Copyright © Allyn and Bacon 2007 Chapter 16 Education In Conflict and Order: Understanding Society, 11 th edition This multimedia product and its contents are protected under copyright law. The following are prohibited by law: any public performance or display, including transmission of any image over a network; preparation of any derivative work, including the extraction, in whole or in part, of any images; any rental, lease, or lending of the program.

Copyright © Allyn and Bacon 2007 The Characteristics of U.S. Education The U.S. system of education is characterized by –Conservatism –Belief in mass education –Local control –Competition –Reinforcement of the stratification system –Preoccupation with order and control

Copyright © Allyn and Bacon 2007 The Characteristics of U.S. Education The bulk of the money and control for education comes from local communities. Problems with the emphasis on local control: –Tax money from the local area traditionally finances schools. –Local taxes are almost the only outlet for a taxpayers’ revolt.

Copyright © Allyn and Bacon 2007 The Characteristics of U.S. Education Problems with the emphasis on local control: (continued) –Because the democratic ideal requires that schools be locally controlled, the ruling body (school board) should represent all segments of that community. –Local control of education may mean that the religious views of the majority, may intrude in public education. –There is a lack of curriculum standardization.

Copyright © Allyn and Bacon 2007 The Characteristics of U.S. Education Schools perform four functions that maintain prevailing social, political, and economic order: –Socializing the young –Shaping personality traits to conform with the demands of culture –Preparing youngsters for adult roles –Providing employers with a disciplined and skilled labor force

Copyright © Allyn and Bacon 2007 Education and Inequality Education is presumed by many people to be the great equalizer in U.S. society. The evidence that educational performance is linked to socioeconomic background is clear and irrefutable. For example there is a strong relationship between test scores in reading writing and mathematics and poverty.

Copyright © Allyn and Bacon 2007 Figure 16.1 – Median Annual Income for Full-Time Workers by Educational Attainment for People 25 Years old and Over by Race and Hispanic Origin: 2000 Source: U.S. Bureau of the Census, “Educational Attainment in the United States: March 200.” Current Population Reports, Series P Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.

Copyright © Allyn and Bacon 2007 Figure 16.2 – Poverty and Achievement in Denver Schools, 1999 Source: “Taking the Test,” by Charles Illescas and Janet Bingham in The Denver Post (February 27, 2000): 1A. Reprinted by permission of The Denver Post.

Copyright © Allyn and Bacon 2007 Education and Inequality The schools are structured to aid the perpetuation of social and economic differences: –By being financed principally through property taxes –By providing curricula that are irrelevant to the poor –By tracking according to presumed level of ability

Copyright © Allyn and Bacon 2007 Education and Inequality Tracking and Teachers’ Expectations –Tracking sorts students into different groups or classes according to their perceived intellectual ability.

Copyright © Allyn and Bacon 2007 Education and Inequality Criticisms of tracking –Students in lower tracks are discouraged from producing up to their potential. –Students in the upper tracks develop feelings of superiority, whereas those in the lower track tend to define themselves as inferior. –The low-track students tend to fail. –The tracking system is closely linked to the stratification system. –Recent research has called into serious question whether tracking has educational value.

Copyright © Allyn and Bacon 2007 Education and Inequality Tracking thwarts the equality of educational opportunity for the poor by generating: –Stigma, which lowers self-esteem –Self-fulfilling prophecy –A perception of school as having no future payoff –A negative student subculture

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Education from the Order and Conflict Perspectives From the order perspective, schools are crucially important for the maintenance of social integration. They are a vital link between the individual and society.

Copyright © Allyn and Bacon 2007 Education from the Order and Conflict Perspectives The conflict perspective emphasizes that the educational system reinforces the existing inequalities in society by giving the advantaged the much greater probability of success. Conflict adherents also object to the hidden curriculum in schools.