Transcript Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458.

Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved.
Chapter 8:
Problems in Education
Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved.
Education in Society
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Education
• Process by which people gain or develop knowledge
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Education is a formal system by which society
passes on information and is linked to economic
advancement
Schools connect to job system because they train
individuals for specific types of work
Education levels vary slightly by gender
Status dropout rate declined severely over last
30 years
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Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved.
History of Public Education in the United States

Colonists brought with them their form of
education and educational institutions
• Frequently attended only by the elite
• Provided classical education for religious
purposes
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1647: Massachusetts first colony to
require compulsory schooling
• Opened education to everyone
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Continued
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Other colonies left education in hands of
parents or private organizations
• Required individuals to pay own tuition
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After Revolutionary War states formed
four key education beliefs:
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It should be free to user
Publicly run
Nonreligious
Universal (compulsory)
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Education: Spreading the Five “Myths”
Throughout Society
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U.S. educational system spreads five “myths”
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1. Myth of the individual
2. Myth of the nation as a group of individuals
3. Myth of progress
4. Myth of socialization and life cycle continuity
5. Myth of the state as the guardian of the nation
Not all groups of people enter into state education
system
 Partly because they do not believe in these myths
• Amish
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Hidden Curriculum in Schools

Many schools taken to fund-raising through
students
• Children learn value of hard work and service to obtain a
goal outside school’s curriculum
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Transfer of academic knowledge to next
generation is primary goal
• Schools also socialize students in what some call the
“Hidden Curriculum”
 Refers to lessons taught in schools unrelated to
academic learning
 Also applies to how students socialize one another
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Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved.
Continued
Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved.
Education Throughout the World

Every nation has some type of educational
system
• Not all educational systems are equal
• Amount of resources, funding, and worth
placed on education varies
 Creates social problem of inequality in
global education

Country’s socioeconomic status has effect
on its education system
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Continued
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Poorer nations often have low Literacy Rates
• Low percentages of people in population who can read
and write
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Education provides ability for a nation to compete
globally
• Europe and North America have strongest literacy rates
 Europe almost 100%, while in North America it is not
nearly that high
 Trend consistent with another social problem in U.S.
education system
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Continued
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Past two decades US had no noticeable increase
in college participation rates
Many nations increased their college ranks and
now surpass US
• One reason may be lack of funding for college
• US ranks 57th in world in educational spending as
percentage of gross domestic product
• Ranking below nations like France, Norway, and UK
 All have surpassed the US in graduation rates
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Continued
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Social problems of low educational
attainment can lead to long-term
problems for a nation by limiting its
potential for economic growth
Country’s wealth plays a central role in
education
• Lack of funding and resources from a nationstate can weaken a system
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Problems with Higher Education
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Cost of college can have strong influence on
educational attainment
In US, government only pays for primary and
secondary education
• For higher education, people pay their own way
• Cost deters low-income individuals from seeking
advanced educations
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In other industrialized countries, education at all
levels is free
• All students who meet certain academic standards can
attend any school regardless of economic status
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Continued
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General belief in US that by attending and
succeeding in a prestigious school:
• Ticket will be written to whatever employment desired
• Creating what is known as the Prestige Gap
 Students who may be equally able to perform but
unable to foot the bills of an elite education will be
unable to compete in vying for jobs available in an
ever-more-competitive market
 Excellent faculty sought to teach at elite universities,
widening prestige gap even further
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Educational Discrepancies in Race

2007 U.S. Census survey
• 31.8% of white population and 52.1% of Asian
population ages 25 and older completed four
years of college or more
• Only 18.5% of African Americans and 12.7%
of Hispanics showed similar attainment
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Continued
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What accounts for this discrepancy
• Poor and undereducated people segregated into innercity schools
• Encounter teachers and administrators with very low
expectations for student attainment
• Inequality between rich and poor means racial minorities
from poor areas are left behind by education system

Some suggest society is locking them out of
competition for empowerment from very
beginning
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Teacher Expectancy and Attainment
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Another part of problem for racial minorities and
poor children is teacher expectation
Teacher Expectancy Effect
• Impact of teacher’s expectations on student’s
performance
• Doesn’t just apply to poor and minority students
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Some studies show expectancies influence not
only individual student performance, but
performance of the entire school
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Continued
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Other studies suggest less obvious
findings
• Propose that teachers may influence students’
self-perception, but it is that perception that
influences academic achievement
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Teachers have great power to influence
students positively and negatively
Significant problem in inner-city schools
where teacher turnover is high
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Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved.
Academic Achievement
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Grade Inflation
• Trend of assigning higher grades than previously
assigned to students for completing same work
• Increase in the practice in American high schools and
universities
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Professors nationwide are noticing sense of
entitlement from students
• Results in arrogant assumptions regarding a student’s
“right” to a superior grade for average work
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Continued
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To combat growing trend of entitlement
• Universities began offering seminars integrated
into introductory courses for freshmen
 Encourage students to think differently
about their work and their lives
 They can relearn what education truly is
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Functionalism
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Functionalists look at how structures in a
society work to support the society
Education helps a student improve their
Human Capital
• Combination of skills, knowledge, traits, and
personal attributes
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Education helps integrate student into
society by teaching about nation’s history,
government, and social norms
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Continued
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Public education provides parents a place
to occupy their children
• Allowing adults to work and perform other
needed tasks in society
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Symbolic Interactionism
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A degree opens doors for people
Credentialism
• An emphasis on educational degrees as a prerequisite
for advancement
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In today’s global economy, many “good jobs” are
service and white-collar jobs
• They require a college degree
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Employers use education as a type of litmus test
to determine who is and who is not qualified
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Conflict Theory

Samuel Bowles and Herbert Gintis (1976)
• Schools follow a capitalist structure
• Pecking order trains students to understand
hierarchy of capitalism
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Conflict theorists point out the inequality
built into the system
If education is doorway to opportunity
• Conflict theorists interested in how those
opportunities are distributed in society
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Continued
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Public education is not the same in all places
• Wealthy neighborhoods have better educational
outcomes than poorer ones
 Conflict theorists point to problems of inner cities and
lack of funding to combat such ills
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Hidden curriculum serves to re-enforce ideology
of fairness and equality within US
• Validity is certainly debatable
• Patriotism, capitalism, and even democracy are
reinforced in schools
• Conflict theorists question whether this is in students’
best interests
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Continued
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Throughout the world, governments spend
more on education of the elite than on
education of the poor
• Particularly true in higher education
 Strong link between social class and ability
to attend college
• Less-educated people from wealthier homes
continue to dominate society
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No Child Left Behind

No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB)
• Bipartisan act of Congress proposed by
President George W. Bush
• Requires states to test students in particular
grades, with results determining state’s
eligibility to receive federal funds
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Continued
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NCLB designed to reform the way we view
education with a four-pronged approach:
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Stronger accountability
Increased freedom for states and communities
Expanded use of proven education methods
Increases in educational choices for parents
States measure progress by testing every
student in grades 3 through 8 in reading
and math by administering annual tests
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Continued
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Some see it as one of the most controversial
pieces of legislation in history of federal
educational policy-making
• Gaps observed in educational system are mistaken as
educational malfunctions
 Poor children fail to receive same quality of education
as wealthier ones
 Test results tend to show strong correlation between
schools in poorer areas and schools that fail to
achieve standards of accountability
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Continued
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NCLB expects parents to effectively
negotiate the education system
• Problematic especially when parents are
themselves not well educated
• Dubious that current system will work equally
well for everyone
 Especially racial minorities, immigrants, and
the poor
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Charter Schools
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Charter Schools
• Nonsectarian public schools of choice that operate with
freedom from many of the regulations that apply to
traditional public schools
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The “charter” that establishes such a school is a
performance contract
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Detailing the school’s mission
Program, Goals
Number of students served
Methods of assessment
Ways to measure success
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Continued

Charters typically granted for three to five years
• Group who granted charter will review goals of the
school and determine whether the contract should be
renewed
• Responsible for producing positive academic results and
adhering to the charter contract
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Schools are accountable to several groups
• Sponsor who grants them
• Parents who choose them
• Public that funds them
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Continued
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Charter schools much smaller in
population than regular public schools
Recruit students with demographic
characteristics similar to surrounding
population in terms of socioeconomic
status and race
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Continued
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One problem that has occurred in offering school
choice is phenomenon known as “white flight”
• Whites tend to flee an area and its schools as level of
non-white enrollment increases
• Research suggests that charter schools tend to
segregate students by race
 White students enroll in higher percentages than
racial minorities
• Creating further segregated educational system
• Both race and parents influence who attends a charter
school
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Continued
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Charter schools demonstrated an improved
alternative to mainstream public education
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Reenroll dropout students
Replace failing public schools
Create parent/learning centers
Pilot innovative learning models
Critics wonder whether charter schools will
improve opportunities for academically or
economically advantaged students if separation
by choice continues to encourage isolation and
segregation
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