The Social Impact of Education in the USA

Juming Li1(B) and Zuqi Su2

1 Steinhart, New York University, New York, USA
jl11090@nyu.edu
2 Legendary Milestone Academy, Beijing, China

Abstract. American higher education began in the 17th century with the estab-
lishment of colonies. The establishment of Harvard and other colleges also marked
the beginning of early American higher education. Before the beginning of the
Independence War, the United States established nine colleges, which became the
cornerstone of modern American higher education. It also establishes the starting
point for the spread of contemporary American social values. With the continuous
change of contemporary society, education, as a catalyst, plays a more and more
important role. Especially in the 21st century America, where social contradic-
tions are prominent. From the past when only white people in the United States
could receive education to the present, people of ethnic and religious beliefs in
any country can speak freely in the class. All kinds of unfair phenomena change
with the social progress, but new social problems come with the social change.

Keywords: Social environment · education unfairness · education quality

1 Introduction
Education is a vital tool in enhancing social impact in the USA. A right to an education
for all children is a central tenet of such seminal international treaties as the United
Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the 1948 Declaration of Human
Rights, both of which were adopted in the last few years [1]. According to Ezegbe
et al. [2], the twentieth century saw an upsurge in the number of places offering formal
education. In the USA, formal and informal education promote social impacts. These
objectives are met by the planned and purposeful actions of an education’s management
and staff. There is a lot of evidence to suggest that as educational opportunities and
outcomes improve, society benefits. For instance, education promotes social impacts
through improving gender quality, social environment, quality education, and reducing
inequality while enhancing the economy of the United States of America [3]. This paper
focuses on education’s role in fostering societal development impacts. There are many
reasons to invest in education, and the means through which it is delivered, including
government, institutions, teachers, curriculum, and pedagogy, are crucial to achieving
SDGs. According to Herr et al. [4], “social impact” refers to any significant or positive
shift that helps eliminate or significantly reduce social inequity or difficulty. Constantly,
and in various ways, education affects the lives of its recipients. As opposed to the

© The Author(s) 2023

M. F. b. Sedon et al. (Eds.): SSHA 2023, ASSEHR 752, pp. 915–922, 2023.
https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-062-6_119
916 J. Li and Z. Su

economic effect, which looks at how these education affect economy, the social impact
looks at how these events affect people. Education in the United States of America
promotes social impacts through attaining SDGs.

2 Education Quality
A high-quality education is crucial for making a positive difference in the world. The
reorientation of current education institutions was crucial to SDG during the UN World
Summit in Johannesburg in 2002 [5]. Education for sustainable development (ESD) pro-
motes the growth of the expertise, information, understanding, attitudes, and behaviors
essential to building a sustainable world, including environmental preservation, social
justice, and economic stability. Environmental education was a major inspiration for
ESD since it aimed to instil environmental stewardship in its students by teaching them
the facts they needed to know and the habits they should adopt to protect their planet [5].
The objective of ESD is to give individuals the information and tools they need to make
decisions and take actions that will improve our lives without negatively impacting the
environment. In addition, the program strives to incorporate the values of SDGs into all
facets of education.
Investment and development of the learning system are crucial to the progress of
any nation and its people. The more people are educated, the more people will be able
to educate others, and the more the culture will respect education [5]. Moreover, respect
human rights, gender equality, and environmental sustainability are just a few skills and
values that students of all ages can acquire via education. Other development indications
will stall until the money is put into high-quality education. The Global Partnership for
Education prioritizes the most at-risk children which in fragile sustainable development
education in its efforts to provide a decent education for children everywhere.

3 Social Environment

Learning social environment benefits the individual, who will be better equipped to par-
ticipate in civic and political life and for the greater good of society. According to Pizzi
et al. [1], education is the process of enabling learning or acquiring culture. Culture
is “that complicated whole which comprises knowledge, law, art, belief, morals, tradi-
tion and other capabilities and habits” [6]. Formal education is provided by specialized
institutions (schools and churches) and codified according to specific methods. Educa-
tion begins informally with the interaction of children with the people in the surround-
ing, more so parents and relatives’ progress (lecturing, memorization, demonstration,
interpretation, collaboration, practice, experimentation).
Various social and economic institutions can promote higher levels of education.
People and families aspire to join to advance their standing and that of their families,
with the expectation of doing so, will improve particular aspects of culture, which is
based on critical thinking, humanistic values, professional skills, religious beliefs, and
citizenship [7]. More and better education is seen as one of the primary tools of social
advancement as that idea gains traction.
 The Social Impact of Education in the USA 917

The most apparent social development sign is the rise of formal education, which
occurred in tandem with the rise of nation-states and the modern economy in the United
States. The United States had achieved universal schooling by the end of the 19th century,
with Northern Europe following suit shortly after. Until the early nineteenth century,
when universities and other essential learning centers, mainly connected with churches,
began to open their doors to women, the idea that all individuals should be able to study
the sacred books was only an idea and was never fully practiced, began to open their
doors to women [1]. Moreover, the contemporary, industrialized United States adopted
and disseminated this idea, expanding to a lesser extent to their colonies and spheres of
influence.
Whether or not having access to formal education genuinely promotes citizenship,
or any other purpose of education is a topic altogether. The International Association
for the Assessment of Educational Achievement undertook a comparative study of civic
education in 50 states in the United States in the 1990s, looking at whether or not
children aged 14 were developing the skills, commitment, and outlooks associated with
modern citizenship [8]. As one of their conclusions went, “The majority of young people
around the world have a poor impression of political parties. Social movements, rather
than parties and what many see as hierarchical political organizations ruled by an older
generation, attract young people’s allegiance as places where they can put their civic
virtues on display. Findler et al. [5] study demonstrate that formal education plays a
minor role in shaping students’ values and civic engagement than many teachers would
like.
There are different social theories based on the perspective of western nations. Over
the subsequent four decades, western intellectuals emphasized the significance of the
environment in an individual’s development. According to bandura’s theory of social
learning, an act of behavior is the result of the interaction between three components: the
individual, the environment, and human habits, which promote social effect. Bandura
[9] argues that although these three components are interconnected, they cannot act
alone. One of these three could be more important than the other two at a given time in
developing something. Next, individuals will shape their emotions, values, and behaviors
by observing the actions of their community members. Bandura [9] concurs that children
and adolescents learn much through imitation. Based on what they have learned through
imitation, teenagers will face social obstacles tied to Smoking, substance use, and other
bad cultures are examples of negative imitation. Child care experiences shape adolescent
behavior, which later impacts the social environment. So, most teens’ actions align with
what parents and the community expect [7]. Mismanagement of behavior can also be
caused by bad parenting and the process of socialization. Changes in society lead to
changes in how people think about culture. Also, “findings learning theory,” says that
people can learn by figuring things out for themselves among the many things that are
normally around them. So, children can get “intellectualism” indirectly through their
thinking. People around them only watch and give advice. They don’t try to control or
change how a learner acts.
The effect of a student’s social environment on how they act can be used to teach
them how to act through different patterns of social learning, which has a social impact.
This is because people naturally imitate, whether they do it in a good or bad way. The
918 J. Li and Z. Su

environment could change how people feel about their morals [10]. The last step in the
process of social convergence is appreciating moral values. This is done through social
learning, including basic parts like stimulus, reaction, affirmation, compliance, identifi-
cation, modelling, and impersonation. The environment greatly affects how people form
their identities and act. It has a big impact on how each person forms their own identity.
People like parents, family members, peers, teachers, and the media play important roles
in this role.
Students’ development is strongly affected by their surroundings, and the family is
the most important environment for children [11]. Lu et al. [11] say that a person’s family
influences their behavior, attitudes, and thoughts from childhood until adulthood. Parents
also have a hand in shaping their children’s religious beliefs. Parents’ job is to teach their
kids how to have good attitudes. Ferguson and Roofe [8] stress the importance of parents
in shaping their children’s personalities and skills from the moment they are conceived
through rituals like circumcision, appropriate names, breastfeeding, and environmental
enrichment, as well as through prayer and prayer emotional protection. Parents should
instil values by setting a good example, enforcing rules early on, ensuring their kids have
what they need to succeed, and inspiring them to do great things [10]. Parents who do
not do a good job of disciplining their kids could be seen as one factor that affects how
students act. This is in line with a citation that says kids who act badly do so because
they were given different or inconsistent rules when they were young. Most of the time,
children’s problems result from problems that started when they were young. They do
not know how to be good parents or take care of their families can add to these moral
worries.

4 Promote Gender Equality

Investing in girls’ education has a multiplicative effect on societies, economies, and

cultures. Educated girls had fewer health problems and higher life expectancies than
their uneducated counterparts [12]. They can better provide for themselves and their
family, have a voice in the decisions that matter most, and advance economically. When
girls get an education, economies thrive, and gender gaps shrink. It aids in creating
societies that are more secure and robust, allowing everyone, especially boys and men,
to reach their full potential. Girls’ education goes beyond simply enrolling them in
classes. It’s also about ensuring that young women feel comfortable and encouraged in
the classroom, especially in underrepresented fields.
Gender-equitable educational institutions help lessen the prevalence of child mar-
riage and genital mutilation, as well as other forms of violence in schools. Education pro-
grams inclusive of both sexes help young people cultivate soft skills like self-regulation,
conversation, negotiation, and analysis that will serve them well in adulthood. In doing so,
they help bridge the skills gap that contributes to wage inequality and national prosperity
[12].
 The Social Impact of Education in the USA 919

5 Promotes Economic Growth

Public and corporate education investments have increased worldwide due to this growth,
with the total amount in education today ranging from 4% to 10% of GDP in most nations
[13]. While there is little doubt that a higher level of education increases productivity,
when the economy shifts or remains stagnant, millions of college graduates are left
jobless and wondering where they fit in. Besides, in the United States of America, issues
of “over education” or “education surplus” have arisen since the expansion of educational
opportunities has been far more rapid and intense than the expansion of the economy and
the elimination of social inequality [13]. Moreover, where people with degrees struggle
to find work in fields that don’t match their skill sets, countries invest heavily in the
growth of education without seeing the returns they had hoped for [3]. Whatever the
demands or opportunities of the job market, there is great pressure and rivalry to acquire
more education and qualifications. Formal education is not only valuable for the skills
and knowledge it imparts, but it is also “strategically good.” Benefits will vary depending
on where they fall in the distribution of academic opportunities and levels of achievement
[3].
Since education systems are stratified according to the reputation and opportunities
afforded by different types of schools and universities, some authors argue that educa-
tion’s primary function is to strengthen previously existing social inequalities and the
monopolistic practices of social status through the administration of credentials. There
is a substantial relationship between students and their families socioeconomic status,
educational opportunities, and outcomes [14]. However, most education in low-income
countries is quite poor by international standards, leading to the emergence of niche
markets of highly selective schools catering to the country’s elite. This phenomenon is
true even in wealthy economies like the United States [14].
Whether a country has a history of market coordination or liberalization and handles
technical shifts associated with deindustrialization and the growth of the service sector
all play a role in shaping its structured job market with ties to the academic community
[15]. Unemployment was unheard of in the Soviet Union since education was so inter-
twined with industry, but this setup was inefficient and collapsed when the economy was
liberalized [15]. Moreover, the United States of America established work markets that
are segregated along legal and occasionally ethnic or social lines, with the more orga-
nized sectors enjoying legal safeguards like job security and unemployment insurance
while the less organized sectors of the market. Moreover, to receive lower wages or are
completely excluded from the labor market [14].

6 Reduced Inequality in the Society

Inequality in education can be understood, at its most fundamental level, by gauging

the definitions and distributions of “excellent education” and “bad education” across the
population. The terms “equality of outcomes” and “equality of opportunity” can be used
to discuss this. An education system is successful if it provides all students, regardless
of their socioeconomic status, access to the knowledge and skills they need to succeed
in the modern world [16]. However, just because a student is enrolled in school does
920 J. Li and Z. Su

not mean they have the same opportunities as their peers; rather, it puts the onus of
making up for a disadvantage at home on the student. This view is complementary to
the argument that is merely completing more grades does not increase learning results
or subsequent income earnings. Therefore, more time spent in class does not always
translate to a more robust education.
The number of students in a class, the amount of time spent teaching and learning,
the accessibility of online resources, the availability of foreign languages, the acces-
sibility of technology, and the quality of physical facilities all play a role in reducing
inequality in education. Moreover, so does access to different types of public and public
charter schools and self-funded and grant-funded private schools. Higher quality edu-
cation cannot be guaranteed by merely accumulating more credits in school [15]. As a
result, universal enrollment has not been shown to correlate with a decrease in inequal-
ity, but rather with tackling the question of how to guarantee an increased expansion
of educational opportunities is mirrored by a rise in the quality of instruction in each
classroom. As a result, this issue is not so much about ensuring that all students have
access to the same materials as it is about ensuring that students receive instructive and
comprehensive treatment of the academic topic from their teachers. When students from
low-income or otherwise disadvantaged backgrounds are taught using less-challenging
material or a less-interesting pedagogical approach, there is a significant potential for
educational inequity [2]. Equality of educational opportunity results is crucial but insuffi-
cient for establishing equity. Important considerations in this regard include educational
governance and educational institutions.

7 Conclusion
Education in the United States of America promotes social impacts through attaining
Sustainable Development Goals. Learning social environment benefits the individual,
who will be better equipped to participate in civic and political life and for the greater
good of society. Higher levels of education are promoted by various social and economic
institutions that people and families aspire to join to advance their standing and that of
their families, with the expectation that doing so will improve particular aspects of cul-
ture, which is based on critical thinking, humanistic values, professional skills, religious
beliefs, and citizenship. Moreover, whether or not having access to formal education
genuinely promotes citizenship or any other purpose of education is a topic altogether.
As explained by bandura’s theory of social learning, education is also promoted by indi-
viduals’ environment. An act of behavior is the result of the interaction between three
components: the individual, the environment, and human habits, which promote social
effect. The effect of social environment on student behavior can become a source of
learning in formulating behavior through various patterns of social learning, causing
social impact. In addition, high-quality education is crucial for making a positive differ-
ence in the world. The more people are educated, the more people will be able to educate
others, and the more the culture will respect education. Education programs inclusive
of both sexes help young people cultivate soft skills like self-regulation, conversation,
negotiation, and analysis that will serve them well in adulthood. In doing so, they help
bridge the skills gap that contributes to wage inequality and contribute to national pros-
perity. Lastly, education promotes economic growth and reduces social inequality the
 The Social Impact of Education in the USA 921

society, promoting social impact. However, all these are based on fair education. The
education gap in the United States is huge, although there is a charter school that bal-
ances public education and private education. However, the quantity is not enough to
make up for the huge lack of public education quality.

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