Chapter 10: Education and Religion

What Is Education? Education is the process by which a society transmits knowledge, values, and expectations to its members so they can function in society. So, you have all been through the educational system to some extent. What kinds of things did you learn? Ask your students to talk about their experiences in the educational system. Hopefully they will be able to discuss examples of manifest and latent functions of education, which you can elaborate on in a moment. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:UniSIMClassroom.JPG]

What Is Education? (cont’d.) Schooling serves a number of important functions for society: The transmission of knowledge Learning to follow society’s rules and to respect authority Being socialized to develop other qualities that will eventually make people efficient and obedient workers The transmission of knowledge is a manifest function—that means it is an obvious function of education. Obviously, you learn to read, write, do math, and so on. Other functions are not so obvious, and those are called latent functions. Examples of latent functions include learning to follow society’s rules and to respect authority, and being socialized to develop other qualities that will eventually make us efficient and obedient workers. These goals aren’t on the class syllabus, but students learn them through interactions with teachers and others within the system.

What Is Education? (cont’d.) Educational institutions also help to reproduce the inequality seen in society. The hidden curriculum describes the values and behaviors that students learn indirectly over the course of their schooling because of the educational system’s structure and teaching methods. It is clear that while education does benefit everyone, it unfortunately does not benefit everyone equally. Sociologists have long been interested in the hidden curriculum, which is related to the latent functions of education we just discussed. This includes things such as obedience to authority and strict adherence to norms. Many argue that the hidden curriculum reinforces and reproduces conditions of social inequality in society. In The Credential Society, Randall Collins argues that reproducing society’s existing class structure is the true function of education.

What Is Education? (cont’d.) The Pygmalion Effect: the idea that teachers’ attitudes about their students unintentionally influence their academic performance Rosenthal and Jacobson’s symbolic interactionist study of education suggested that teachers’ attitudes about their students unintentionally influenced their academic performance. When teachers expected students to succeed, the students indeed tended to improve. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Classe_maternelle2.jpg]

What Is Education? (cont’d.) 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. In his book Social Inequalities (1991), Kozol documents the significant differences among America’s schools: “the highest spending districts have twice as many art, music, and foreign language teachers . . . 75 percent more physical education teachers . . . 50 percent more nurses, school librarians, guidance counselors, and psychologists . . . and 60 percent more personnel in school administration than the low-spending districts.”

What Is Education? (cont’d.) Many believe that America’s educational system is in crisis, though there is little agreement on how to fix the problem. Some attempts have included early college high schools, homeschooling, school vouchers, and charter schools.

What Is Education? (cont’d.) Early college high schools: 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

What Is Education? (cont’d.) Homeschooling has grown steadily in popularity since the 1980s. In 2007–2008, it was estimated there were more than 2 million home-schooled children in the United States. The academic achievement of home-schooled students, on average, was significantly above that of publicly schooled children, even if their parents were not certified teachers. Homeschooling: the education of children by their parents, at home

What Is Education? (cont’d.) School vouchers are payments from the government to parents whose children attend failing public schools to help parents pay for private school tuition.

What Is Education? (cont’d.) Charter schools: public schools run by private entities to give parents greater control over their children’s education

What Is Education? (cont’d.) 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.

What Is Religion? Religion includes any institutionalized system of shared: Beliefs: propositions and ideas held on the basis of faith Rituals: practices based on those beliefs that identify a relationship between the sacred (holy, divine, or supernatural) and the profane (ordinary, mundane, or everyday) There are many different kinds of religions in the world, but they all share these same basic tenets.

What Is Religion? (cont’d.) Sociologists do not evaluate the truth of any religion, but rather study the ways that religions shape and are shaped by cultural institutions and the ways that religions influence and are influenced by the behaviors of individuals. It is very important that as sociologists, we take a step back from our own beliefs and employ our sociological imaginations to understand the values and beliefs of others. As sociologists, we are interested in society and social interactions, and we cannot understand these things without understanding the religious beliefs of people within various societies.

What Does Religion Do? Religion Shapes everyday behavior by providing morals, values, rules, and norms for its participants Gives meaning to our lives Provides the opportunity to come together with others to share in group activities and identity Again, this is true of nearly any religion. Oftentimes, the individual beliefs of religions may differ yet the structures of the religions are similar.

Religion and Social Change Religion can be made dysfunctional by promoting inequality with sexist, racist, or homophobic doctrines. On the other hand, religious organizations have also been agents of social justice and political change. In the Civil Rights era, most communications about gatherings, protests, or events to raise awareness were announced and advertised through churches.

Religious Composition in the United States

What Is Religion? (cont’d.) Religiosity is the regular practice of religious beliefs, measured by church attendance. Thirty-eight percent of Americans report attending services weekly. [http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4a/St_Maria_Sehnde_Gottesdienst.jpg] Matthias Feige / Wikimedia Commons

What Is Religion? (cont’d.) Extrinsic religiosity refers to a person’s public display of commitment to a religious faith. Intrinsic religiosity refers to a person’s inner religious life or personal relationship to the divine.

What Is Religion? (cont’d.) Two groups have dramatically increased in size in recent decades: Fundamentalists: those who literally interpret texts and want to “return” to a time of greater religious purity Unchurched: those who consider themselves spiritual but not religious, and who often adopt aspects of various religious traditions In recent decades the number of Americans who identify themselves as fundamentalist (the practice of emphasizing literal interpretation of texts and a “return” to a time of greater religious purity) and unchurched (a term describing those who consider themselves spiritual but not religious, and who often adopt aspects of various religious traditions) has dramatically increased. As we can see, even religion can’t be studied without examining the context (the society, the people, their attitudes, etc.), and it’s clear that religious practice changes over time and across cultures.

So What? Importance of Institutions Social institutions are an important part of the structure of our society. As a sociologist, it is important to understand how institutions shape our lives, and how we can shape institutions as well! Ask students if they have gained any new insights after this presentation. Now can you think of ways that politics might influence education, or education might influence religion? How about other institutions that we didn’t talk about today?

Chapter 10: Participation Questions Which of the following best describes your K–12 school experience? I was in a remedial track. I was in a regular or standard track. I was in an honors track. I was in a dual enrollment or advanced placement (AP) track. I was in an intense college preparatory track like the International Baccalaureate or Cambridge program These questions can be used with “clickers,” cell phones, or other audience response systems to increase participation in your classes. They can also be used to encourage discussion without technological input.

Do you think that high school prepared you for college? yes no Chapter 10: Participation Questions Do you think that high school prepared you for college? yes no These questions can be used with “clickers,” cell phones, or other audience response systems to increase participation in your classes. They can also be used to encourage discussion without technological input.

Have you taken an online class? yes no Chapter 10: Participation Questions Have you taken an online class? yes no These questions can be used with “clickers,” cell phones, or other audience response systems to increase participation in your classes. They can also be used to encourage discussion without technological input.

Which of the following best describes you? Chapter 10: Participation Questions Which of the following best describes you? attend religious services regularly attend religious services occasionally rarely or never attend religious services These questions can be used with “clickers,” cell phones, or other audience response systems to increase participation in your classes. They can also be used to encourage discussion without technological input.

This concludes the Lecture PowerPoint presentation for Chapter 10