Transcript Chapter 11. Problems of Education

Chapter 11
Problems of Education
Sociological Perspectives on
Education
• Functionalist Approaches
• Conflict Approaches
– Conflict view has two themes
• Marxian
• Non-Marxian
• Interactionist Approaches
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Table 11-1: Perspectives on
Education
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Educational Attainment and
Achievement
• How U.S. Students Measure Up in
International Comparisons
• Greater proportions of American students
are finishing high school & college
• The gap of educational attainment
between blacks and whites has narrowed
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Educational Attainment and
Achievement
• Higher dropout rates among minority
students are caused by the fact that they
– Do not receive enough help at home
• US lags behind many advanced industrial
nations in standardized test scores
• The level of student achievement remains
a subject of widespread debate
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Educational Attainment and
Achievement
• Third International Mathematics and
Science Study (TIMSS) indicates that
– Schoolchildren in Asia perform better
academically than those in the U.S.
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Figure 11-1: Years of School
Completed by Persons Age 25+
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Figure 11-2: Age 18–24; graduated
high school or equivalent degrees
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Figure 11-3: 4th-Graders’ Scores on
Tests; Rates of Student Poverty: ‘04
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Education and Equality: The Issue of
Equal Access
• Black Students
• Hispanic Students
– Bilingual/Bicultural Education
– Asian Students
• Preschool Programs
• Desegregation
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Education and Equality: The Issue of
Equal Access
• American society is based on the premise
that everyone has the right to an education
– Equality through education
• There’s of criticism that not all students
have access to the same quality education
– Central-city minority children
– Urban and suburban divide
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Figure 11-4: Elementary–Secondary
per-Pupil Spending Amounts: ’07-’08
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School Reform: Problems of
Institutional Change
• Schools as Bureaucracies
• Classroom and School Size
• School Choice
– Charter Schools
– Homeschooling
• The Technological Fix
• Teachers’ Unions
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School Reform: Problems of
Institutional Change
• School Violence
• Primary source of resistance to change is
educational institutions
• Schools have become large bureaucratic
organizations
– With an existence independent of their
educational goals
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Figure 11-5: A Typical School
District’s Educational Bureaucracy
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Figure 11-6: Estimated Impact of Bill
to Save Teacher Jobs
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Figure 11-7: Nonfatal Crimes against
Students Ages 12–18
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Social Policy
• Race to the Top: The Obama–Duncan
Strategy
• Educational Conservatism and Back to
Basics
– Testing for Educational Excellence, or Drill
and Kill?
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Social Policy
• Humanism and Open Education
– Progressivism
• Access to Higher Education
– Privatization of Public Higher Education
• Future Prospects
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Figure 11-8: Tuition as a Percentage
of Higher Education Revenues, 2004
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