Social Institutions: Education

Chapter 16: Sociology, Schaefer, 1995-2008.

Over 66 million attend-~25% of population.

Biggest industry-20% of labor force.

Schooling historically associated with leisure activity: available to those with the time and money.

Increasing relevance and importance with Industrialization: 19th century and primary education, 1930 and secondary, next few years--?

Secondary socialization-Knowledge and Skills-Bureaucratic and Formal--introduces us to the rest of our lives.

American Education

Mass Education

1. Basic Right, necessity for democratic society
2. USA-first free schools
3. ~80% High School, 40% some college, 25% degree (Europe~20% high school, 10% college) (Worldwide--50% illiteracy)
   1. Urbanism and Education
4. We pay the price--lower standards
5. Also, compulsory.
6. All pay--education benefits all.

Utilitarian Emphasis

1. Variety of Goals:
2. Democracy
3. Solve social problems
4. Assimilation
5. Little success, especially as problem solver
6. Still, we have faith in education as a cure all

Community Control

1. Financing
2. Curriculum

Functionalism

• Knowledge and skills
• Cultural transmission
• Social Control
• Agent of Structured Change: social programs, mobility, diffusion and innovation.

Conflict

• Reproduces social order--control of resources
• Hidden curriculum, training good little workers.
• Intolerance and Inequality
• Credentialism (Randall Collins)
• Status: Standardized Testing, Tracking, Public/private, Gender, Class, and Race.
(see also: RACIAL DISPARITIES AND DISCRIMINATION IN EDUCATION: WHAT DO WE KNOW, HOW DO WE KNOW IT, AND WHAT DO WE NEED TO KNOW? by George Farkas, 2002) (see http://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/school.html for more details)
• Correspondence Principle (Bowles and Gintis): Wealthiest School districts spend more than $8,000 per student, poorest less than $3000.
• Priced Out?

Interactionism

• Self-concept and labeling
• Teacher-Expectancy Effect (looking-glass-self)
• Informal Structures: peers and youth subculture

Schools as Formal Organizations

1. Money and work--employee, yet professional
2. Burnout

Student Subculture-Youth subculture

• Collegiate
• Academics
• Vocational
• Non-conformists

Trends:

• Grade inflation
• Quality (Finn-reform and lack of direction, focus on production vs. the product, impact of non-academic pursuits, Educator education, Thinking Critically vs. Knowing Something.
• Desegregation, Mainstreaming, and Title IX
• Adult education
• Online Education

Political Economy

Religion

URL: http://www.umsl.edu/~keelr/010/eduction.html
Owner: Robert O. Keel rok@umsl.edu
References and Credits for this Page of Notes
Last Updated: Tuesday, April 28, 2009 12:46 PM