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This paper provides an overview of evidence on education in South Africa provided by household survey data, with a particular focus on large national surveys such as the 1993 South African Living Standards Survey and the annual October Household Survey. These surveys indicate that racial gaps in schooling persist in South Africa, although they have declined steadily over time. There is essentially no gender gap in schooling, however, with almost identical schooling outcomes for men and women in all racial groups. The racial gap in schooling can be largely attributed to a high rate of grade repetition for Africans, with only small differences in enrollment rates across racial groups. School quality has an important effect on both grade attainment and adult economic outcomes and is clearly an important component of the racial gap in schooling. Survey data demonstrate a large effect of schooling on earnings beginning in late primary years, with a higher rate of return to schooling for Africans than for whites. (Contains 22 references.) (Author/SM)

This article investigates differential investment by men in children by using a biosocial perspective to examine their financial expenditures on their genetic children and stepchildren from both current and former relationships. It uses a sample of 635 children age 0-12 years drawn from the Albuquerque Men Study 1990-93, which involved interviews that examined marital, reproductive, and employment histories and expenditures on children. This article also examines selection efforts by restricting the sample to men with children in more than one category (e.g., men with both genetic children and stepchildren in current unions), explaining that selection effects are important. Results indicate that men with both genetic offspring and step-offspring in current relationships invest similarly in children, but the differences between offspring from current and previous unions are greater when comparing men with children in both categories. The results are consistent with the biosocial model advanced in the paper. (Contains 73 references.) (SM)

This study examined the relationship between family structure, expenditures on education, and children's educational outcomes for black South Africans, using the nationally representative 1995 October Household Survey. The analyses focused on 28,215 individuals, ages 10 to 24 years, who had not completed secondary schools. The findings indicated that although enrollment levels were high for most ages, schooling advancement rates were well under one grade per year, suggesting high rates of grade repetition. Controlling for background factors, family structure was highly correlated with educational outcomes. The strongest effects were seen for children living with neither of their genetic parents, who were less likely to be enrolled in school, had completed fewer grades, were older for their grade if enrolled, and had less money spent on their school fees and school-related transportation costs than children living with both genetic parents. Children who lived with single mothers were also disadvantaged for most measures. Family structure played a strong role in the probability that a child was enrolled in school; additional effects were evident, although diminished in strength, for outcomes affecting only enrolled students, age delays for grade, and financial expenditures on schooling. In addition, past academic progress influenced expenditures on school; children who were behind in school for their age (indicative of previous grade repetition) had less money spent on their schooling, above and beyond the effects of family structure on schooling expenditures. The findings suggest that family structure is an important contributor to educational inequality in South Africa, although there are important caveats regarding self-selection into different family types, as well as issues of school quality. (Contains 63 references.) (Author/KB)