white-collar fathers. The tendency in the evidence is to suggest the opposite. Furthermore, wit!, respect to the effects of measured ability on occupational status the evidence suggests that if there are differential effects of ability, they favor those with higher ccores rather than those with lower scores. The findings suggest, at best, that the effects of test scores and schooling are similar for maxi regardless of initial standing, and at worst, that larger benefits accrue to men who are already advantaged. The results of this study provide little support for those who view compensatory education as a potent instrument for extending economic opportunity to the disadvantaged. (Author/AM)
Sibling data dr4wn from the Kalamazoo Brothers sample are used to assess the adequacy of conventi... more Sibling data dr4wn from the Kalamazoo Brothers sample are used to assess the adequacy of conventional sociological variables for measurtng family backgraind, to estimate the overall effects of family backgeound.
Advocates laud digital badges for empowering learners in new and valuable ways. Badges can, they ... more Advocates laud digital badges for empowering learners in new and valuable ways. Badges can, they claim, recognize and credential learning acquired outside the confines of formal schooling, are widely available and affordable, will appeal to employers for their granular measurement of what individuals know and, more importantly, can do, are modular and stackable, and offer individualized and personalized learning. Sociological theory and research, however, offer grounds for caution in expecting digital badges to empower learners in the ways badge “evangelists” envision. In this presentation I will sketch constraints with which badge advocates may have to contend. These constraints include how credentials operate in labor markets and in the organization of work, the enduring power of conventional education forms, the contradictory position of profit-making firms in the education field, the exclusion of “powerful knowledge” from the learning outcomes afforded by badges, and the congrue...
Historians are important mythmakers.1 Among the central legends of American history is that of th... more Historians are important mythmakers.1 Among the central legends of American history is that of the immigrant and the school. The myth that—through schooling—early twentieth-century European immigrants to the United States were afforded and embraced unparalleled opportunities to achieve social mobility and to “become American,” has shaped responses to persisting poverty among African Americans, informed contemporary education policy toward “English Language Learners,” and, generally, stood as an object lesson for how success in America is available to all.2 Historians, as John Bodnar has observed, have contributed to that myth by depicting immigrants as “cherishing the idea of free public education and the promise it offered for social success,” and as demonstrating a “‘commitment’ to the American dream of personal advancement through schooling.”3
This paper was prepared as a draft of a chapter to be im-luded in Who Gets Aheadt, edited by Chri... more This paper was prepared as a draft of a chapter to be im-luded in Who Gets Aheadt, edited by Christopher Jencks, Basic Books, forthcoming. All commercial rights reserved to Basic Books by agreement with the National Institute of Education.
Using the Kalamazoo Brothers data and the Project Talent II-year Follow-up survey, the authors te... more Using the Kalamazoo Brothers data and the Project Talent II-year Follow-up survey, the authors tested six propositions implied by the meritocratic model of socioeconomic achievement and found the following results: 1. The influence of family background on educational attainment, occupational status, and earnings has not fallen over time, nor has
Periodically, fears are voiced that the intelligence level cf the United States population is fal... more Periodically, fears are voiced that the intelligence level cf the United States population is falling. Historically, this fear has been linked to the belief that fertility is inversely related to intelligence. Evidence for that belief is sparse and may be an artifact. of the failure cf researchers to consider completed families. An inverse correlation between measuses of intelligence and 'number-cf children in yotyng samples may simply reflect differentials in timing and spacing of births, and not in ultimate family size. Drawing on data frok only ever-married and relatively cider men in the NBER-Thorndike and Kalamazoo Brothers samples, the authors Of this paper find no inverse relationship between test scores and number cf children. Since ever-marrieds are expected to show the greatest negative relationship, these results are all the more telling. (Author/GC) s,
Asia Pacific Education Review, 2011
Multicultural policy in South Korea faces variants of challenges endemic to multiculturalism. The... more Multicultural policy in South Korea faces variants of challenges endemic to multiculturalism. These challenges are “dilemmas of difference,” “variable terms of inclusion,” and “legitimacy.” In Korea, these challenges arise in a setting in which ethnic diversity is of relatively recent origin, an ideology of ethnic homogeneity is prevalent, and official multicultural policy is limited in its reach to those who
A Companion to American Immigration
The ways in which educators and schools in the United States have responded to the children of im... more The ways in which educators and schools in the United States have responded to the children of immigrants are explored, and the patterns, causes, and consequences of educational outcomes on immigrants are reviewed. The literature on which this paper draws is diverse, encompassing the work of historians and social scientists. Results of scholarship about immigrants and schooling reveal greater ambiguity and complexity than suggested by popular mythology. Immigrants have embraced American schools, but not as unreservedly as American myth maintains. Schools have been the places where immigrant children joined American society, but not necessarily on the terms educators preferred or with the ease that has been imagined. American schools have had to revise their practices repeatedly to accommodate immigrants, but their success has been uneven. The historical research reviewed in this paper suggests that much contemporary opposition to multicultural education is based on mistaken represen...
To appreciate the continuing challenge to translate the promise of Brown v. Board of Education' i... more To appreciate the continuing challenge to translate the promise of Brown v. Board of Education' into the actuality of equal education for African Americans, we need look no further than to data that suggest that in 2003, African American eighth-graders read at approximately the same level as second-quarter white sixth-graders. While considerable progress in reducing racial disparities in academic achievement was made during the 1970s and through the mid-1980s, that progress stalled in the 1990s, and, today, at all ages, substantial disparities remain between the academic success of African Americans and European Americans.' While to some extent, racial disparities in
The Review of Economics and Statistics, 1980
gence on fertility and of household size on offspring's intelligence remain the subject of pu... more gence on fertility and of household size on offspring's intelligence remain the subject of public debate. Most recently, attention has centered on the decline in Scholastic Aptitude Test scores and the possible effects of the postwar baby boom. These concerns suggest that economists would do well to introduce intelligence into the household utility maximization model used to explain differential fertility. We attempt to do this here.
Sociology of Education, 1989
This article attempts to explain why, between 1961 and 1972, as the proportion of men aged 25-34 ... more This article attempts to explain why, between 1961 and 1972, as the proportion of men aged 25-34 who completed high school increased, the pecuniary effects of high school graduation rose. The authors are unable to explain the increase in terms of widening human capital differences between dropouts and graduates, queuing processes, or shifts in occupational composition and are led to conclude that as high school graduation becomes increasingly common, the social definition of the high school dropout as unqualified for the labor market intensifies, and the economic disadvantages suffered by dropouts increase beyond those predicted by simple models of the education-income relationship.
Periodically, fears are voiced that the intelligence level of the u.s. population is falling. His... more Periodically, fears are voiced that the intelligence level of the u.s. population is falling. Historically, this fear has been joined to the belief that fertility is inversely related to intelligence. Evidence for that belief is sparse, and may be an artifact of the failure of researchers to consider completed families. An inverse correlation between measures of intelligence.and number of children in young samples may simply reflect differentials in timing and spacing of births, and not in ultimate family size. Drawing on data from only ever-married and relatively older men in the NBER-Thorndike and Kalamazoo Brothers samples, the authors find no inverse relationship between test scores and number of children. Since ever-marrieds are expected to show the greatest negative relationship, these results are all the more telling. "Intelligence and Family Size: Another Look 1.
1 Work effort, savings, and the income distribution: What are the effects of income transfers? An... more 1 Work effort, savings, and the income distribution: What are the effects of income transfers? An associate professor in the Departments of Educational more, did not aggravate racial segregation, and, in the Policy Studies and Sociology at the University of Wiscon-case of Catholic schools, reduced the strength of the link sin-Madison, Michael Olneck is also on the research staff between family background and academic achievement. On April 12 of this year, the New York Times carried an article with the understated headline, "Remarks by Sociologist Stir Debate over Schools." The Washington Post was more blunt: "Private High Schools Are Better Than Public, Study Concludes." The object of their attention was a newly released draft report prepared for the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) by University of Chicago sociologist James Coleman and two collaborators, Thomas Hoffer and Sally Kilgore. The report , "Public and Private Schools," analyzed...
Drawing on analyses of the 1973 and 1962 Occupational Changes in a Generation Surveys, this paper... more Drawing on analyses of the 1973 and 1962 Occupational Changes in a Generation Surveys, this paper reports and attempts to explain empirically the apparent anomaly that between 1961 and 1972 the pecuniary effects of completing high school among men aged 25 to 34 years old rose appreciably. Our finding is new because sociologists studying the relationship between educational attainment and income have generally heretofore omitted measures of a twelfth-grade "diploma" effect. Our finding is theoretically significant because, under conventional assumptions of human capital theory, we would have expected the effects of high school graduation to have fallen between 1961 and 1972 as the proportion of men who were high school graduates rose. We are unable to explain the increase in the effects of high school completion in terms of widening human capital differences between dropouts and graduates, in terms of queuing processes, or in terms of demand factors associated with occupati...
This study used five data sets to investigate the effects of measured cognitive skills cr educati... more This study used five data sets to investigate the effects of measured cognitive skills cr educational attainment, and the effects of cognitive skills and educational attainment on occupational status and earning among men with low test scores, as compared to men with high test scores, and among men with blue-collar fathers, as compared to men with white-collar fathers. Three of the five data sets were not available for the 1972 study by Christopher Jencks. None of the analytical approaches detected evidence that ability differences have larger effects in educational attainment among men with low scores than among men with high scores, nor among men with blue-collar as opposed to white-collar fathers. The tendency in the evidence is to suggest the opposite. Furthermore, wit!, respect to the effects of measured ability on occupational status the evidence suggests that if there are differential effects of ability, they favor those with higher ccores rather than those with lower scores. The findings suggest, at best, that the effects of test scores and schooling are similar for maxi regardless of initial standing, and at worst, that larger benefits accrue to men who are already advantaged. The results of this study provide little support for those who view compensatory education as a potent instrument for extending economic opportunity to the disadvantaged. (Author/AM)
Sibling data dr4wn from the Kalamazoo Brothers sample are used to assess the adequacy of conventi... more Sibling data dr4wn from the Kalamazoo Brothers sample are used to assess the adequacy of conventional sociological variables for measurtng family backgraind, to estimate the overall effects of family backgeound.
Advocates laud digital badges for empowering learners in new and valuable ways. Badges can, they ... more Advocates laud digital badges for empowering learners in new and valuable ways. Badges can, they claim, recognize and credential learning acquired outside the confines of formal schooling, are widely available and affordable, will appeal to employers for their granular measurement of what individuals know and, more importantly, can do, are modular and stackable, and offer individualized and personalized learning. Sociological theory and research, however, offer grounds for caution in expecting digital badges to empower learners in the ways badge “evangelists” envision. In this presentation I will sketch constraints with which badge advocates may have to contend. These constraints include how credentials operate in labor markets and in the organization of work, the enduring power of conventional education forms, the contradictory position of profit-making firms in the education field, the exclusion of “powerful knowledge” from the learning outcomes afforded by badges, and the congrue...
Historians are important mythmakers.1 Among the central legends of American history is that of th... more Historians are important mythmakers.1 Among the central legends of American history is that of the immigrant and the school. The myth that—through schooling—early twentieth-century European immigrants to the United States were afforded and embraced unparalleled opportunities to achieve social mobility and to “become American,” has shaped responses to persisting poverty among African Americans, informed contemporary education policy toward “English Language Learners,” and, generally, stood as an object lesson for how success in America is available to all.2 Historians, as John Bodnar has observed, have contributed to that myth by depicting immigrants as “cherishing the idea of free public education and the promise it offered for social success,” and as demonstrating a “‘commitment’ to the American dream of personal advancement through schooling.”3
This paper was prepared as a draft of a chapter to be im-luded in Who Gets Aheadt, edited by Chri... more This paper was prepared as a draft of a chapter to be im-luded in Who Gets Aheadt, edited by Christopher Jencks, Basic Books, forthcoming. All commercial rights reserved to Basic Books by agreement with the National Institute of Education.
Using the Kalamazoo Brothers data and the Project Talent II-year Follow-up survey, the authors te... more Using the Kalamazoo Brothers data and the Project Talent II-year Follow-up survey, the authors tested six propositions implied by the meritocratic model of socioeconomic achievement and found the following results: 1. The influence of family background on educational attainment, occupational status, and earnings has not fallen over time, nor has
Periodically, fears are voiced that the intelligence level cf the United States population is fal... more Periodically, fears are voiced that the intelligence level cf the United States population is falling. Historically, this fear has been linked to the belief that fertility is inversely related to intelligence. Evidence for that belief is sparse and may be an artifact. of the failure cf researchers to consider completed families. An inverse correlation between measuses of intelligence and 'number-cf children in yotyng samples may simply reflect differentials in timing and spacing of births, and not in ultimate family size. Drawing on data frok only ever-married and relatively cider men in the NBER-Thorndike and Kalamazoo Brothers samples, the authors Of this paper find no inverse relationship between test scores and number cf children. Since ever-marrieds are expected to show the greatest negative relationship, these results are all the more telling. (Author/GC) s,
Asia Pacific Education Review, 2011
Multicultural policy in South Korea faces variants of challenges endemic to multiculturalism. The... more Multicultural policy in South Korea faces variants of challenges endemic to multiculturalism. These challenges are “dilemmas of difference,” “variable terms of inclusion,” and “legitimacy.” In Korea, these challenges arise in a setting in which ethnic diversity is of relatively recent origin, an ideology of ethnic homogeneity is prevalent, and official multicultural policy is limited in its reach to those who
A Companion to American Immigration
The ways in which educators and schools in the United States have responded to the children of im... more The ways in which educators and schools in the United States have responded to the children of immigrants are explored, and the patterns, causes, and consequences of educational outcomes on immigrants are reviewed. The literature on which this paper draws is diverse, encompassing the work of historians and social scientists. Results of scholarship about immigrants and schooling reveal greater ambiguity and complexity than suggested by popular mythology. Immigrants have embraced American schools, but not as unreservedly as American myth maintains. Schools have been the places where immigrant children joined American society, but not necessarily on the terms educators preferred or with the ease that has been imagined. American schools have had to revise their practices repeatedly to accommodate immigrants, but their success has been uneven. The historical research reviewed in this paper suggests that much contemporary opposition to multicultural education is based on mistaken represen...
To appreciate the continuing challenge to translate the promise of Brown v. Board of Education' i... more To appreciate the continuing challenge to translate the promise of Brown v. Board of Education' into the actuality of equal education for African Americans, we need look no further than to data that suggest that in 2003, African American eighth-graders read at approximately the same level as second-quarter white sixth-graders. While considerable progress in reducing racial disparities in academic achievement was made during the 1970s and through the mid-1980s, that progress stalled in the 1990s, and, today, at all ages, substantial disparities remain between the academic success of African Americans and European Americans.' While to some extent, racial disparities in
The Review of Economics and Statistics, 1980
gence on fertility and of household size on offspring's intelligence remain the subject of pu... more gence on fertility and of household size on offspring's intelligence remain the subject of public debate. Most recently, attention has centered on the decline in Scholastic Aptitude Test scores and the possible effects of the postwar baby boom. These concerns suggest that economists would do well to introduce intelligence into the household utility maximization model used to explain differential fertility. We attempt to do this here.
Sociology of Education, 1989
This article attempts to explain why, between 1961 and 1972, as the proportion of men aged 25-34 ... more This article attempts to explain why, between 1961 and 1972, as the proportion of men aged 25-34 who completed high school increased, the pecuniary effects of high school graduation rose. The authors are unable to explain the increase in terms of widening human capital differences between dropouts and graduates, queuing processes, or shifts in occupational composition and are led to conclude that as high school graduation becomes increasingly common, the social definition of the high school dropout as unqualified for the labor market intensifies, and the economic disadvantages suffered by dropouts increase beyond those predicted by simple models of the education-income relationship.