chapter 17 education. chapter outline education for a changing world attainment, achievement, and...
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CHAPTER 17
Education
Chapter Outline
Education for a Changing World Attainment, Achievement, and Equality The Structure of Educational Institutions
Education for a Changing World
Poorer regions of the world face a dire need for universal access to schools; in the more developed regions, serious issues of educational equity need to be addressed.
There is great concern with the need to improve education in order to train new generations of workers.
Education
Process by which a society transmits knowledge, values, norms, and ideologies.
In the early history of the United States many were excluded from schools: children of slaves Native Americans the poor many immigrant groups
Why Education is so Important: Sociological Explanations
1. High stakes Educational success counts a great deal in
explaining success and failure for individuals and entire social groups and communities.
2. Class and cultural diversity Schools bring together diverse groups of
students, parents, and educators, whose values about learning are often in conflict.
Why Education is so Important: Sociological Explanations3. Citizen involvement
People expect to influence changes in the institutions they pay for and are involved in.
4. Rapid change in knowledge Our expectations about what education can
achieve for society changes as scientific and humanistic knowledge changes.
Manifest Functions Of Education Formal education transmits the culture of a
society to new generations. It prepares future generations for appropriate
occupational and citizenship roles. Educational institutions evaluate and select
competent individuals. Education transmits requisite social skills for
functioning in society.
Latent Functions Of Education
Helps reproduce the existing class structure of societies. Parents with sufficient wealth can send their
children to better public schools by moving to communities that recruit more highly qualified teachers.
It brings young men and women from similar class and cultural backgrounds together in an informal “marriage market.”
Theoretical Perspectives on Education To the functionalists, schools prepare children
for participation in adult activities. Interactionists view the school as a set of
behaviors and relationships. Conflict theorists view education as serving to
justify and maintain the status quo.
Classrooms
This photo of Tibetan refugee children in a class room in northern India illustrates the similarity of classroom organization in many parts of the world.
Global Perspectives on Education
Functionalist Perspective
Issues in Developed Regions
Issues in Developing Regions
How can schools best be organized to carry out their mission?
Are schools devoted to elite or mass education?How independent are schools from other social institutions, such as mosques and political parties?
Global Perspectives on Education
Conflict Perspective
Issues in Developed Regions
Issues in Developing Regions
Do schools promote equal opportunity or reproduce the status quo of inequality?Do they foster or stifle free inquiry?
Whose children get to go to school?Do schools allow freedom of thought and critical thinking?
Global Perspectives on Education
Interactionism
Issues in Developed Regions
Issues inDeveloping Regions
How does learning take place in classroom interactions? What else is being taught in addition to the lessons?
Questions are the same, based on observation of classroom interactions, but with emphasis on how traditional cultures are dealt with in classroom interaction.
Thinking Critically
If one of the functions of education is to prepare people to function well in society, won’t they benefit from attending schools that reflect the nation’s
ethnic, racial, and class diversity? Many parents feel the superior education
provided by private schools outweighs the benefits of attending diverse public schools.
What do you think?
% of Nations Developing Systems of Mass Education, by Decade
Educational Attainment in the U.S.
Year Median Years of School Completed
2000 12.9
1990 12.9
1980 12.5
1970 12.2
1960 10.6
1950 9.3
1940 8.6
Tracking and Inequality
Number of years of school completed is correlated with income, occupation, prestige, attitudes, and opinions.
Early in the 20th century many schools began using tracking systems to separate higher-achieving students from slower learners.
Research on tracking has found students in lower tracks end up in lower-paid and lower-prestige occupations once they finish schooling.
Drop Outs
Research has shown that states that base funding of schools on the results of standardized tests, increase dropout rates.
The main reason for dropping out of school is poor academic performance, but students also drop out because of the demands of work and family roles.
Educational Achievement
How much a student learns, measured by mastery of reading, writing, and mathematical skills.
Studies have found that American parents tend to be more positive about their children’s schoolwork and to believe more in the effects of ability than effort.
% High School Graduates
White Black Hispanic
Year M F M F M F
2003 84.5 85.7 79.6 80.3 56.3 57.8
2000 88 88 77 78 56 56
1991 80 80 67 67 51 51
1980 71 70 51 51 46 44
1970 57 58 32 35 NA NA
1962 47 50 23 26 NA NA
1947 33 37 13 15 NA NA
% College Graduates
White Black Hispanic
Year M F M F M F
2003 29.4 25.9 16.7 17.8 11.2 11.6
2000 31 25 14 17 11 11
1991 25 19 11 12 10 9
1980 22 14 8 8 10 6
1970 15 9 5 4 NA NA
1962 12 7 4 4 NA NA
1947 7 5 2 3 NA NA
Ability Grouping (“Tracking”) in the U.S. Public Schools
International Secondary-School Completion Rates
Mathematics Scale Scores of 8th Grade Students, 2003
Country Average Score
International average 466
Singapore 605
Korea, Republic of 589
Hong Kong 586
Japan 570
Belgium-Flemish 537
Netherlands 536
Estonia 531
Mathematics Scale Scores of 8th Grade Students, 2003
Country Average Score
Hungary 529
Malaysia 508
Latvia 508
Russian Federation 508
Slovak Republic 508
Australia 505
United States 504
Lithuania 502
Average Earnings by Level of Education
Without High School 1979 2005
Males $27,690 $19,676
Females 18,302 14,680
High School Graduate
Males 34,978 25,811
Females 23,041 18,679
College Graduates
Males 55,068 46,914
Females 29,919 30,022
Social Class and Educational Attainment and Achievement Studies find a high correlation between social
class and educational attainment and achievement.
Ray Rist claims that the U.S. system of public education is designed to perpetuate social and economic inequality.
Inequality in higher education is primarily a matter of access, or ability to pay.
Major Findings at Age 19 in the Perry Preschool Study
Category Responses PreschoolNo-
Preschool
Employed 121 59% 32%
High school graduate
121 67% 49%
College or vocational
training121 38% 21%
Major Findings at Age 19 in the Perry Preschool Study
Category Responses PreschoolNo-
Preschool
Ever detained or arrested
121 31% 51%
Females: teen pregnancies,
per 10049 64 117
% Distribution of Public Schools According to School Condition, by Region
Rates of Victimization in U.S.Schools, 1992–2003
QUICK QUIZ
1. Sociologists employing the ________ perspective focus on schools at the micro-level of everyday behavior, for example, centering attention on patterns of communication that transpire in classes, in hallways, and on playgrounds.
a. conflict
b. functionalist
c. interactionist
d. human ecology
Answer: c
Sociologists employing the interactionist perspective focus on schools at the micro-level of everyday behavior, for example, centering attention on patterns of communication that transpire in classes, in hallways, and on playgrounds.
2. Sociologists coming from the ________ perspective stress the role schools play in maintaining inequality and reproducing the class structure.
a. conflict
b. functionalist
c. interactionist
d. human ecology
Answer: a
Sociologists coming from the conflict perspective stress the role schools play in maintaining inequality and reproducing the class structure.
3. The most basic criticism of tracking is that the practicea. contributes to the maintenance of social
inequality.b. significantly improves opinions of high-tracked
students about themselves.c. significantly improves opinions of lower-tracked
students about themselves.d. leads to better jobs and higher incomes for
those students who are placed in higher tracks.
Answer: a
The most basic criticism of tracking is that the practice contributes to the maintenance of social inequality.