The Family Background of Inequality in Educational Opportunities (A case Study of female high school students in Ahar.)

Inequality of educational opportunities underlies the reproduction of social inequalities and deepens the gap of classes. The origin of the class can be one of the effective factors involved in. The aim of this paper is the study of the impact of family background on inequality of educational opportunities among students. We used the survey method and a questionnaire. We collected needed information from 300 female high school students in Ahar city. The findings show that the highest level of inequality of educational opportunities for students respectively has been in the school size, neighborhood and family, and the level of socioeconomic status is the most. Bivariate analysis (Pearson r = -0.414) and multivariate analysis (regression β = -0.313) indicated that there was a significant negative relationship between inequality of educational opportunities and socioeconomic status. In the path analysis, variable of socioeconomic status is the most important factor affecting the level of inequality of educational opportunities. With combined findings, the conflict and social and cultural reproduction theories are useful to explain the influence of socioeconomic status on inequality of educational opportunities.