Chapter 17 Education

Chapter Outline Education for a Changing World Attainment, Achievement, and Equality The Structure of Educational Institutions

Education for a Changing World Poorer regions of the world face a dire need for universal access to schools; in the more developed regions, serious issues of educational equity need to be addressed. There is great concern with the need to improve education in order to train new generations of workers.

Education Process by which a society transmits knowledge, values, norms, and ideologies. In the early history of the United States many were excluded from schools: children of slaves Native Americans the poor many immigrant groups

Why Education is so Important: Sociological Explanations High stakes Educational success counts a great deal in explaining success and failure for individuals and entire social groups and communities. Class and cultural diversity Schools bring together diverse groups of students, parents, and educators, whose values about learning are often in conflict.

Why Education is so Important: Sociological Explanations Citizen involvement People expect to influence changes in the institutions they pay for and are involved in. Rapid change in knowledge Our expectations about what education can achieve for society changes as scientific and humanistic knowledge changes.

Manifest Functions Of Education Formal education transmits the culture of a society to new generations. It prepares future generations for appropriate occupational and citizenship roles. Educational institutions evaluate and select competent individuals. Education transmits requisite social skills for functioning in society.

Latent Functions Of Education Helps reproduce the existing class structure of societies. Parents with sufficient wealth can send their children to better public schools by moving to communities that recruit more highly qualified teachers. It brings young men and women from similar class and cultural backgrounds together in an informal “marriage market.”

Theoretical Perspectives on Education To the functionalists, schools prepare children for participation in adult activities. Interactionists view the school as a set of behaviors and relationships. Conflict theorists view education as serving to justify and maintain the status quo.

Classrooms This photo of Tibetan refugee children in a class room in northern India illustrates the similarity of classroom organization in many parts of the world.

Global Perspectives on Education Functionalist Perspective Issues in Developed Regions Issues in Developing Regions How can schools best be organized to carry out their mission? Are schools devoted to elite or mass education? How independent are schools from other social institutions, such as mosques and political parties?

Global Perspectives on Education Conflict Perspective Issues in Developed Regions Issues in Developing Regions Do schools promote equal opportunity or reproduce the status quo of inequality? Do they foster or stifle free inquiry? Whose children get to go to school? Do schools allow freedom of thought and critical thinking?

Global Perspectives on Education Interactionism Issues in Developed Regions Issues in Developing Regions How does learning take place in classroom interactions? What else is being taught in addition to the lessons? Questions are the same, based on observation of classroom interactions, but with emphasis on how traditional cultures are dealt with in classroom interaction.

Thinking Critically If one of the functions of education is to prepare people to function well in society, won’t they benefit from attending schools that reflect the nation’s ethnic, racial, and class diversity? Many parents feel the superior education provided by private schools outweighs the benefits of attending diverse public schools. What do you think?

% of Nations Developing Systems of Mass Education, by Decade

Educational Attainment in the U.S. Year Median Years of School Completed 2000 12.9 1990 1980 12.5 1970 12.2 1960 10.6 1950 9.3 1940 8.6

Tracking and Inequality Number of years of school completed is correlated with income, occupation, prestige, attitudes, and opinions. Early in the 20th century many schools began using tracking systems to separate higher- achieving students from slower learners. Research on tracking has found students in lower tracks end up in lower-paid and lower- prestige occupations once they finish schooling.

Drop Outs Research has shown that states that base funding of schools on the results of standardized tests, increase dropout rates. The main reason for dropping out of school is poor academic performance, but students also drop out because of the demands of work and family roles.

Educational Achievement How much a student learns, measured by mastery of reading, writing, and mathematical skills. Studies have found that American parents tend to be more positive about their children’s schoolwork and to believe more in the effects of ability than effort.

% High School Graduates White Black Hispanic Year M F 2003 84.5 85.7 79.6 80.3 56.3 57.8 2000 88 77 78 56 1991 80 67 51 1980 71 70 46 44 1970 57 58 32 35 NA 1962 47 50 23 26 1947 33 37 13 15

% College Graduates White Black Hispanic Year M F 2003 29.4 25.9 16.7 17.8 11.2 11.6 2000 31 25 14 17 11 1991 19 12 10 9 1980 22 8 6 1970 15 5 4 NA 1962 7 1947 2 3

Ability Grouping (“Tracking”) in the U.S. Public Schools

International Secondary-School Completion Rates

Mathematics Scale Scores of 8th Grade Students, 2003 Country Average Score International average 466 Singapore 605 Korea, Republic of 589 Hong Kong 586 Japan 570 Belgium-Flemish 537 Netherlands 536 Estonia 531

Mathematics Scale Scores of 8th Grade Students, 2003 Country Average Score Hungary 529 Malaysia 508 Latvia Russian Federation Slovak Republic Australia 505 United States 504 Lithuania 502

Average Earnings by Level of Education Without High School 1979 2005 Males $27,690 $19,676 Females 18,302 14,680 High School Graduate 34,978 25,811 23,041 18,679 College Graduates 55,068 46,914 29,919 30,022

Social Class and Educational Attainment and Achievement Studies find a high correlation between social class and educational attainment and achievement. Ray Rist claims that the U.S. system of public education is designed to perpetuate social and economic inequality. Inequality in higher education is primarily a matter of access, or ability to pay.

Major Findings at Age 19 in the Perry Preschool Study Category Responses Preschool No-Preschool Employed 121 59% 32% High school graduate 67% 49% College or vocational training 38% 21%

Major Findings at Age 19 in the Perry Preschool Study Category Responses Preschool No-Preschool Ever detained or arrested 121 31% 51% Females: teen pregnancies, per 100 49 64 117

% Distribution of Public Schools According to School Condition, by Region

Rates of Victimization in U.S. Schools, 1992–2003

Quick Quiz

1. Sociologists employing the ________ perspective focus on schools at the micro-level of everyday behavior, for example, centering attention on patterns of communication that transpire in classes, in hallways, and on playgrounds. conflict functionalist interactionist human ecology

Answer: c Sociologists employing the interactionist perspective focus on schools at the micro-level of everyday behavior, for example, centering attention on patterns of communication that transpire in classes, in hallways, and on playgrounds.

2. Sociologists coming from the ________ perspective stress the role schools play in maintaining inequality and reproducing the class structure. conflict functionalist interactionist human ecology

Answer: a Sociologists coming from the conflict perspective stress the role schools play in maintaining inequality and reproducing the class structure.

3. The most basic criticism of tracking is that the practice contributes to the maintenance of social inequality. significantly improves opinions of high-tracked students about themselves. significantly improves opinions of lower-tracked students about themselves. leads to better jobs and higher incomes for those students who are placed in higher tracks.

Answer: a The most basic criticism of tracking is that the practice contributes to the maintenance of social inequality.