1. Sociology, Tenth Edition
Education
Sociology, Tenth Edition

2. Education vs. Schooling
The social institution through which society provides its members with important knowledge, including basic facts, job skills, and cultural norms and values
Schooling
Formal instruction under the direction of specially trained teachers
Sociology, Tenth Edition

3. Functions of Schooling
Socialization
Primary schooling
Basic language and mathematical skills
Secondary schooling
Expansion of basic skills to include the transmission of cultural values and norms
Cultural innovation
Educational systems create as well as transmit culture
Social integration
Brings a diverse nation together
Social placement
The enhancement of meritocracy
Sociology, Tenth Edition

4. Latent Functions of Schooling
Schools as child-care providers
Schools consume considerable time & energy- activity thus fostering conformity
Engages young people at a time in their lives when jobs are not plentiful
Sets the stage for establishing relationships & networks
Link between particular schools and career opportunities
Sociology, Tenth Edition

5. Sociology, Tenth Edition
Critical Analysis
Functionalist approach overlooks that the quality of schooling is far greater for some than for others.
U. S. Educational system reproduces the class structure in each generation
System transforms privilege into personal worthiness and social disadvantage into personal deficiency
Sociology, Tenth Edition

6. Schooling and Social Inequality
Social control
Mandatory education laws encouraged compliance, following directions, and discipline
Hidden curriculum – subtle presentations of political or cultural ideas in the classroom
Standardized testing
Is it biased based on race, ethnicity, or class
School tracking
Assigning students to different types of education programs
Does it segregate students into winners and losers?
Inequality between schools
Public vs. Private schools
Parochial schools – operated by Roman Catholic Church
Suburban vs. Urban districts
Sociology, Tenth Edition

7. Sociology, Tenth Edition
Critical Analysis
Social conflict approach minimizes the extent to which schooling upward social mobility for talented men and women from all backgrounds
Today’s college curricula (including sociology courses) challenges social inequity on many fronts
Sociology, Tenth Edition

8. Access to Higher Education
Money is largest stumbling block to higher education
Even for state-sponsored schools
Family income is still best predictor for college attendance
Families making at least $75,000 send 64% of their children to college
Families making under $10,000 send 21.1% of their children to college
On average, a person with a college degree will add almost $500,000 to his or her earnings over a lifetime
A woman with a bachelor’s degree will earn two-and-a-half times as much as a woman with eight or fewer years of schooling
Sociology, Tenth Edition

9. National Map 20-1 Average Annual Teacher Salaries
Sociology, Tenth Edition

10. Sociology, Tenth Edition
Credentialism
Evaluating a person on the basis of educational degrees
Diplomas and degrees are viewed as evidence of ability
Over-education is often the case when people are overqualified for the job at hand
Sociology, Tenth Edition

11. Sociology, Tenth Edition
Problems in Schools Many Believe That a So Called “State of Emergency” Best Characterizes Our System of Education These Days
School discipline
Many believe schools need to teach discipline because it isn’t addressed within the home setting
Violence in schools
Students and teachers are assaulted
Weapons are brought to school
Society’s problems spill into schools
Answer
Adjust attitudes so learning is the focus
Skillful and committed teaching
Firm disciplinary standards enforced
Administrative and parental support
Sociology, Tenth Edition

12. Sociology, Tenth Edition
Figure Educational Achievement for Various Categories of People Aged 25 Years and Over, 2002
Sociology, Tenth Edition

13. “Cooling Out” the Poor Transforming Disadvantages Into Deficiency
Just as schools can transform social privilege into personal merit, they can transform social disadvantages into personal deficiency
Cooling out
The self-fulfilling prophecy by which poor students end up settling for no more than society offered them when they were first born
Some believe that community colleges play an important part in the cooling out process
Allowing students to fail in community college allows society to point the finger at them and ask them to accept personal responsibility for “blowing their opportunities”
Are the students at fault here, or is the educational system guilty of not caring enough?
Sociology, Tenth Edition

14. Sociology, Tenth Edition
Theodore Sizer’s Ways in Which Bureaucratic Schools Undermine Education
Rigid uniformity
Insensitive to cultural character of community
Numerical ratings
Success defined in terms of numbers on test scores
Rigid expectations
Age and grade level expectations
Specialization
Many courses, many teachers
No one teacher knows a student
Little individual responsibility
Little empowerment to learn on one’s own
Don’t upset or accelerate learning for fear of disrupting system
Sociology, Tenth Edition

15. Sociology, Tenth Edition
The “Silent” Classroom the Norm Is to Not Talk in Class, and Students Can Get Upset at Others Who Talk “Too Much”
No matter what the class size
Only a handful of students speak
Passivity is the norm
It is deviant to speak up in class
What makes a difference
Female instructors tend to call on men and women equally, whereas male instructors tend to call on men
Reasons
Students are conditioned to listen
Instructors come to class with lectures prepared and students do not wish to get sidetracked
Sociology, Tenth Edition

16. Sociology, Tenth Edition
Many Students Expect Learning to Be Delivered and Don’t Realize They Are Part of the Process
Apathy is high among students
Reasons:
Television
Parents
Schools
Other students
High tech may hold one key for sparking interest
Bringing multimedia into the classroom
Sociology, Tenth Edition

17. Sociology, Tenth Edition
Academic Standards
A Nation at Risk - a 1983, governmental commission
Troublesome findings concerning what students are and are not learning in school
40% of those screened could not draw inferences from written materials
33% of those screened could complete multi-step mathematical problems
Other insights
Functional illiteracy – a lack of reading and writing skills needed for everyday living
Lack of interest in the importance of education apathetic attitudes toward classes, course materials, doing assignments, and attendance
Belief that good grades need not be “earned,” but rather just rewarded (as if they had a right to them)
Sociology, Tenth Edition

18. Sociology, Tenth Edition
Academic Standards
Global performance
U.S. Eighth graders still placed 17th in the world in science and 28th in mathematics!
Recommendations from A Nation at Risk - a 1983, governmental commission
All schools should require several years of English, math, social studies, general science & computer science
No more “social promotion” of failing students from grade to grade
Teacher training and salaries should improve
Sociology, Tenth Edition

19. Figure 20-4 Functional Illiteracy in Global Perspective
Sociology, Tenth Edition

20. Sociology, Tenth Edition
School Choice
Introduction of competition to public schools and giving parents options might force all schools to do a better job
Critics charge that these programs erode our nation’s commitment to public education especially in inner city schools
Magnet schools – schools that offer special facilities and programs to promote educational excellence in a particular area, i.e. Arts, computers,foreign language, etc
Charter schools – public schools that are given more freedom to try out new policies and programs
Schooling for profit – school systems operated by private profit-making companies (including public schools)
Sociology, Tenth Edition

21. Sociology, Tenth Edition
Mainstreaming Integrating Students With Special Needs Into the Overall Educational Program
Five million students are classified as mentally or physically disabled
Many of the five million receive marginal classroom experiences
Inclusive education maintains that it is good to integrate all children
Mainstreaming needs to be approached with a measure of common sense
In cases in which one has to serve the severe and profound populations, a segregated classroom may be best
Sociology, Tenth Edition

22. Sociology, Tenth Edition
21st Century Schooling
Computers and other high-tech tools will become increasingly important
The amount and quality of high-tech equipment may become one of the new marketing tools for schools to out-perform one another
Computers, however, only hold part of the answer. We need humans to put into place a program that aims at providing high quality education
Will the education system play a role in dividing people into two groups in the future
Those literate and illiterate in computer skills
Will we become a country of have’s and have not’s divided along lines of high-tech competencies
Sociology, Tenth Edition