Chapter 16

Education

POLITICAL INSTITUTION

I. Principle of Representative Government

A. campaign funding

B. interest group influence

C. pervasive presence of lawyers)

II. Voting (Amendment 26)

A. rising voter apathy

B. differential access

1) homeless (require proof of residency)

2) primary (requires declaring political affiliation)

III. Court System (6th, 7th & 8th Ammendments)

A. speedy trials

B. justice is blind principle? (affordability for legal representation)

II. ECONOMIC INSTITUTION

A. Principle of Life, Liberty & Pursuit of “Personal” Happiness

1) rising taxes and growing complexity, therein

2) failing social security/medicare programs (i.e., forced-choice participation)

B. Principle of Free-Enterprise

1) increasing role of government in

directing private business activity (i.e. firing of GM boss, penalizing ad hoc AIG bonus recipients)

2) government subsuming/subsidizing more services/businesses

that were once private endeavors (i.e., agriculture, automotive, banking, MLB AND NFL)

3) government fostering unfettered legalistic environ

(i.e., increases in medical malpractice lawsuits)

Chapter Outline

• An Overview of Education

• Education in Historical-Global Perspective

• Sociological Perspectives on Education

• Inequality Among Elementary and Secondary Schools

Chapter Outline

• Problems Within Elementary and Secondary Schools

• School Safety and School Violence

• Opportunities and Challenges in Colleges and Universities

• Future Issues and Trends in Education

Sharpening Your Focus

• How do educational goals differ in various nations?

• What are the key assumptions of functionalist, conflict, and symbolic interactionist perspectives on education?

• What major problems are being faced by U.S. schools today?

• How are the issues in higher education linked to the problems of the larger society?

An Overview Of Education

• Education is the social institution responsible for the systematic transmission of knowledge, skills, and cultural values within a formally organized structure.

• As a social institution, education imparts values, beliefs, and knowledge considered essential to the social reproduction of individual personalities and entire cultures.

Informal Education in Preliterate Societies

• Preliterate societies existed before the invention of reading and writing.

• They have no written language, very basic technology and a simple division of labor.

• People in these societies acquire knowledge and skills through informal education—learning that occurs in a spontaneous, unplanned way.

Postmodernist Perspectives

• Postmodern theories often highlight difference and irregularity in society.

• From this perspective, education is a social institution characterized by its permeability.

• Educators attempt to become substitute parents and promulgators of self esteem; students and their parents become consumers of education

Sociological Perspectives on Education

• Functionalists suggest education helps maintain society and provides opportunity for upward social mobility.

• Conflict theorists argue that education perpetuates social inequality.

• Symbolic interactionists focus on classroom dynamics and the effect of self-concept on grades and aspirations.

Manifest Functions of Education

• Socialization

• Transmission of culture

• Social control

• Social placement

• Change and innovation

Latent Functions of Education

• Restricting some activities.

• Matchmaking and production of social networks.

• Creating a generation gap.

Cultural Transmission

• The process by which children and recent immigrants become acquainted with the dominant cultural beliefs, values, norms, and accumulated knowledge of a society.

Values and Education

• What values are

these schoolchildren

being taught?

• Is there a consensus

about what today’s

schools should

teach?

• Why or why not?

"I have indeed two great measures at heart, without which no republic can maintain itself in strength: 1. That of general education, to enable every man to judge for himself what will secure or endanger his freedom. 2. To divide every county into hundreds, of such size that all the children of each will be within reach of a central school in it." --Thomas Jefferson to John Tyler, 1810. ME 12:393

"Of all the views of this law [for public education], none is more important, none more legitimate, than that of rendering the people the safe as they are the ultimate guardians of their own liberty." --Thomas Jefferson: Notes on Virginia Q.XIV, 1782. ME 2:206

"Education not being a branch of municipal government, but, like

the other arts and sciences, an accident [i.e., attribute] only, I did not

place it with election as a fundamental member in the structure of

government." --Thomas Jefferson to John Taylor, 1816.

"The reading in the first stage, where [the people] will receive their whole education, is proposed.. to be chiefly historical. History by apprising them of the past will enable them to judge of the future; it will avail them of the experience of other times and other nations; it will qualify them as judges of the actions and designs of men; it will enable them to know ambition under every disguise it may assume; and knowing it, to defeat its views." --Thomas Jefferson: Notes on Virginia Q.XIV, 1782. ME 2:106 "Such a degree of learning [should be] given to every member of the society as will enable him to read, to judge and to vote understandingly on what is passing." --Thomas Jefferson to Littleton Waller Tazewell, 1805.

How Much Do You Know About U.S. Education?

True or False

• Equality of opportunity is a vital belief in

the U.S. educational system.

True

• Despite the fact that equality of educational opportunity has not been achieved, many people still subscribe to the belief that this country’s educational system provides equality of opportunity to the masses, who can make of it what they will.

Publicly Supported Education

Jefferson developed an elaborate plan for making

education available to every citizen, and for

providing a complete education through university

for talented youths who were unable to afford it. He

considered his most important accomplishment, after

Author of the Declaration of Independence and the

Statute for Religious Freedom, to have been the

Father of the University of Virginia.

Thomas Jefferson on Politics & Governmenthttp://etext.lib.virginia.edu/jefferson/quotations/jeff1370.htm

"Promote in every order of men the degree of instruction

proportioned to their condition and to their views in life." --

Thomas Jefferson to Joseph Cabell, 1820. ME 15:292

Unequal School Funding

• “Rich” schools and “poor” schools are

identifiable by their buildings and equipment.

• What are the long-term social consequences of

unequal funding for schools?

Per-Capita Public Elementary and Secondary Spending by State

Compulsory Schooling

"Is it a right or a duty in society to take care of their infant members in opposition to the will of the parent? How far does this right and duty extend? --to guard the life of the infant, his property, his instruction, his morals? The Roman father was supreme in all these: we draw a line, but where? --public sentiment does not seem to have traced it precisely... It is better to tolerate the rare instance of a parent refusing to let his child be educated, than to shock the common feelings and ideas by the forcible asportation and education of the infant against the will of the father... What is proposed... is to remove the objection of expense, by offering education gratis, and to strengthen parental excitement by the disfranchisement of his child while uneducated. Society has certainly a right to disavow him whom they offer, and are permitted to qualify for the duties of a citizen. If we do not force instruction, let us at least strengthen the motives to receive it when offered." --Thomas Jefferson: Note to Elementary School Act, 1817. ME 17:423

Three Main Divisions

"I... [proposed] three distinct grades of education, reaching all classes. 1. Elementary schools for all children generally, rich and poor. 2. Colleges for a middle degree of instruction, calculated for the common purposes of life and such as should be desirable for all who were in easy circumstances (I.E., VOCATIONAL INSTRUCTION) . And 3d. an ultimate grade for teaching the sciences generally and in their highest degree... The expenses of [the elementary] schools should be borne by the inhabitants of the county, every one in proportion to his general tax-rate. This would throw on wealth the education of the poor." --Thomas Jefferson: Autobiography, 1821. ME 1:70

A Bill for Educating the Masses"The general objects [of a bill to diffuse knowledge more generally through the mass of the people] are to provide an education adapted to the years, to the capacity, and the condition of every one, and directed to their freedom and happiness." --Thomas Jefferson: Notes on Virginia Q.XIV, 1782. ME 2:204

"A bill for the more general diffusion of learning... proposed to divide every county into wards of five or six miles square;... to establish in each ward a free school for reading, writing and common arithmetic;

to provide for the annual selection of the best subjects from these schools, who might receive at the public expense a higher degree of education at a district school; and from these district schools to select a certain number of the most promising subjects, to be completed at an University where all the useful sciences should be taught. Worth and genius would thus have been sought out from every condition of life, and completely prepared by education for defeating the competition of wealth and birth for public trusts." --Thomas Jefferson to John Adams, 1813. ME 13:399

Education in Japan

• Schools in Japan emphasize conformity at an

early age. Many Japanese believe high-quality

education is crucial to economic success.

Tracking

• Tracking is the practice of assigning students to specific groups based on their test scores, previous grades, or other criteria.

• Conflict theorists believe tracking affects educational performance and overall academic accomplishments.

•WALL STREET JOURNAL; FEBRUARY 26, 2009

Experts Wonder How Education Goals Will Be Met

•

By ROBERT TOMSHO, JOHN HECHINGER and LAURA MECKLER

President Barack Obama laid out new national goals Tuesday aimed

at boosting high school and college graduation rates, but left

education experts wondering on how he intends to reach his targets,

and how much he is prepared to spend on them.

In his address to Congress, the president signaled a shift in federal

education policy toward improving the skills of adults and work-force

entrants, following an intense focus on boosting younger students'

reading and mathematics attainment under the No Child Left Behind

law, the centerpiece of the Bush administration's schools agenda.

Some observers had believed that education would stay on the back

burner early in the Obama administration while the president

grappled with the economic crisis. But the subject made it to the top

tier of the address to Congress partly because Mr. Obama believes

he must send Americans a message about the importance of

education.

The Obama administration is likely to handle

education differently from health care and energy, the

other two domestic policy issues he singled out for

attention in his speech. Health care and energy

reforms both depend on major congressional action,

and the president called on the Congress to push

forward on both fronts. His budget, to be released

Thursday, will detail the need to act in both.

The administration may be reasoning that education

doesn't require a major legislative push. The Obama

budget will include money for preschool and higher

education, which the president noted on Tuesday. But

it doesn't call for a major new set of reforms.

"Of the many issues, this is one where he feels the bully

pulpit needs to be used," a White House official said

Wednesday.

In his speech Tuesday night, Mr. Obama said "dropping

out of high school is no longer an option" and set a goal

of the U.S. having the highest proportion of college

graduates in the world by 2020.

anking.

While the No-Child law focused on bringing the poorest-performing

students up to a basic level of proficiency, Mr. Obama signaled that

he aims for all students to have the high-level skills they need to

make it through high school and succeed in college. "That is raising

the bar," said Jack Jennings, president of the Center on Education

Policy, a Washington-based research group that tracks NCLB

issues. "I just hope this is backed by real action and real resources."

During his presidential campaign, Mr. Obama said he would try to

boost college readiness by increasing the number of students taking

advanced-placement and college-level courses in high school and

provide grants for high-school students seeking college-level credit

at community colleges.

He also pledged to increase college-going rates by providing a

$4,000 tax credit to students who completed 100 hours of community

service. The administration also plans to use funds from the stimulus

bill to encourage states to acquire improved data-gathering systems

that provide teachers with better information about the learning

problems of individual students.

The Bush administration in its second term had begun

increasing its focus on the high-school-dropout issue, and

last year enacted a new regulation that requires all states

to use the same formula to come up with their tally. As it

stands, only three-quarters of high-school freshman will

graduate after four years, according to the Education

Department.

Jay P. Greene, head of the Department of Education

Reform at the University of Arkansas, says the graduation

rate has hovered at that level for decades, making it

difficult for Mr. Obama to achieve his goal of producing a

work force with 21st century skills.

Segregation

• Although people believe

the U.S. is racially

integrated, a look at

schools throughout the

country reveals that

many remain segregated

or have become largely

resegregated in recent

decades.

Public Vs. Private Schools

• Enrollment in U.S. elementary and secondary education is at 53 million, this is projected to increase to 55 million by 2020.

• 90% of students are educated in public schools.

• 9.5% of students are educated in low-tuition private schools, primarily Catholic schools.

• 1.5% of all students attend private schools with tuition of more than $5,000 a year.

Dropping Out

• About 11% of people between the ages of sixteen and nineteen leave school before earning a high school diploma.

• Ethnic and class differences are significant in dropout rates:

– Latinos/as - 21.1%

– African Americans - 11.7%

– Non-Hispanic whites - 6.9%

Costs of Higher Education

• Soaring costs of both

public and private

institutions of higher

education are a problem

for today’s college

students and their

parents.

• What factors contribute

to the higher costs of

obtaining a degree?

Educational Achievementof Persons 25 and Over

How Much Do You Know About U.S. Education?

True or False

• The federal government has limited control

over how funds are spent by individual

school districts because most of the

money comes from the state and local

levels.

True

• Most funding for public education comes from state and local property taxes, and similar sources of revenue.

•Wall Street Journal

•CAPITAL JOURNAL

•MARCH 17, 2009

In Education, a Chance for Change

•By GERALD F. SEIB

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner may be the Obama

cabinet member facing the biggest crisis -- the economic

one -- but Education Secretary Arne Duncan may be the one

holding the biggest opportunity.

It is this: He inherits the best chance in a generation to really

shake up an American education system that is uneven and

underperforming. And he knows it.

"I see this as an extraordinary opportunity," Mr. Duncan said

in an interview. "We have a couple of things going in our

direction that create what I call the perfect storm for reform.“

If the economy ever heals, and if

Afghanistan doesn't blow up, this

quest to change the way

Americans educate their kids may

emerge as one of the biggest

dramas of the Obama term.

Here are the elements Mr. Duncan describes:

There's virtually a national consensus -- one that includes business

leaders panting for a better-prepared work force -- that America's

ossified education system needs a big shake-up.

Moreover, a bipartisan trail toward real change was blazed by the

Bush administration (which gets too little credit for doing so).

Mr. Duncan himself is an outside-Washington character with a track

record of challenging the status quo in Chicago. He also works for a

president who is his friend and who at least appears willing to break

some china in this area.

And it may be that only a Democratic president has the credibility to

gore the ox of some traditional Democratic constituencies -- teachers'

unions and big-city education bureaucracies -- that have stood in the

way in the past.

But none of those factors is Mr. Duncan's real ace in the hole. "What's

different," he says, "is, guess what? We have a little money to play

with."

According to the Paris-based Organization for Economic

Cooperation and Development, which tracks college-going

among its 30 member countries, the U.S., at 30%, is tied for

sixth place in college graduation among those 25 to 34 years of

age, 2006 data show, behind such countries as Norway, South

Korea and the Netherlands. OECD data suggest that the U.S.

was No. 1 until around 2000, but has lost its edge as other

countries have stepped up their efforts to promote higher

education.

Kevin Carey, policy director of the Education Sector, a nonprofit

Washington, D.C., think tank, said the U.S. hasn't been slipping

but other countries have been improving. Regaining our former

top position represents "a pretty reasonable goal," he says. "It's

not moon-shot level."

In a broader OECD measure of adults 25 to 64, the U.S. stands

second, also at 30%, just behind Norway -- but with time, the

higher attainments among younger adults in other countries

could erode the U.S.

Illiteracy

• The National Literacy Act of 1991 defines literacy as “an individual’s ability to read, write, and speak English and compute and solve problems at levels of proficiency necessary to function on the job and in society, to achieve one’s goals, an to develop one’s knowledge and potential”.

Illiteracy

• The U.S. Department of Education concluded that nearly half the adult U.S. population was illiterate when it comes to tasks such as understanding a bus schedule or filling out a deposit slip.

• Other social analysts note the report didn’t consider that English is not the native language of many respondents or that some respondents were visually impaired or had physical or mental disabilities.

Functional Illiteracy

• The inability to read and/or write at the skill level necessary for carrying out everyday tasks.

• It is estimated that 56% of adult Latinas/os are

functionally illiterate in English, compared with

44% of adult African Americans and 16% of adult

(non-Latino/a) whites.

• 15 to 20% of people who graduated from high

school cannot read at the

sixth-grade level.

Trends In International Math and Science Study

Country Math Science

Singapore 605 578

Korea, Republic of 589 558

Hong Kong SAR 586 556

Chinese Taipei 585 571

Japan 570 552

Netherlands 536 536

Hungary 529 543

Russian Federation 508 514

Trends In International Math and Science Study

Country Math Science

Slovak Republic 508 517

Latvia 508 512

Australia 505 527

United States 504 527

Sweden 496 524

Israel 466 488

Jordan 424 488

Chile 387 413

South Africa 264 244

Specific Subjects

"I hope the necessity will, at length, be seen of establishing institutions here, as in Europe, where every branch of science, useful at this day, may be taught in its highest degree." --Thomas Jefferson to John Adams, 1814. ME 14:151

"What are the objects of an useful American [college] education? Classical knowledge, modern languages and chiefly French, Spanish, and Italian; Mathematics, Natural philosophy, Natural history, Civil history, and Ethics. In Natural philosophy, I mean to include Chemistry and Agriculture, and in Natural history, to include Botany, as well as the other branches of those departments." --Thomas Jefferson to J. Bannister, Jr., 1785. ME 5:186, Papers 8:636

"It would be time lost... to attend professors of ethics, metaphysics, logic, etc. The first of these may be as well acquired in the closet as from living lecturers; and supposing the two last to mean the science of mind, the simple reading of Locke, Tracy, and Stewart will give him as much in that branch as is real science." --Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Cooper, 1820. ME 15:2 65

Actually, Mr. Duncan has a lot of money to play with, and his voice

virtually trembles with excitement when he talks about it. The

economic-stimulus bill contains roughly $100 billion for education.

"It is unprecedented resources," he says. "It virtually doubles our

budget.“

Put it all together and it's just possible that the stars may align for

real "education reform," a shopworn phrase that invites as much

cynicism as excite ment.

But getting from words to real improvements will involve more than just

spending money, as Mr. Duncan well knows. Above all, it will involve coaxing,

cajoling and sometimes confronting state governments, which really have far

more to do with how education is done on the front lines than does the federal

government.

That's where the emerging experiment gets intriguing. President Barack

Obama gave a speech last week laying out his administration's plans, and it

was sweeping and ambitious. He called for merit pay for good teachers, and

he urged states and cities to lift the caps many have placed on the number of

charter schools they would allow. He explicitly endorsed a tough

standardized-testing system used in Massachusetts that is popular with

conservatives, and he called for setting up statewide data banks that track

how students are doing and, by extension, how well their teachers are

performing.

By traditional Democratic standards, those are fairly radical thoughts.

Look closely and you can see one common denominator: Almost

none are things the federal government can snap its fingers and do.

Almost all require state governments.

Here's where the money comes into play. Some may doubt the

Obama administration's belief in market forces in other areas, but Mr.

Duncan clearly believes those forces can work to his benefit in

pushing change in education. He is taking $5 billion of that stimulus

money and establishing a Race to the Top Fund that will go to states

that show they have both a record and a plan to push the kinds of

changes the Obama administration seeks.

But only a "limited number" of states will get funding, Mr. Duncan

says, and they will have to compete to win grants. "We're going to

work hard with states, but they're going to have to work with us on

reform," he says. "The federal government has never had $5 billion to

fund excellence....This isn't rhetoric. This is billions of dollars that are

at stake."

Politicians Running Education? No! No! No!Posted By Brennan on April 2, 2009 Today we have a Guest Post, by my favorite husband, the author of “Set Our Teachers FREE! A Plan To Save Public Education”:

“NO! To More Political Interference In Education”

I’ve been watching and waiting to see what direction Arne Duncan, the new Secretary of Education would take with the $100 BILLION education stimulus dollars he now has at his disposal.Tuesday, Duncan announced that he wants more mayors involved in running their local school districts - just like Mayor Daley is in charge of Chicago. Mayoral control of our schools . . . and that’s worked so well in Chicago???Holy Cow! No! No! No!Mr. Duncan, who was appointed to his Chicago post by Mayor Daley, had no real previous background in education prior to his appointment. He may have done a good job of straightening out the finances of the district, but education stayed on it’s nosedive.The dropout rates in the Chicago districts are horrendous and worsening. Parents have staged multiple protests about the qualityof education. Numerous episodes of graft and corruption have been reported.It’s not that I believe Mr. Duncan was responsible for the corruption, but balancing a budget is NOT the same thing as straightening out education.Now, with the new stimulus monies, we may get some bigger and better buildings but what about students’ learning?With Mayors running the schools, it’s too easy for emphasis to go on construction, rather than learning. There’s more money in abuilding boom. PLUS, while I don’t believe Mayors are necessarily corrupt, they are politicians who want to be re-elected, or promoted. How many owe favors? Hmmm?

Mr. Duncan says that he will feel he has “failed at his job” if more mayors are not in charge of their school districts by the time he leaves his position. WOW!!!Unless he was misquoted, and I don’t think he was, I am extremelynervous about the direction he plans to take education. How many mayors do you think are knowledgeable about improving education?

Are we to be impressed with what has happened in Chicago where, once again, Mayor Daley appointed a NON-educationally-based croney to take Duncan’s place?Straightening out education needs to be in the hands of people who UNDERSTAND education and how to HELP STUDENTS LEARN!Political interference in our schools (from the ACLU to others) has been part of the PROBLEM!Sorry, Mr. Duncan, your mayors MAY give us better-looking school buildings - and probably better football teams - to stimulate the local economy . . .

What about straightening out EDUCATION?Big beautiful science labs and school campuses may look good, but what use are they when our students are falling to the bottom of the heap in global education results?Let’s get “the horse before the cart” and start concentrating on STUDENT LEARNING - then we can afford to have some politicos interfering!C’mon, Dear Reader! What do you think?Don Kingsland, author“Set Our Teachers FREE! A Plan To Save Public Educationhttp://setourteachersfree.com/education_news/politicians-running-education-no-no-no/

School Violence

• Virginia Tech

students, faculty, and

administrators have

risen up with hope

and courage to

overcome recent

violence at their

campus and to move

forward.

Bullying, Teasing, and Sexual Harassment

• According to a recent study of 2,064 public school students in grades 8-11:

– 83% of girls and 79% of boys report having experienced harassment.

– Girls are more likely to report being negatively affected by harassment such as feeling “self conscious,” “embarrassed,” or “less confident.”

Rules

• Signs in this classroom list the rules, rewards, and consequences of behavior.

• According to conflict theorists, schools impose so students will learn to be good employees.

•APRIL 14, 2009The Safety Lessons of Columbine, Re-Examined Ten Years After the High School Shooting, Funding for Campus Security Fades, but Simpler, Low-Cost Measures Gain FavorBy STEPHANIE SIMONThe carnage at Columbine High on April 20, 1999, prompted a swift and aggressive response around the U.S.Hundreds of millions of dollars flooded into schools after two seniors stalked the halls of Columbine in trench coats, killing 12 students and a teacher before committing suicide in the school library.The money -- federal, state and local -- bought metal detectors, security cameras and elaborate emergency-response plans. It put 6,300 police officers on campuses and trained students to handle bullying and manage anger.

•APRIL 14, 2009; Wall Street JournalThe Safety Lessons of Columbine, Re-Examined Ten Years After the High School Shooting, Funding for Campus Security Fades, but Simpler, Low-Cost Measures Gain FavorBy STEPHANIE SIMONThe carnage at Columbine High on April 20, 1999, prompted a swift and aggressive response around the U.S.Hundreds of millions of dollars flooded into schools after two seniors stalked the halls of Columbine in trench coats, killing 12 students and a teacher before committing suicide in the school library.The money -- federal, state and local -- bought metal detectors, security cameras and elaborate emergency-response plans. It put 6,300 police officers on campuses and trained students to handle bullying and manage anger.

ACLU Demands Roane

County Abandon Illegal

Random Drug Testing of

Students (9/10/2008)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT:

aclutn@aclu-tn.org.

ACLU of Ohio Tells School Officials to Stop Forcing Students to Turn Over Cell Phones (11/27/2007)

MASON, OH – In a letter today to Dr. David Allen,

principal at William Mason High School, the American

Civil Liberties Union of Ohio warned school officials that

their current practice of seizing student cell phones and

reading personal text messages was poor policy and

unconstitutional. Recently, the ACLU of Ohio received

complaints from students and parents at the school

because several administrators began confiscating

phones and reading private text messages to determine if

the students attended private parties off school grounds

during the weekend.

The ACLU letter is available online at

: www.aclu-tn.org/release091008.htm

Constitutional violations are far too

common in public schools across the

country. Articles about controversial

subjects written for student newspapers are

censored. Lockers and backpacks are

searched without reasonable suspicion.

Minority students are disproportionately shunted

in lower track programs. Majoritarian religious

practices are officially sanctioned by teachers and

school administrators. Female students are

excluded from certain extracurricular activities,

and gay students are intimidated into silence.

Check out StandUp for the latest

civil liberties info for youth and

students.

WWW.ACLU.ORG/STANDUP

S T U D E N T R I G H T STeachers and administrators have a

responsibility to provide a safe environment for

the students that is conducive to learning. They

also have a responsibility to respect each

student's individual rights. Simply put, students

have rights too.

KINGSTON, TN – The American Civil Liberties

Union of Tennessee (ACLU-TN) today sent a letter

to the Roane County school district demanding a

stop to the random drug testing of student athletes which is in clear violation of state law. In addition

to being illegal, random drug testing of students is

proven to be ineffective in deterring drug use and

is opposed by leading experts in adolescent

health, including the American Academy of

Pediatrics, the National Education Association, the

Association of Addiction Professionals and the

National Association of Social Workers.

"Random drug testing is not only

patently illegal under state law, but

demonstrably ineffective and

frequently counterproductive," said

Hedy Weinberg, Executive Director of the ACLU of Tennessee.

"These unsubstantiated searches

make a mockery of the civics

lessons taught in our classrooms,

and should be roundly and readily

rejected by parents and school

officials alike."

"It is very unsettling to me as a parent that school officials

would subject our children to such embarrassing and

degrading practices by forcing them to create urine samples

in order to participate in the sports program," said Higgins,

who spoke with school board members last month to no avail. "I just hope that school officials come to their senses

and do what is right by both Tennessee law and common

decency.“

While the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that random drug

testing of students involved in extracurricular activities does

not violate the Constitution, many states, including

Tennessee, provide stronger privacy protections,

disallowing such testing schemes.

In addition to exposing schools to costly litigation, studies

have found that random drug testing is ineffective in deterring student drug use.

The first large-scale national study on student drug

testing in 2003 found no difference in rates of student

drug use between schools that have drug testing programs and those that do not. In addition, the results of

a two-year trial published last November in the Journal of

Adolescent Health concluded random drug testing

targeting student athletes did not reliably reduce past

month drug use and,

in fact, produced attitudinal changes among students that

indicate new risk factors for future substance use.

Standing In The School House DoorBy INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY | Posted Wednesday, March 04, 2009 4:20 PM PT Education: In their rush to spend, the Democratic Congress and White House are funding everything from mice to miscreants. Yet they refuse to fund the futures of underprivileged kids in the capital.

Those who believe student achievement isn't negatively affected by the teachers unions can take up their argument with University of Chicago economist Sam Peltzman. After looking at scores on a state-by-state basis, he found that increased teacher unionization is strongly linked to the fall in SAT scores.

Education is supposedly one of Obama's top three priorities. Yet he's also said he's beholden to unions. He can't focus both on improving education and repaying unions. To achieve one of those goals he has to ignore the other.

If it's education that Obama is really interested in, he has to tell Congress he won't sign any bill that would end funding of the D.C. voucher program — and then tell the teachers unions that the kids' needs take priority.

Trouble is, Democrats, despite their rhetoric, are rarely interested in saving taxpayers money. Indeed, the $789 billion stimulus bill and the $410 billion spending package now in Congress are evidence they rather like spending other people's money.They also enjoy spending campaign cash handed out by the teachers unions, which spent more than $5 million on the 2008 election cycle on Democrats, but just $263,000 on Republicans.

Teachers are not the enemy of public schooling. But teachers unions, rarely if ever found in private schools, are.

Parents — as well as the public, which has a strong interest in a well-educated nation — want teachers to be skilled professionals who put out a consistent effort. But unions don't want their members to be held accountable. They protect poor, lazy and incompetent teachers, and oppose the reforms and innovations that improve education. The unions are hostile to choice (vouchers), charter schools and merit pay for top-performing teachers.

There are union teachers, many of them, who are capable educators that put students first. There's no arguing, though, that as the influence of teachers unions has increased, the quality of public education has fallen. When membership in the teachers unions began to explode in the early 1960s, student achievement fell into a decline and has not fully recovered. Composite SAT scores, to cite one example, slipped nearly 10% from 1963 to 1981.

Is this a political payoff to the teachers unions, the groups most threatened by vouchers? How else can the Democrats justify shutting off funds to the only federal school voucher program?

For five years, the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship program has helped low-income students attend the schools of their choice rather than the poorly run, low-performing public schools in the District of Columbia. The program expires in June and will be defunded after the 2009-10 school year if the $410 billion spending package already passed by the House is approved by the Senate and signed by President Obama.It's too soon to declare the program an academic success, as it has been in effect for only a short time and no more than 1,900 students have received vouchers in any given school year.

But parents who have used the vouchers — their average income:

roughly $22,000 a year — have said they're happy with it. And

taxpayers should be, as well. Somehow the same students that the

district school system has been spending more than $24,000 a year on

each to educate can get along on vouchers of no more than $7,500

•Wall Street Journal By KEVIN FERRIS

•APRIL 10, 2009, 11:06 P.M. ET

Charter Schools Always Face a

Financial Struggle

These public schools don't get public

money for their facilities

Students at the First Philadelphia

Charter School for Literacy.

With 1.4 million students in 4,600 schools nationwide,

charters have proven themselves to be safe, academically

sound alternatives to their troubled public-school

counterparts. Substantial waiting lists at many charters

attest to the demand for more. And with a little help getting

started, charters can thrive.

Speeches from Mr. Obama may lend rhetorical support for

new charters, but financing these start-up public schools

takes money, and that depends on healthy credit markets

and willing lenders. First Philadelphia was able to renew its

charter in 2007 and, with a credit history it earned over its

first five years with an unconventional loan, it has secured

regular bank financing. The next First Philadelphia will need

similar help.

Question

• Education is an influential force for which of the following reasons?

A. To impart values

B. To influence beliefs

C. To impart essential knowledge

D. All of these choices

Answer: D

• Education is an influential force for the following reasons: to impart values, to influence beliefs and to impart essential knowledge.

Formal Education

• Learning that takes place within an academic setting which has a planned instructional process and teachers who convey specific knowledge, skills, and thinking processes to students.

• Mass education refers to providing free, public schooling for a nation’s population.

Mass Education

• Some early forms of

mass education took

place in one-room

schoolhouses, where

children in various

grades were all taught by

the same teacher.

• How do changes in the

larger society bring about

changes in education?

Question

• ______________ societies existed before the invention of reading and writing.

A. preliterate

B. uneducated

C. illiterate

D. agrarian

Answer: A

• Preliterate societies existed before the invention of reading and writing.

The Hidden Curriculum

• A study of five elementary schools in different communities found:

– Schools for working-class students emphasize procedures and rote memorization.

– Schools for middle-class students stress the processes involved in getting the right answer.

Conflict Perspective

• Education reproduces existing class relationships.

• Unequal funding is a source of inequality in education.

• Access to colleges and universities is determined not only by academic record but also by the ability to pay.

Cultural Capital

• Children who are visit museums, libraries, and musical events may gain cultural capital that other children do not possess. Why is cultural capital important?

Cultural Capital and Class Reproduction

• According to sociologist Pierre Bourdieu, students come to school with different amounts of cultural capital.

• The educational system teaches and reinforces values that sustain the elite’s position in society.

The Hidden Curriculum

• Schools for affluent students focus on activities in which students express their own ideas.

• Schools for students from elite families work to develop critical thinking skills, applying abstract principles to problem solving.

Credentialism

• A process of social selection in which class advantage and social status are linked to the possession of academic qualifications.

• Credentialism is closely related to meritocracy, a social system in which status is assumed to be acquired through individual ability and effort.

Symbolic Interactionist Perspective

• Self-Fulfilling Prophecy- students perform according to expectations of teachers.

– Girls learn to attribute success to effort.

– Boys learn to attribute success to intelligence.

Question

• _____ functions are hidden, unstated, and sometimes unintended consequences of activities within an organization or institution.

A. Manifest

B. Dormant

C. Latent

D. Covert

Answer: A

• Manifest functions are hidden, unstated, and sometimes unintended consequences of activities within an organization or institution.

Question

• According to the _____ perspective, the hidden curriculum affects working class and poverty level students more than it does students from middle and upper income families.

A. functionalist

B. conflict

C. symbolic-interactionist

D. feminist

Answer: B

• According to the conflict perspective, the hidden curriculum affects working class and poverty level students more than it does students from middle and upper income families.

Student Facilities

• Many colleges and universities now offer students a wide array of new amenities and recreational facilities, such as this 52-foot climbing wall located in the student life building at Baylor University.

Academic Rank and Tenure Status by Race/Ethnicity and Sex

Affirmative Action

• Policies to promote equal opportunity for people deemed to have been excluded from equality on the basis of race or ethnicity.

• Critics assert that this amounts to reverse discrimination, a situation in which a person who is better qualified is denied opportunity a result of a person receiving preferential treatment due to affirmative action.

Adult Education

• Obtaining a quality education is a problem across all age categories.

• Many adults are enrolled in classes that will help them learn to read, write, and speak English.

Students with Disabilities

• Computers make it

possible for students with

a disability to gain

educational

opportunities.

• Without a special reading

screen, this student with

a severe vision problem

couldn’t read, write, or

complete his homework.

Home Schooling

• Home schooling has

grown in popularity in

recent decades as

parents seek more

control over their

children’s education.

• Although some home-

school settings may

resemble a classroom,

other children learn in

more informal settings.

Quick Quiz

1. According to the cultural capital model:A. going to school a student will be taught by

teachers one's own culture.

B. children with less cultural capital coming into school will have fewer opportunities for succeeding.

C. children with less cultural capital coming into school will catch up with the rest of the nation.

D. going to school provides one with the necessities of one's culture.

Answer: B

• According to the cultural capital model children with less cultural capital coming into school will have fewer opportunities for succeeding.

2. The assignment of students to specific courses and educational programs based on their test scores, previous grades, or both is called:

A. positioning

B. assessment

C. placement

D. tracking

Answer: D

• The assignment of students to specific courses and educational programs based on their test scores, previous grades, or both is called tracking

3. Learning that occurs in a spontaneous and unplanned way is:

A. vicarious learning

B. latent learning

C. informal education

D. hidden curriculum

Answer: C

• Learning that occurs in a spontaneous and unplanned way is informal education.