Critical theories of education and the dynamics of skill formation model predict that the education system reproduces socioeconomic inequalities in educational attainment. Previous empirical studies comparing changes in socioeconomic inequalities in academic performance over the summer to changes in these inequalities during the school year have argued, however, that schooling reduces inequalities in educational performance. The present study highlights the question of whether schooling affects socioeconomic inequalities in educational attainment by analyzing a natural experiment that induces exogenous variation in the length of schooling and allowed me to investigate the causal, long-term effects of the length of schooling on inequalities in educational attainment. Some German states moved the school start from spring to summer in 1966/1967 and introduced two short school years, each of which was three months shorter than a regular school year. I use variation in the short school years across cohorts and states to estimate the causal effects of the length of schooling on socioeconomic inequalities in educational attainment based on two German panel surveys. Less schooling due to the short school years did not affect inequalities in educational attainment. This finding runs counter to the results from the summer learning literature and to the predictions of the dynamics of skill formation model and critical theories of education. I conclude by discussing the implications of this finding for our understanding of socioeconomic inequalities in educational attainment.

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教育批判理论和技能形成模型的动态预测，教育系统会再现教育程度方面的社会经济不平等。然而，先前的实证研究将夏季学业成绩方面的社会经济不平等的变化与学年期间这些不平等的变化进行比较，认为学校教育减少了教育成绩的不平等。本研究通过分析引起受教育年限外生变化的自然实验，强调了学校教育是否影响教育程度方面的社会经济不平等的问题，并让我能够调查受教育年限对教育不平等的因果、长期影响。素养。1966/1967 年，德国一些州将开学时间从春季推迟到夏季，并引入了两个短学年，每个学年比正常学年短三个月。我根据两项德国小组调查，利用不同群体和各州的短期学年差异来估计受教育年限对教育程度的社会经济不平等的因果影响。由于学年较短而导致的受教育程度较低并没有影响教育程度的不平等。这一发现与暑期学习文献的结果以及技能形成模型和教育批判理论的动态预测背道而驰。最后，我讨论了这一发现对我们理解教育程度方面的社会经济不平等的影响。

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