EducationAnalyze the function and importance of schools in our society

Miss Wiley’s view/rant on the function of schools (like you care)—write your own as well!

Schools were established and developed in our society to positively preserve and, when appropriate, improve the republic. The nation is administered over by the people, they must be properly educated in order to handle the responsibilities inherent to their natural and legally established rights; freedom isn't free and the land cannot protect itself; evil does exist on this Earth and liberal arts education is the only chance to keep bright the lamp of liberty ever surrounded by the dark possibilities of ignorant reality, thus the term associated with the acquisition of knowledge and all the great thinkers and their thoughts . . . Enlightened. Education=preservation

Teachers are challenged to promote students as individuals, while working towards the benefit the whole group.

The essential goal of education is the development of students as life long learners, as intellectual moral thinkers, and as knowledgeable proactive adults and citizens.

What subjects are typically studied in the US?

Why do we seem to stress the history of Europe (Western Civ) and America, instead of giving equal time to all cultures in history classes?

In what ways are our history studies changing? For what reasons? What are the pros and cons of expanding these areas of study?

Eduquestions

Should citizens who do not have children currently in the local school system have to pay, via taxes, for the school systems in their localities?

How do US schools inform young people about global issues, and inspire them to explore beyond our shores?

Individualism is viewed as the cornerstone of American history, progress, and life. Does education inspire students to act as individuals (to think freely and for themselves)? Should individualism or collectivism (focus on priorities of group) rule the school?

Warm-Up Activity

Sort your cut-outs into the three theoretical perspectives to the best of your ability

Winning group gains an extra point on their test!

Functionalist Perspective

Education is crucial for promoting social solidarity and stability in society.

Students must be taught to put the group’s needs ahead of their individual desires and aspirations.

Function to socialize, transmit culture, exert social control, and bring about change and innovation.

Believe that education contributes to the maintenance of society and provides people with an opportunity for self-enhancement and upward social mobility.

Conflict Perspective

Argue that education perpetuates social inequality and benefits the dominant class at the expense of others.

Access to quality education is closely related to social class.

Education is a vehicle for reproducing existing class relationships.

School legitimates and reinforces the social elites by engaging in specific practices that uphold the patterns of behavior and the attitudes of the dominant class.

Children with less cultural capital (social assets that include values, beliefs, attitudes and competencies in language and culture) have fewer opportunities to succeed in school.

More Conflict

Standardized tests that are used to group students by ability and assign them to classes often measure students’ cultural capital rather than their natural intelligence or aptitude.

Class-based factors affect which children are likely to be placed in high, middle or low tracking groups

Tracking is one of the most obvious mechanisms through which students of color and those from low-income families receive a diluted academic program, making it much more likely that they will fall even further behind their white, middle-class counterparts.

For students from dominant groups in society, the way they are treated and what they learn in school tend to enhance their self-esteem and expectations that they will attain success.

Symbolic Interaction

Focus on classroom communication patterns and educational practices, such as labeling, that affect students’ self-concept and aspirations.

Labeling amounts to a self-fulfilling prophecy—unsubstantiated belief or prediction resulting in behavior that makes the originally false belief come true.

Limit their analysis of education to what they directly observe happening in the classroom.

Focus on how teacher expectations influence student performance, perceptions, and attitudes.

Find that when teachers expect a particular performance or growth, it occurs.

Study how placement of students in a class may affect performance.

Focus on how teachers form their expectations or how students may communicate subtle messages to teachers about intelligence, skill and so forth.

Education in the Media

Changing views on how teachers and students should interact: perception among some students that they can control their schools and behave in an inappropriate manner in the classroom with few negative consequences.

Media representations of schools often support the view that students run the schools.

Think of some examplesBox 16.2 page 530: How is education framed in the

media? How does this influence how people feel about schools?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMHdlka9fvA&feature=related

How is America Comparing?

2 million minutes: compares how American, Chinese and Indian students spend their time in high school

Make predictionshttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZnSG6gg1v

s&feature=PlayList&p=79885F64D22D36F2&playnext_from=PL&playnext=1&index=32

“Occasionally I do homework” This student ends up getting a full ride for graphic

designRewarded for laziness?Are we taking ourselves out of the competition?Do we know the competition?

Student Survey

Where does school rank in the list of your priorities?

How often do you study or do homework?How many hours a week of television do you

watch?Do you think you need to well in school in

order to be successful in life?Do you think American schools need to be

more rigorous and challenging if we expect to remain globally competitive?

How do American schools compare?

http://www.youtube.com/user/2MillionMinutes#p/a/u/2/05gbOwFRSeI

Watching grey’s anatomy and studyingAre American’s truly “well-rounded”?In America, sports, involvement is more

importantWhat are the dangers in this? 1500 hours in front of TV vs. 900 at school

What did you do this weekend?

Did you use the sociological imagination OR simply ponder

about society?

Welcome back.

Japanese Education

Japanese schools emphasize conformity and nationalism

Highlight importance of obligation to one’s family and of learning skills necessary for employment

At 3, many toddlers are sent to cram schools (jukus) to help them qualify for good preschools Students learn discipline, thinking skills, karate,

gymnastics Sometimes responsible for preparing, serving, cleaning for

the midday meal End of day, children sometimes clean, mop as a part of the

spirit of cooperation that is emphasized

Japanese Education

At high school level, entrance to school is based on ability Instruction in high schools for the college-bound is highly

structured; all students are expected to respond in unison to questions from teacher

Fluent in more than one languageTake courses such as algebra and calculus several

years before US counterpartsMust be prepared for variety of college entrance

exams; each university gives its own testBelief that young women only need junior college

education Women account for fewer than 5% of all presidents of colleges Lack of child-care facilities within universities remains a pressing

problem for women students and faculty

Role of National Governments

Countries like Japan have a centrally controlled curriculum

Countries such as France have an education ministry that is officially responsible for every elementary school in the nation

In England, national achievement tests are administered by government and students must pass in order to advance to the next level of education

American Education and the States

Schools, traditionally, are run locally by townships and administered by state.

Education is essential to any state's identity and ideals and goals . . they (the states) are free to develop standards and programs to fit and meet the unique needs and wants of the citizens of the state for the education of their children. Are state-run schools a good thing?

Role of the National Gov

For what reasons should the national government stay out of education? Because the national government is remote from most

states and thus cannot properly assess and address their concerns, plus they already have a gigantic job to do in defending the nation and upholding their own national responsibilities

There is now a secretary of education in the presidents cabinet, (this was not an original cabinet position) - has asserted influence and provided aid in various degrees -national funds for education initiatives, such as No Child Left Behind.

NCLB

Signed into law in 2001 by George W. Based on belief that establishing measurable goals

can improve individual outcomes in educationStates create a set of standards for what all

children should know at the end of each grade All schools are expected to make yearly progress

toward meeting the standardsSchools/districts that do not make adequate

progress could lose funding and parents can move their children to schools that are meeting standards

Why do people criticize NCLB?

Teachers are teaching to the test (lack of deep meaning) Less time on arts, social studies, foreign language

System of incentives and penalties sets up strong motivation for districts and states to manipulate test results; these and other strategies have inflated perception of NCLB’s successes Incentive to set standards lower as opposed to higher due to

punitive measuresBecause each state can produce own standardized

tests and standards, a state can make the test easier—Missouri admitted to lowering standards

Erosion of federalism (state and local control of Education)

Funding for Public Schools

Educational funds come from the state and local property taxes

6% from federal gov This goes to special programs, not regular education

Per-capita spending on public and secondary education varies widely from state to state At South, it’s about $12,ooo per student per year

Local property-tax base has been eroding in central cities as major industries have relocated or gone out of business Schools crumble

Private vs. Public

90% of US elementary and secondary students are educated in public schools

Many parents feel private schools are a better choice for their children because they feel that these schools are more demanding, motivating, and provide more stringent discipline

Schools and Discipline

In 1940s, leading discipline problems : getting out of place in line, talking without permission, not putting paper in trash

In 1990s, leading discipline problems: violence, drug abuse, suicide, robbery, assault

Schools in past used corporal punishment (spanking, paddling students); most states now prohibit use of corporal punishment

Some districts prohibit disciplinary actions such as keeping children in during recess or expelling them from class

Do negative sanctions deter negative behavior that occur in classrooms?

• READ ARTICLE WITH YOUR GROUP (EITHER OUT LOUD, SILENTLY, OR A

COMBO)

•GET THROUGH AS MUCH AS YOU CAN IN 20 MINUTES

•ANSWER YOUR READING QUESTIONS

•BE PREPARED TO SHARE WITH THE CLASS

Group Reading’s

Savage Inequalities

Why are the inequalities in public education considered savage?

Wealthy communities offer high salaries, attract more advanced courses, newer equipment/texts = better education

What problems exist in East St. Louis? Why does Kozol discuss the environmental issues before discussing the school?

No doctor services, no regular trash collection, chemical plants spew fumes, highest rates of child asthma, exposure to raw sewage

Savage Inequalities

98% on welfare; Most distressed small city in AmericaExpendable people; 1170 of 1400 employees laid offNicest house in the community is a whore houseSewage flows into kitchen. Schools shut down because

of fumes and backed-up toiletsPaying 70 permanent subs at $10,000 a year in order

to save moneyEast St. Louis as the worst possible place to have a

child brought up. Sports and music as the only way to succeed; yet football field has no goalposts.

High pregnancy ratesKids unsupervised in study hallMLK Junior High is the name of the school---like a

terrible joke on history

The other side of the tracks…

New York school resembles a New England prep schoolAuditorium recently restored with $400,000 raised by parentsBeautiful student lounges; per pupil funding about $12,000Kozol conducted a discussion about equality and race with

these students Students admitted that fiscal inequalities do matter very much Argued that poor children would probably still fail with educational

opportunities because of other problems Questions of unfairness felt more like a geometrical problem than a matter

of humanity or conscience On more equal funding—”there’s no point in coming to a place like this,

where schools are good, and then your taxes go back to the place where you began”

Kozol-”Do you mean that now that you are not in hell, you have no feeling for the people that you left behind?”

Thorns Among Roses

How do boys get shortchanged in early education?Sociologists have spent a lot of time studying how girls get

shortchanged in educationThis article focuses on boys and their suffering in early edBoys on average are developmentally disadvantaged in

early school environment—mature more slowly than girls; slower to develop impulse control

School is a feminine environment; Women teachers and authority figures; class is supposed to be quiet

Everything they love to do is outlawedMany boys who are turned off to school at a young age

never re-find the motivation to become successful learnersBy 3rd grade, a child has established a pattern of learning

that shapes the course of his or her entire school career

Thorns/Roses

A boy’s experience at school is as a thorn among roses; he is a different , lesser, and sometimes frowned-upon presence, and he knows it In classroom alongside girls who are typically more organized,

cooperative and accomplished school learners, boy qualities (high activity, impulsivity and physicality) quickly turn from assets to liabilities

Many teachers identify the ordinary boy pattern of activity and behaviors as something that must be overcome for a boy to succeed in school

Girls name things faster—boys more likely to be labeled as disabled

Medical reports say same thing—trouble with reading in 1st grade, starts to hate school, self-esteem goes to hell; by the time he’s a teen, he’s pissed off or taking drugs

Thorns/Roses

On the one hand, boys are expected to do things they’re developmentally not ready to do, and to be tough little men when they’re really just little boys who need affection On the other hand, when they behave in cruel and thoughtless ways we

say ‘ oh, boys will be boys’ We let them off the hook over issues of respect and consideration of

othersIf boys are excused from reasonable childhood expectations

because he is a man in the making, then lessons of empathy and accountability are replaced by a creed of entitlement and responsibility

Plato said that boys, of all wild beasts, were the most difficult to manage. This view is popular today. Trouble is that if teachers use this assumption and view a boys energy and activity as wild and threatening, then we feel justified in responding with harsh action

Groups and Social Structures

How is power distributed among friendship groups of young children?

Students feelings about themselves are tied to their involvement in or outside of the cliques organizing the social landscape

Cliques are exclusive in nature, dominated by leadersVibrant component of the preadolescent experienceLevels of leaders, followers and wannabesInvitation to a popular clique represents an irresistible

offer; could get anyone they wanted When courted by a higher-up, they could easily drop their less

popular friends despite strong relationships with themLeaders strive to break up friendships in order to

increase their own loyalty and popularity

Cliques

Whole experience is characterized by destruction of relationships

Borderline people fawn on the cliques and try to gain inclusion

Second-tier members follow leader in fear and parrot actions Part of membership work involved a regular awareness of leader’s

fads and fashionsPicking on people within a clique’s confines is another way

leaders exert dominanceOutsiders never stand up because of fear; insiders never

stand up because they don’t want to be expelled from the group

People that are expelled from the group find great difficulty in developing relationships with others, in and out of school

Cheating Among College Students

How do we explain cheating in colleges?Justifications are made by the cheaters—deviant act is

seen as valid, despite the legal system/code of ethics in colleges

College students use a variety of neutralization techniques

Pressure to get good grades, parental pressures, competition to gain admission to professional schools

Excessive workloads and inability to keep up with assignments

Pointless assignments, lack of respect for individual professors, unfair tests

Helping a friend; peer pressure

Justifications for Cheating

Denial of Responsibility: act was due to forces outside of the individual and beyond his control. Everyone else is cheating, I don’t want to be affected by the curve.

Denial of Injury: act doesn’t hurt anyone despite fact that it runs contrary to law—some assignments are so trivial it doesn’t matter if you’ve cheated

Denial of Victim: cheating viewed as a form of rightful retaliation or punishment (not used much in this survey though)

Appealing to higher loyalties: balancing desire to help friend against institution’s rules on cheating. 26% of students who helped someone else cheat on an exam said they had never cheated themselves; adding support to the argument that peer pressure to help friends is quite strong

Out of a l l the art ic les discussed, which one are you most interested in?

Why?

As a sociologist , what research would you l ike to conduct in order to further

the study?

What sociological questions do you have about the material?

Reflections

School Killing’s

Research a school shooting

Some people have said that these school tragedy’s represent that society is in decline. Think about this as you conduct research.

Construct a brief power point presentation to show to the class (present general data, pictures, captivate our attention; respond to the above statement and reflection question below)

For your conclusion, answer the following questions: What can be done to reduce acts of violence that have occurred at schools?

School Security

Call for greater school securityTurning the school into a prisonWhat should a school look like?How should a classroom feel?

USING YOUR NOTES AND CHAPTER 16 REVAMP THE EDUCATION SYSTEM ON

THE NATIONAL OR STATE LEVEL

CONSTRUCT A FAKE WIKIPEDIA SITE

KEEP IN MIND THE CONTROVERSIES/PROBLEMS

SURROUNDING EDUCATION THAT WE HAVE DISCUSSED. HOW WOULD YOU

GO ABOUT SOLVING THOSE PROBLEMS?

What would you do?

Our leader’s views…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQ5kqTcXfTkDo you think Obama’s assertions are correct?What problems does Obama see in our education

system?

Opportunity is stunted by schools—need to close the gapStudents need to come prepared to learn—lack of

cultural capitalUniversal child care—help parents who are unfitIncentives to teachersSoaring cost of higher educationChildren need a chance---preserve the American Dream

School Segregation

Despite Brown v. Board, racial segregation remains a fact of life in education Separate but equal was found unconstitutional

because they are inherently unequalEfforts to bring about desegregation, or

integration, has failed Urban schools –students of color constitute

vast majority of student bodyPrivate urban schools or upscale public

schools –middle-class or upper-middle-class white students constitute vast majority of student body

Why is it a problem?

Research shows that such schools have serious negative consequences for minority students

Schools tend to reinforce rather than eliminate the disadvantages of race and class during the educational experience

Info on Brown

even if segregated black and white schools were of equal quality in facilities and teachers, segregation itself --harmful to black students and unconstitutional

significant psychological and social disadvantage

This aspect was vital because the question was not whether the schools were "equal", which under Plessy they nominally should have been, but whether the doctrine of separate was constitutional. The justices answered with a strong "no”.

Read and Reflect

“Segregation of white and colored children in public schools has a detrimental effect upon the colored children. The impact is greater when it has the sanction of the law, for the policy of separating the races is usually interpreted as denoting the inferiority of the negro group. A sense of inferiority affects the motivation of a child to learn. Segregation with the sanction of law, therefore, has a tendency to [retard] the educational and mental development of negro children and to deprive them of some of the benefits they would receive in a racial[ly] integrated school system...We conclude that, in the field of public education, the doctrine of "separate but equal" has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal. Therefore, we hold that the plaintiffs and others similarly situated for whom the actions have been brought are, by reason of the segregation complained of, deprived of the equal protection of the laws guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment.”

Affirmative Action

Policies or procedures intended to promote equal opportunity for people deemed to have been previously excluded from equality in education, employment and other fields based on race

Supporters say—education is key to economic and social advancement; due to centuries of oppression and inability to advance economically due to discrimination/slavery, some need AA. Diversity enriches educational experience.

Critics say –amounts to reverse discrimination- situation in which a person who is better qualified is denied enrollment as a result of another person receiving preferential treatment due to race

AA and the Supreme Court

In 1970s, most colleges developed guidelines for admissions, financial aid, scholarships that took race into account

In 2003, the Supreme Court ruled that race can be a factor for universities in shaping their admissions programs

“The Court takes the Law School at its word that it would like nothing better than to find a race-neutral admissions formula and will terminate its use of racial preferences as soon as practicable. The Court expects that 25 years from now, the use of racial preferences will no longer be necessary to further the interest approved today."

NPR and Affirmative Action

Read the article

For each excerpt from the speakers, reflect on why you agree or disagree with their statements

Be prepared for a class debate

The Future of Education

How will education in America accommodate the increasing diversity of the US population?

“For this education is not bent on assimilation, to the melting of different culture and languages into some common American pot, or to merely readying today’s children for tomorrow’s workforce. In contrast, the education that must engage us today and in the future is how to form common space and common speech and common commitment while respecting and preserving our differences in heritage, race, language, culture, gender, sexual orientation, spiritual values, and political ideologies. It is a new challenge for America.”

The Soaring Cost of a College Education

Access to colleges is determined not only by prior academic record but also by ability to pay

Increases in tuition are higher than the overall rate of inflation

Total number of low-income students has dropped as a result of declining scholarship funds and also because many students must work full time to pay for their education Reproducing existing class system?

Although higher ed may be source of upward mobility for talented young people from poor families, the US system is sufficiently stratified that it reproduces existing class structure