Education helped change Michael França’s life, but it does not by itself undo racial inequality, he argues in an opinion article about “Power and Prejudice: The State and Racial Discrimination in Brazil, the United States and Nova Scotia,” a book he co-wrote with Stanford professor Martin Carnoy. França recalls Carnoy warning that education can help, but cannot correct a system heavily stacked against Black people.
Education can support social mobility: a young person from a low-income family may graduate from university and achieve a better standard of living than their parents. But if wealthy families continue to secure the most valued qualifications, França writes, the broader social hierarchy may remain largely unchanged.
Schools and universities distribute credentials that help shape who obtains prestigious positions. When grades and diplomas are treated as evidence of individual merit, differences rooted in unequal opportunities can be obscured, making an uneven competition appear fair, he argues.
The book compares Brazil, the United States and Nova Scotia. Despite their different histories, França says, Black workers in these societies continue to earn less than white workers with similar levels of education. That pattern points to barriers beyond schooling, including discrimination in the labor market.
More education can help people compete for good jobs, but it does not guarantee access to them. If the number of desirable positions stays the same while more people gain qualifications, the pool of candidates grows without creating more opportunities. França also cites the Second World War, when Black workers in the United States moved into better-paid industrial jobs without first increasing their education, helping narrow wage differences.
França says investment in quality schools, particularly for children from poor families, remains essential. He argues that public policy must also address labor-market rules, including discrimination in hiring and unequal access to better-paid work, so that degrees carry similar value for Black and white people.
Reflecting on his own experience, França says education opened doors that once seemed out of reach. But disadvantaged people often have to work harder and give up more to pursue those opportunities, and not everyone achieves their goals. The book launch tour is set to begin in Salvador on Wednesday, November 4, and continue in Brasília, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo.
Sources: Folha Mercado.