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.