EDUCATION

Education and Schooling

• Education – social institution that deals with transmission of knowledge.

• Schooling -- – is the more organized form of education that takes place in schools.

Education in a global Perspective

JAPAN• Education reflects group centered ethic.• College admissions are based on test scores

regardless of social class.• Teachers are paid highly and have high prestige.

Top 10% of the country’s wage earners.• Schooling reflects personal ability.• In early grades, children are taught cultural values

of tradition and obligation to family.

INDIA

• Widespread child labor

• Half of the population is illiterate

• Patriarch is significant – boys are favored.

• Overcrowded schools

• Education is used for elite formation

BRITAIN• Class differences determine the quality of

education.• Schools reproduce class differences.

U.S.A.• Schooling shaped by democratic principles.• Highest number of people with degrees in the

world.• Schools try to promote equality (equal

opportunity)• Stresses the value of practical learning

THEORETICAL ANALYSIS OF SCHOOLING

STUCTURAL FUNCTIONALISM• Education enhances the operation and stability

of society.

Manifest Functionsa) Socializationb) Cultural innovation through research.c) Social intergrationd) Social placement

Latent Functions

a) Child care

b) Social networks

c) Keep youths out of trouble.

d) Regulates job availability

SOCIAL CONFLICT ANALYSIS• Schools routinely provide learning according to

students social backgrounds, thus perpetuating social inequality – gender, occupation, class etc.

• Social control – schools stress social compliance through hidden curriculum—subtle presentation of political or cultural ideas in the classroom.

• Standardized testing – biased in favor of affluent white students.

• Tracking – assignment of students to different types of educational programs.

• Inequality among schools.

• Public vs. private schools.

• Suburban vs. central city schools.

• Credentialism – Evaluating a person on the basis of educational degrees.

Group work

• Discuss the problems facing schools today.

• How can you fix them?