Chapter 10, Part I: Chapter 10, Part I:

EducationEducation

Chapter 10

The Real WorldCopyright © 2008 W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.

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Education is the process by which a society transmits knowledge, values, and expectations to its members so they can function in society.

There are two forms of education:

– Formal Education: learning that takes place within an academic setting such as a school, which has a planned instructional process and teachers who convey specific knowledge, skills, and thinking processes to students.

– Informal Education: Learning that occurs in a spontaneous, unplanned way.

Globally, educational systems vary from country to country. With that being said, some are better than others. Here in the United States, we have what is called mass education which refers to providing free, public schooling for wide segments of a nation’s population.

Formal, institutionalized secular education in Western Civilization began in ancient Greece around the 8th century B.C.E., when students studied philosophy, mathematics, music, and gymnastics.

In the Middle Ages, the church was the main educator, with schools in monasteries and cathedrals, and until about 1200, the schools focused mainly on training students to be priests.

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During the Middle Ages, universities did exist and only offered three subjects – law, theology, and medicine. However, only people of the highest social classes could attend. During the Enlightenment (18th and 19th centuries), the value of education greatly increased. The leading thinkers of the day believed that the well-being and future of modern society depended upon enlightened self-knowledge, which could be achieved only through learning. The industrial revolution also contributed to some of these ideas.

Education in the United States underwent many changes during this Enlightenment period as well. Even though the founding fathers thought it was important, education was not specifically mentioned in the Constitution. Unfortunately, formal education was seen as more of a luxury rather than a necessity for many years. This will change with “common schools.”The idea of public education in the United States, as we know it today, began in Massachusetts in 1852. Horace Mann, a state legislator, proposed the idea of “Common Schools,” or schools that were funded and maintained by public monies. Also, attendance at these schools would be mandatory for all children 16 and younger. The growth of public schools across the US was slow going. Finally, by 1929, every state and territory had elementary, junior high, and high schools.

Since the very beginning, US public education has traditionally been the responsibilities of the states, although the federal government is beginning to play a larger role.Today, students receive formal education from a variety of settings; public schools, private secular/religious schools, and homeschooling. – 88% of students attend public schools– 10% attend private schools– 2% are homeschooled

The main function of education is to teach knowledge and skills. However, functionalists argue there are a number of other manifest and latent functions. Schooling serves a number of important manifest functions for society:– Socialization (learning the basics of how to function in society)– Transmission of culture (learning about the contemporary society

in which one lives; this includes language, patriotism, values, etc.)– Social control (learning what is right and wrong)– Social placement (depending on the educational attainment of

students, their placement in the social structure of society will vary)

– Change and innovation (students learn about new technologies and new and emerging values of their prospective society)

Schooling also has a number of latent functions for a society: – Restricting some activities (because children are at school, it

keeps them busy while parents are at work and, from a macro-perspective, it keeps them out of the workforce until the age of 18)

– Matchmaking and production of social networks (school and college is where most students meet their friends and are likely to meet future partners – the internet is changing this trend somewhat)

– Creating a generation gap (because of new trends, new technologies, and the values that students learn from friends, schooling creates a gap between students and parents).

Another functionalist idea is that industrialized nations have become credential societies (Collins, 1979). In The Credential Society, Collins argues that reproducing society’s existing class structure is the true function of education. – A credential society is one in which diplomas and degrees are used to

determine who is eligible for jobs, even though the diploma or degree may be irrelevant to the actual work. Because employers don’t know potential workers, they depend on schools to weed out the capable from the incapable.

– Of course, there are advantages and disadvantages. On one hand, there are many jobs where you would hope the person has a degree (medicine, for example). However, on the other hand, there are jobs where on the job training would be good enough (or, previous experience). Unfortunately, because you have not met the degree requirement, you are denied the job. (Conflict theorists argue that credentialism is a mode of maintaining a system of inequality).

Building on credential society, gatekeeping is another function of education. – Gatekeeping is the process by which education opens and closes

doors of opportunity; another term for the social placement function of education.

– One form of gatekeeping is credentialing (the concept behind credential society on the previous slide) which means using diplomas and degrees to determine who is eligible for a job.

– Another form is tracking. Tracking is sorting students into different educational programs on the basis of their perceived abilities. Formal tracking is actually now illegal for a variety of reasons (problems with tracking are mentioned under conflict theory). However, schools still “technically” do it by placing students in “ability groups” or “advanced/resource classes.”

Gatekeeping cont’d:– Several functionalists have argued that “gatekeeping” sorts

people on the basis of merit. This view is known as the concept of social placement.

– Social placement is basically how society funnels people into society’s various positions.

– Here’s how it works: some jobs require few skills and less intelligence (like while some jobs require high intelligence and a great deal of education (like medicine). To motivate capable people to put up with years of education, they are rewarded with higher incomes and prestige.

Conflict Theory Overview: Conflict theorists argue that educational institutions also help to reproduce the inequality seen in society. It is clear that while education does benefit everyone, it unfortunately does not benefit everyone equally. – Conflict theorists agree that a function of education is the

transmission of knowledge and skills. However, they also argue that depending on our social class, schooling can also create inequality through the rules, regulations, and values that are imparted. The educational system teaches and reinforces values that sustain the elite’s position in society.

Conflict Theory Overview:

– While we firmly believe, as a society, that education is the key to achievement and success, it is also true that educational institutions can replicate systems of inequality.

– Educational achievements do improve our life chances – census data shows that higher educational attainment often means higher incomes. The average earnings are as follows:

• Advanced Degrees - $78,200

• Bachelor’s Degrees - $49,900

• High School Diploma - $30,800

• Non-graduates - $21,600

Conflict Theory Overview:– Stratification within schools often mirrors stratification

systems in the larger society, wherein women and girls, minority group students, poor or working class students, or students with disabilities are discriminated against both by individuals and institutional systems. So, education benefits everyone, but it does not benefit everyone equally; and inequality in educational benefits mirrors inequality in the lager society.

A number of specific ideas will illustrate how this inequality develops: lack of cultural capital, hidden curriculum, and tracking.

According to the sociologist Pierre Bourdieu, students come to school with different amounts of cultural capital.

– Cultural capital includes, but is not limited to, socially approved dress and manners, knowledge about books, art, music, travel, etc.

– Studies have shown that the more that children are exposed to at earlier ages has a positive impact on academic achievement later in life.

– Of course, the students who are more likely to be exposed to quality cultural capital are those who can afford it. This is just one problem that can be seen with regard to low income families and their prevalence of low academic achievement.

The hidden curriculum is the values and behaviors that students learn indirectly over the course of their schooling because of the educational system’s structure and teaching methods.

Bowles and Gintis (1976) argue that schools train a labor force with the appropriate skills, personalities, and attitudes for an industrial economy. Although the official curriculum is supposed to promote personal improvement and social mobility, the hidden curriculum of “rules, routines, and regulations” actually produces a submissive and obedient wo0rkforce that is prepared to take orders and perform repetitive tasks.

– According to this analysis, schools look a lot like factories. Students have no control over their curriculum, must obey instructions, and gain little intrinsic satisfaction from their schoolwork. Because students learn these norms and values as students, they are willing to accept similar conditions when the become workers.

The hidden curriculum cont’d:

– The hidden curriculum reinforces and reproduces conditions of social inequality by presenting and reinforcing an image of what is considered “normal,” “right,” or “good.” An example of this might be that school social studies curricula often makes less mention of women or minorities. Also, they systematically excluded any mention of gays or lesbians. This teaches that they aren’t as important, or in the case of gays or lesbians don’t exist or shouldn’t exist.

Another issue in education from a conflict perspective is tracking. Tracking is the placement of students in educational “tracks,” or programs of study (e.g., college prep, remedial) that determine the types of classes students take.– The problem with tracking is that students who are placed in a lower

ability or remedial track, for instance, students lose access to courses such as calculus and advanced placement courses which effectively locks them out of certain college, certain majors, and even future careers, all by the time they’re sixteen.

– Sociologists and educational specialists have found that the types of work that students do in their prospective tracks is different and can lead to future inequality. For example, students on a higher track do more work that involves critical thinking (great for future careers such as law, engineering, or medicine). However, lower track students do work that is repetitive and simply knowledge based (this prepares them for careers, like factory labor, where they are likely to be lower paid and supervised).

Kozol’s ethnography, Savage Inequalities, contends that because schools are funded by local property taxes, children in poor neighborhoods are trapped in poor schools, which reinforces inequality.

The symbolic interactionist perspective maintains that the social world is constructed through the interactions of individuals.

One aspect of the symbolic interactionist perspective on education is the statuses, roles, and role expectations that exist within education and how we interact on the basis of those roles.

21The Real World

Copyright © 2008 W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.

An area of focus for symbolic interactionists is with “teacher expectations” and the effect that it has on students. The Rist Research (1970) found that, trough participant observation in a grade school, after only 8 days in school, a kindergarten teacher had already grouped her students by ability (fast learners, average learners, and slow learners). The children had not been tested, she did this based on observable characteristics (Rist concluded that it was ultimately based on social class). Ultimately, the teacher taught differently to the three tables. In the end, Rist determined that each child’s journey through school was determined on their 8th day of kindergarten. He followed them and noticed that the labels did indeed follow the students. This study shows the power of labeling and how it can be problematic.

Another famous study shows the power of teacher expectations.

Rosenthal and Jacobson’s symbolic interactionist study of education suggested that teachers’ attitudes about their students unintentionally influenced their academic performance.

This was done by administering IQ tests to a group of students. A random group of students were chosen and the teacher was told that this group as they would “spurt” or “blossom” in the upcoming year. However, in reality, these students were really no different; the intention was to influence the teacher’s expectations.

In the end, the students indeed intended to improve. The IQ test was given again and the researchers found that the “chosen group” did much better.

Many believe that America’s educational system is in crisis, though there is little agreement on how to fix the problem. Critics list a variety of problems including low rates of literacy and poor standardized test scores, lack of sufficient funding and crumbling infrastructure, low pay for teachers, overcrowded classrooms, and high rates of crime on campus.

Student Performance– Many argue that American students are not measuring up to

international students. In a 1998 study, US 12th graders ranked 16th and 17th in the world in science and math.

– Graduation rates in the United States have improved greatly over the past 20 years. However, there are some states that only have a 70% and below graduation rate. This indicates a high level of drop-outs.

– Also, there seems to be an achievement gap within the US itself. For example: a 1999 study showed that while 40% of white students passed a history graduation exam in Virginia, only 23% of Hispanic students and 13% of African American students passed it the first time.

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Student Performance– In an attempt to address this performance issue,

Congress passed “No Child Left Behind” (NCLB) in 2002. According to this policy, each state is responsible for testing every student in its public education system at specific grade intervals to determine levels of success.

– Low performing schools are identified with “school report cards” and are required to improve both student and teacher performance.

– Parents have the option of removing their children from consistently low-performing schools and placing them in other schools within the district.

Student Performance

– Did it work? Many critics say no.

– One concern is that because NCLB relies on standardized test scores (which assume that one level of aptitude is appropriate for all students, regardless of race, nationality, or intellectual capabilities), students are being assessed unfairly. Studies have shown that women and minorities tend to score lower on standardized tests, even if they are making higher grades.

The Common Core State Standards Initiative is an educational initiative in the United States that details what K-12 students should know in English language arts and mathematics at the end of each grade. The initiative is sponsored by the National Governors Association (NGA) and the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) and seeks to establish consistent educational standards across the states as well as ensure that students graduating from high school are prepared to enter credit-bearing courses at two- or four-year college programs or to enter the workforce.

Common Core has received a great deal of criticism nationwide from a variety of stakeholders and groups.

Student Performance– Another concern is that because the test scores are being

used to measure teacher and overall school performance, teachers will be under pressure to ensure students do well on the test and may resort to “teaching to the test.”

– As a result, many other valuable learning opportunities will be dropped – such as art, music, field trips, etc.

– Finally, schools that are in affluent areas will likely do well and continue to improve where rural and inner-city schools where there is more poverty will likely start doing poorly and may miss out on badly needed state funds.

Charter schools are public schools run by private entities to give parents greater control over their children’s education.

The “charter” is a contract detailing the school’s mission, program, goals, students served, methods of assessment, and ways to measure success.

Charter schools are growing in popularity nation wide. – Advantages: They can make changes and implement decisions faster than

ordinary public schools and they are more responsive to the needs of students, parents, and communities.

– Disadvantages: They are difficult to start and expensive to launch and run. Research has shown that they have only been met with mixed success with students performing about the same as traditional public school students. Finally, because they receive some public funding, many are worried that charter schools will drain funding from other public schools.

Early college high schools are institutions that blend high school and college into a coherent educational program in which students earn both a high school diploma and two years of college credit toward a bachelor’s degree. The goal for many of these programs is to develop new high schools that engage low-income and underrepresented students by offering them challenging academic work while simultaneously providing guidance and support structures.These schools are having a significant impact on underserved youth, who are demonstrating high levels of attendance, improved promotion rates, and success in college-level courses.

Homeschooling involves the education of children by their parents, at home. Parents homeschooled children to control not only academic education but also to limit exposure to the socializing effects of peer culture in public schools. It has been growing since the 1980s. A major study has shown that the academic achievement of homeschooled students, on average, was significantly above that of public school students. Yet questions remain about the possible academic and social disadvantages to students removed from typical school environments.

School vouchers are payments from the government to parents whose children attend failing public schools to help parents pay for private school tuition.

In other words, taxpayers receive a voucher for some of the money that a public school would have received to educate their child, and they apply that money to private school tuition.

Proponents argue that they give parents more choice and control over their children’s education and pressure public schools to improve or risk the loss o their voucher eligible student body.

Critics argue that it drains funds from vulnerable public schools and cause them to deteriorate further. Also, critics say that if parents use vouchers for parochial schools, public moneys are funding religious education, thus threatening the separation of church and state.

Finally, distance learning includes any educational course or program in which the teacher and students do not meet together in the classroom, a situation increasingly available over the Internet.

Advantages are that distance learning provides educational access to students who might otherwise not be able to pursue a degree.

Disadvantages are that it sometimes lacks the personal touch of standard classroom instruction. For this reason, students may feel that there is something important missing from their educational experience.

Distance Learning in High Schools:– Alabama is one of the only states in the US that has a comprehensive

distance learning program for high school students. This program is entitled A.C.C.E.S.S. (Alabama Connecting Classrooms, Educators, and Students Statewide).

– This program is controversial because some argue that it will replace teacher units with online classes. For example, small high schools might choose to require students to take foreign language as an online class so they do not have to hire a Spanish teacher. However, proponents of ACCESS argue that this is prohibited.

– The major advantage is that it provides students with a wide variety of course options that they may not have had otherwise. Also, it prepares them for college in that they are learning about internet distance learning before graduation.