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Chapter 14 Education: A Global Survey Education: the social institution through which society provides its members with important knowledge. The extent of schooling in any society is closely tied to its level of economic development. In all low-income countries, students do not experience much schooling. High-income nations endorse the idea that everyone should go to school.
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Illiteracy in Global Perspective
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Education: A Global Survey Schooling in the United States Horace Mann (a teacher from Massachusetts) proposed that schools be established throughout Massachusetts. The United States was among the first countries to set a goal of mass education. In 1918, the last of the states passed a mandatory education law requiring children to attend school until age 16. Schooling tries to promote equal opportunity.
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The Functions of Schooling One of the most important functions is socialization. Schooling provides a cultural lifeline that links the generations. Schooling helps integrate culturally diverse people by teaching a common language. Education helps people assume approved statuses.
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College Degrees in Global Perspective
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Schooling and Social Inequality Schools routinely provide learning according to students’ social background. Schooling is a means of social control. The hidden curriculum: subtle presentations of political or cultural ideas in the classroom. Standardized test and tracking sort children as winners or losers.
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Testing and Social Inequality Aptitude Test: puts minorities at a disadvantage, because it reflects the dominant culture. Standardize test: transform privilege into personal merit.
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Tracking and Social Inequality Tracking: assigning students to different types of educational programs on the basics of real or perceived abilities. 1. General Track: students are likely to enter the workforce after high school. 2. College Prep Track: students are likely to enter a community college or state university after high school. 3. Honors Track: students are likely to enter prestigious colleges and universities after high school.
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Tracking and Social Inequality Education critic Jonathan Kozol: considers tracking one of the “savage inequalities” in our school system. Most students from privileged backgrounds get into higher tracks, where they receive the best school can offer (Macionis, 2006). Students from underprivileged backgrounds end up in lower tracks, where teachers stress memorization and little focus on creatively (Macionis, 2006).
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Access to Higher Education Higher education is the main path to occupational achievement. The most crucial factor affecting access to college is money. The cost of higher education prevents many minorities from attending school.
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Family Income
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Problems in the Schools Schools are trying to deal with issues such as drug abuse, teen pregnancy, and violence. Disorder spills into schools from the surrounding society. Schools are also plagued with passivity. Schools have evolved into huge educational factories.
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Problems in the Schools The problem of dropping out leaves young people at risk of poverty. The most serious issue revolves around the quality of schooling. Functional illiteracy: a lack of reading and writing skills needed for everyday living.
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Recent Issues in U. S. Education The reason our schools do not teach well is that they have no competition. Proponents of school choice advocate creating a market for school choice. Bureaucratic schools do not readily meet the needs of students with physical impairments. There are not enough teachers to fill the classrooms.
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Looking Ahead: Schooling in the Twenty-First Century Educational dilemmas are social problems, and there are no quick fixes. In the decades ahead, we will see significant changes in mass education. New information technology will continue to impact education.
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Emile Durkheim stated as human beings, we define most objects, events, and experiences as Profane. Sacred: that which people set apart as extraordinary, inspiring a sense of awe and reverence. Religion: a social institution involving beliefs and practices based on a conception of the sacred.
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Emile Durkheim identified three essentials features that he believed were common to all religions, past and present. 1. Beliefs about the sacred and the profane. 2. Rituals (practices) 3. Community of worshipers
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Society has a power of its own beyond the life of the individual. Society itself is a ‘godlike” being. People engage in religious life to celebrate the awesome power of their society. People transform everyday objects into sacred symbols of their collective life.
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Religion serves ruling elites by legitimizing the status quo and diverting people’s attention from social inequalities. Religion encourages people to look hopelessly to a better world to come. Religion and social inequality are also linked through gender.
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Religion is socially constructed. Through various rituals, individuals share in the distinction between the sacred and the profane. Whenever humans confront uncertainty, we turn to our sacred symbols.
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At some point in history, religion has promoted dramatic social transformations. It was the religious doctrine of Calvinism that sparked the Industrial Revolution. Christianity has long standing concern for the poor and oppressed people. Liberation theology: a fusion of Christian principles with political activism.
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CChurch: an organization that is well integrated into the larger society. SSect: an organization that stands apart from the larger society. CCult: an organization that is largely outside a society’s cultural traditions.
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The United States is a relatively religious nation. Religiosity: the importance of religion in a person’s life. Religion is tied to social class and ethnicity. Overall, although most people claim to be religious, probably no more than 1/3 actually are.
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Secularization: the historical decline in the importance of the supernatural and the sacred. Civil religion: a quasi-religious loyalty binding individuals in a basically secular society. Although some dimensions of religiosity are weakening, citizenship has taken on religious qualities.
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