Transcript Essentials of Sociology, 7th Edition

Chapter 14
Education
Chapter Overview
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Education in Global
Perspective
The Functionalist Perspective:
Providing Social Benefits
The Conflict Perspective:
Reproducing the Social Class
Structure
The Symbolic Interactionist
Perspective: Fulfilling
Teacher Expectations
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Problems in United States
Education and Their
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Education and Religion
Education
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The institutionalized
process of systematically
teaching certain skills and
knowledge
Education and Religion
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Credential
Societies
Credential Societies - Diplomas Determine
Job Eligibility
• Industrial societies
 Diplomas Serve as Sorting Devices
 Credential Societies are usually
Industrialized Societies
Education and Religion
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Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2009
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Education and Religion
 Education in Japan (Industrialized Nations)
 Emphasis on Solidarity within Group
 Discourages Competition among Individuals
 Education in Russia (Industrializing Nations)
 Education, including College was Free
 Post-Soviet Russians are “Reinventing” Education as
Communism has dissolved
 Education in Egypt (Least Industrialized Nations)
 Mandatory Attendance Laws are Not enforced
 Many learn from their parents
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Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2009
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Education and Religion
Functionalist Perspective
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Cultural Transmission
 The process by which culture is passed
form one generation to the next.
 Teaching Knowledge and Skills
 3 R’s(readin, ‘riting’, ‘ritmetic’)
 Anticipatory socialization
 Teaching Values and Norms
 The other two R’s (right and ‘rong)
 Anticipatory Socialization
 Teaching the student how to play the role of
a student
 Skills and knowledge are necessary for the
successfl fulfillment of future roles and
statuses
Education and Religion
Functionalist Perspective
 Gatekeeping
 The process by which doors of
opportunity are opened for some, but
closed for others.
 Tracking
 Degrees and diplomas demonstrate
proof that a person has capabilities to
work certain types of jobs.
 Credentialing
 the sorting of students into different
educational programs on the basis of
real or perceived abilities.
Education and Religion
Functionalist Perspective
 Social and Cultural Integration
 The degree to which people feel a part of social groups.
 Help mold students into a more cohesive unit.
 Bringing together people from diverse social backgrounds so
that they share common social experiences and develop
commonly held norms, attitudes, and beliefs.
 Education and “Americanization”
Education and Religion
Functionalist Perspective
Manifest Functions
Cultural transmission
Anticipatory socialization
Social / cultural integration
Innovation / cultural change
Consequences that
was unplanned.
Setting goals and
achieving desired
results.
Latent Functions
System of day-care
Delayed entry to job market
Dating and marriage market
Networks for employment
Bolsters stratification system
Education and Religion
Conflict Perspective
Education
Class
Reproduction
The educational system perpetuates social
inequalities that already exist in society
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Within schools, social class affects how students are
treated
Academic achievement gap
Institutional Discrimination
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Schooling resources are unequally distributed
Education and Religion
 Educational Credentials: Schools as a Screening Device
 In the US, education promotes a fundamental American value that
includes the belief in equal opportunities but not equal outcomes.
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Education and Religion
 The Hidden Curriculum
 Unwritten rules of behavior and attitudes, such
as obedience to authority and conformity to
mainstream norms, that schools teach in
addition to the formal education.
 Acts as a social control
 Encourages traditional gender roles and gender
stereotypes through a male dominated
curriculum
 Promotes Eurocentrism
 A focus on the contributions of Europeans to
history, math, science, and literature.
 Enforces proper English & etiquette
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Education and Religion
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IQ Testing or Standardized Testing
 Favor middle-class children, especially White middle class
because of the questioning
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Old SAT (Analogies were problematic)
Middle class perspective
 Cup is to a saucer as
 Duvet: comforter, sheet, mattress, pillow
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Mexican perspective
 Cup: saucer
 Comal: enchilada, burrito, tostada, tortilla
Education and Religion
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New SAT continues to be inequitable
Latinos and African Americans have lower academic
achievement in comparison to Whites.
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financial problems
family responsibilities
work at least part time/full time
poor academic preparation
Even with higher education African Americans and
Latinos make less than Whites
Education and Religion
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Tracking leads to inequalities
 Placing students perceived to have similar intelligence and
academic abilities in the same classroom.
 Vocational Tracks, Gifted Programs, Advanced Placement, English
Language Learners.
Education and Religion
 Socialization: Personal and Social Development
 Self-concept
 Labeling Students: Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
 Teachers label students a certain way which leads to a selffulfilling prophecy among many students
 Pygmalion effect
 Occurs when teachers who expect students to succeed and excel are
motivated to work with them to ensure that they do.
 Teachers may ignore youngsters expected to fail until they, too,
achieve the anticipated outcome.
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Education and Religion
Labeling Students: Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
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"If you define situations as real, they are real in their
consequences"
1. The teacher forms expectations.
2. Based upon these expectations, the teacher acts in a differential manner.
3. The teacher's treatment tells each student (loud and clear) what behavior
and what achievement the teacher expects.
4. If this treatment is consistent, it will tend to shape the student's behavior
and achievement.
5. With time, the student's behavior and achievement will conform more and
more closely to that expected of him or her.
Education and Religion
Schools as Bureaucracy
Functions
Standardization / mobile society
Protects staff / students (rules and
policies)
Certification facilitates expertise
Dysfunctions
Personal and social alienation
Students treated as numbers
Uniformity and rigid expectations
Education and Religion