Cooled Out

Cooled out is a term used to describe the inactivity or withdrawal of an individual from an educational environment or other unit of society in which specific ambitions and goals were diverted to lower expectations and outcomes. The removal of oneself from secondary or postsecondary studies occurs across a diverse array of dimensions, including geographic area, type of institution, socioeconomic background, gender, race, class, and a host of other categories. The cooled out function in the educational system may also reproduce social stratification if students eliminate themselves or are institutionally removed from the educational attainment pool compared to other groups. The social stratification function enables a sorting function to occur in higher education, such that economic class structures and societal roles remain intact and according ...