1. Introduction

Studies over the past two decades have provided important information on how to improve the balance of education. In the history of development economics, education inequality has been thought of as a key factor in the development of a society. Although governments around the world have introduced many policies to promote equality in education, inequality is still common. The author mainly studies three possible inequalities in education and how to solve them. Many previous studies have not given practical solutions. This paper mainly adopts qualitative research, through the analysis of literature to get ideas and inspiration. The present research explores, for the first time, the effects of education inequality.

2. Education Inequality

2.1. Gender

In today’s world, the phenomenon of educational inequality is endless, so what are the reasons leading to educational inequality? The author thinks gender inequality is the worst. Although gender inequality is not good for development, it has not been well restrained in quite a number of developing countries. It can be manifested in several ways, and education is one of them. In India, the world’s newly most populous country, the vast majority of all primary school children who are absent are girls. In Egypt, Yemen, Liberia, Morocco, Iraq and Turkey, girls dropping out of school are 1.5 to 2 times of those of boys and, notably, high rates of girls dropping out of secondary school. In some remote areas, women even don’t receive an education all their lives, just because there’s no school that could provide opportunities for them or the traditional family values make them choose to be humble housewives. The above are some less developed countries and regions. Of course, in some developed countries and relatively developing countries with strong economic strength, education is still relatively important. Although women may be well educated in these countries, there is an underlying inequality in education. In China, the ratio of female in the educated group goes down with the upgrading level of education. It means that the higher the level of education, the less female sex, the greater the sexual difference between male and female students [1]. The gender inequity can also be observed in the subject choice. The traditional idea is that women are emotional, and women are good at humanities and social sciences; on the other hand, men can remain rational, with dialectical thinking and a unique acuity for science. This concept deeply affects the traditional gender division of labor in society and seriously hinders the development of women in related fields such as science, biochemistry and astronomy. In fact, sometimes it is not that women lack some ability, but in people’s subconscious, men have a higher success rate, and men are more suitable for the development of multiple fields.

2.2. Inequality of Race

It’s important to talk about the issue of inequality of race. After the National Party came to power in 1948, the white regime imposed apartheid in education. With the enactment of the Bantu Education Act (Act No 47 of 1953, later renamed the Black Education Act), the Expansion of University Education Act, Bantu education began to be widely promoted in South Africa. Bantu education, also known as black education, is an education system with strong racial segregation and racial discrimination specifically implemented by racists for black people in South Africa. In the society at that time, black people were not respected, and even regarded as worthless. Despite all the rhetoric about fairness and democracy in the developed world today, black people are still not respected, and they seem to be shunned by others on college campuses. People may not show discrimination against them on the surface, but their words and actions will show injustice to the black race. Since the colonial period, whites have controlled the institutions and culture of blacks, which, combined with long-standing ideology and lifestyle habits, have strongly excluded some blacks living in white areas. In terms of education, let’s take the University of Cape Town as an example. At the University of Cape Town, the admission scores for each subject are different, and the subjects referenced in the National Higher Certificate examination are also different [2]. Take the admission requirements of the School of Engineering and Built Environment in 2015 as an example, there are six subjects admitted to the relevant majors of the school, in addition to English proficiency (A-level), mathematics, physical science, geography and accounting, second language (such as Xhosa, Zulu, French, etc., applicants can choose one of them as their scoring subjects) are required. The total score is 600 points, and the final exam score is converted to the total score of 50 points. Life Orientation is a reference subject and its score is not included in the overall score.

In addition to the examination results of The Higher National Certificate, the University of Cape Town also organizes The National Benchmark Tests (NBTs) for eligible applicants, mainly including the Academic Literacy Test (AL), Quantitative Literacy Test (QL) and the Mathematics Test (MT) is scored in three parts. The total score is 300 points. The final score is converted to a total score of 50 points. Through this data, people can find that the black race has gradually improved its enrollment status and is relatively equal. Despite racial preferences in admissions policies, the number and percentage of blacks enrolled remains low.

Table 1: Ethnic composition of the university of cape town student body (2010-2014) [2].

From Table 1, it’s easy to find that not only blacks, but other people of color have lower enrollment compared to whites. Moreover, the problem of educational inequity actually stems from the unfair distribution of resources. As mentioned above, with the development of the economy, racial problems are improving day by day, but in the black racial areas, they will also be affected internally. It is because of the unequal distribution of resources that the education received by blacks is also unequal. It is also because of the unequal distribution of resources that the education received by blacks in different areas is also unfair. There are also different classes among blacks, and those so-called preferential education policies only allow the middle class of blacks to get higher education. Those who live in rural areas or have low social status still lack access to higher education. In other words, racial preferences do not solve the problem of inequality. Educational inequality can be caused by all aspects of society, and it cannot be solved by a preferential policy or regulation. So it’s not just racial inequality and racial discrimination that the paper discussed above. There are also regional and rural-urban differences, as discussed below. In any country or region in the world, there will be regional unfair treatment. Even if the government makes preferential policies, the education received by blacks in different areas will still be different based on geographical differences. Policies for people living in different regions are still different, and there is still some regionalized discrimination. Let’s take other regions as examples.

2.3. Regional

According to the statistics of 2013, Tsinghua University plans to enroll 200 students from Beijing, followed by 100 from Henan and 85 from Sichuan, and only 5 from Tibet. Peking University plans to enroll 226 students from Beijing, followed by 85 from Henan and 60 from Sichuan, and 9 from Tibet [3]. This means that it is much easier for Beijing students to get into key universities than for those in other regions. The above statistics show that local students in Beijing are more likely to be admitted to Tsinghua University. In other words, the government sets different test scores and scores for each region in order to ensure equal education, but local students are given more preferential treatment at prestigious universities and top-tier universities. This reflects the unfairness because students in some areas may try their best but fail to get the admission notice, because universities like Tsinghua University give places to local students, in order to ensure that students from this city have a higher admission rate, which leads to students from other provinces and cities can not enter their desired universities. Although this is not an obvious manifestation of inequity, it is also a potential inequity problem in education. Students who live in other cities are already being treated unfairly, even if they are highly qualified and can’t get into the schools they want. It is conceivable that students living in remote areas or rural areas have less chance of getting into good universities. Even if they have a small chance to enter the university, they may suffer criticism and different eyes from other students. It is an issue caused not only by the misbehaving of colleges and universities, but also the failure of the current legal system to guarantee and supervise the fairness of higher education [4]. Of course, in China, the government has tried to promote equality in urban and rural education, with the aim of achieving coordinated development of education between urban and rural areas, enabling urban and rural residents to receive high-quality education, improving the overall quality of the labor force, and wiping out the disparity between city and county, as well as the rich and poor. But even so, the education resources distributed in rural areas still can not bear comparison with their counterparts in urban areas, and it is reflected not only in the faculty, but also the most the opportunities for further education. At present, although China’s investment in education has been aggregated, the equity of urban and rural education is still a goal beyond reach in the short term, instead, the gap between them is seemingly widened. At present, China’s population in villages is still large, occupying the majority of its population in total.

3. Ways to Solve Education Inequality

3.1. Ways to Solve the Gender Problem

It is difficult to address the root causes of these educational inequalities. The first is how to solve the problem of gender discrimination. It has been studied that at present, the key factors affecting the equal development of female higher education are the traditional gender culture concept and the negative factors within the education system and women themselves under its influence [5]. Sexism is a very abstract concept. Sexism cannot be completely solved from the root cause, because a person’s concept cannot be changed, so it is impossible to change a person’s discrimination against the opposite sex with words or words. In fact, women will be treated unfairly, in the final analysis, because women’s status in society made by the traditional feudal ideology can not be improved. Deep-rooted thoughts are hard to change after all. But there are ways to mitigate the problem. First of all, the government should take relevant measures, such as using the power of the Internet to publicize the value of women and advocate gender equality, so that women should not be treated unfairly in education or other aspects, and men should not feel too unbalanced. Secondly, people themselves should also change their ideas, which mainly depends on whether citizens can recognize their own value, and whether women can bravely stand up for their own education opportunities. They say opportunity is for those who are prepared. If there is no blatant injustice, women should be brave enough to fight for their own opportunities. Neither education nor the whole society is absolutely fair. In the final analysis, the country and the people need to work together.

3.2. Ways to Solve the Race Problem

Then there is race. Now the Internet is very developed, there are many videos on the Internet for racial groups, and the racial problem is also decreasing. However, the individual advice on race is greater than state advice on race. After all, racial issues affect the development of various countries, and one country cannot arbitrarily show discrimination against other countries. After all, this is an international topic. Mainly, citizens discriminate against people of different races. The yellow race is often discriminated against by the white race. They give the yellow race stereotypes and think that the white race is superior by nature. The yellow and white people, especially the white people, discriminated against the black people more seriously, believing that the black people were born slaves. This kind of thinking is also mainly influenced by traditional ideas, so it is not easy to change this deep-rooted thinking. Although most people still advocate racial equality, they alone do not convince those who are hardened. Governments of various countries can provide corresponding policy support for the black race, but it should not be excessive. It is necessary to guarantee the pertinence of preferential policies for disadvantaged races and provide more opportunities for them to obtain high-quality higher education [6]. To do otherwise would create an inverted injustice, making white people feel that they are being treated unfairly. Schools should also give every race a fair chance, and as long as the opportunity is equal, no one of any race will feel unfair. What citizens can do is to do their utmost to treat them with a fair eye and not to cast strange eyes at them.

3.3. Ways to Solve the Regional Problems

Finally, there are regional differences and unfairness in education between urban and rural areas. In fact, this problem is relatively easy to solve than the above two problems. But only if the government puts a lot of effort and money into it. And government should bear in mind that a reasonable allocation of educational resources among regions is key to improving the academic merits of students, promoting socioeconomic development, and realizing education equity [7]. Besides, for the countries harboring ambition to annihilate regional impoverishment, poverty alleviation through education is a fundamental means and an important way to block the inter-generational transmission of poverty [8]. So mitigating this problem would be a great help to the country’s economic development. At the present stage, people should promote social equity in urban and rural areas through educational equity in urban and rural areas. So that children in all regions can receive the same education, ensure that they can receive good education and find good jobs, so as to promote economic and social development. In a word, the government has furthered their understanding that improving education service in lagging areas to poor people, are important for sustainable growth and equitable distribution in the long run [9]. As for how to wipe out the disparity between education in urban and rural areas, first, it should be fully understood by both governors and common folks that investment in people is the most effective way to get rid of poverty; second, the educational resources should be distributed among cities and villages in a relatively equal way, and the appropriate tilt of educational resources to rural areas; third, equal access to education between urban and rural areas should be ensured. Besides, all the facilitating regulations should be detailed in a systematic way. For example, it is well believed that opening enrollment information in colleges and universities is a basic requirement for education equity. However, whether it can be truly implemented in the practice process mainly depends on its system design and reasonable matching of the external environment [10]. Only by achieving all-around fairness can people realize real educational equity.

4. Conclusions

This paper mainly studies the literature related to education, so as to find the problems existing in education, that is, to discuss the general inequity in education from the three aspects of gender, race and regional differences. The author introduces that in today’s rapidly developing society, fairness has become a topic of increasing concern, and people are also trying to improve fairness in all aspects of life. However, the development of education has always been a concern of all countries, and it is indeed not an easy thing to solve the inequities in education. The original experiment was influenced by the number of people and statistical data, so there was no in-depth solution to the phenomenon of educational inequity. Through analysis and summary, this paper shows the solution to the influence of different factors. Starting from the government and the citizens, this paper describes the feasible measures of the government and the efforts that citizens can contribute to alleviate the inequity in different aspects of education. The analysis of education inequality undertaken her, has extended their knowledge of education. By studying the inequity in education and proposing solutions, people can not only promote the educational equity of a country, but also promote economic development by improving the cultural level.