Soc/EDS 126: Week #3 (April 13 & 15): 1.DEWEY ON EDUCATION 2.THE TECHNICAL CONCEPTION OF EDUCATION (1900— 3.Please turn in Reflection #1

A Quick Quiz Please complete this phrase in words: “I am attending college because... When you have completed that phrase, pleas pass your paper to the aisle There is no need to put your name on the paper; we will tabulate answers in the aggregate

Dewey’s View of Education and Democracy Schooling to serve democratic ends: Critical thinking Prepare students for college and career: Bring outside world in Devolved into vocational education “College prep” separated from “voc ed”

Agrarian Democratic Industrial Technical 1983 ? 2007 The Course To Date in a Glance

Industrialization's Problematic: How to Match Talent to Jobs Family Life* –Patriarchal –Loose division of labor –Particularistic relations (people’s relationship dominate) –Diffuse obligations *Talcott Parsons, “The School Class as a Social System” Factory Life* –Hierarchical –Strict division of labor –Universalistic relations (rules rule) –Specific obligations

Functionally Important Positions* The mental-manual continuum Mental positions require more training How does “society” induce people to postpone rewards while training? *Davis & Moore-- “Some Principles of Stratification” A Typical Company T/O

Question: How to Transform Family Members into Workers ? Family: -Particularistic relations -Diffuse obligations Work: -Universalistic -Rules not relationships -Specific Obligations

Q:How to Make Workers ? A: A Rational Sorting Device-School School “comes between” or mediates home & work

School as a Rational Sorting Device Sorting based on achievement (hard work, effort), not ascription (race, class, gender Why ascription doesn’t work “Achievement ideology” fosters social mobility Measurement by “objective” means-- tests and grades

Mobility Systems (Ralph Turner, “Contest and Sponsored...”) Contest mobility systems (US, UK) –Competitive (the “game” of life) –Many small assessments –May re-enter the competition (in California: Community college, CSU, UC) –Success: “My individual effort” –Failure: “I didn’t try hard enough” –(deflects attention away from “the system”)

Mobility Systems Sponsored Mobility Systems (Japan, China, Korea) Fewer but higher stakes tests Once selected (sponsored), pathways to college and jobs are determined Families often sacrifice to help children succeed (juku in Japan)

Evidence Supporting The Technical View of Schooling (1) Income data: direct correlation between education obtained and income earned for white males in the US

Evidence Supporting The Technical View of Schooling (2) Education and Civic Participation: The more education earned, the more likely people are to vote

Evidence Supporting the Technical View of Schooling (3) Educational expansion –GI Bill –Land Grant Colleges –Affirmative Action Quality of Life –Longer life –Less disease