Chapter 16: Education

Table of Contents

1. An Overview Of Education
2. Education In Historical-Global Perspective
3. Sociological Perspectives On Education
4. Current Issues In Education In Canada
5. Education In The Future

I. An Overview Of Education

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

II. Education In Historical-Global Perspective

1. Education serves an important purpose in all societies. People must acquire the basic knowledge and skills they need to survive. Education is also the means by which the culture of a society is maintained and perpetuated. This occurs through 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.
   
   
2. Informal Education in Preliterate Societies
   1. Preliterate societies have no written language and are characterized by basic technology and a simple division of labour. People in these societies acquire knowledge through informal education-learning that occurs in a spontaneous, unplanned way, usually through storytelling or ritual ceremonies.
      
      
3. Formal Education in Preindustrial and Industrial Societies
   1. Earliest formal education probably occurred in ancient Greece and Rome, where philosophers such as Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle taught elite males to become thinkers and orators.
      
      
   2. Between the fall of the Roman Empire and the beginning of the Middle Ages, only the sons of wealthy lords received formal education; other children were trained through apprenticeships in merchant and crafts guilds.
      
      
   3. During the Middle Ages, the first colleges and universities were developed under the auspices of the church, and the concept of human depravity was introduced into the curriculum.

4. During the Renaissance, education shifted from a focus on human depravity to the importance of developing well-rounded and liberally educated people. Mass education refers to providing free, public schooling for wide segments of a nation's population.
   
   
5. With the rapid growth of industrial capitalism during the Industrial Revolution, it became necessary for workers to acquire basic skills in reading, writing, and arithmetic.
   
   
4. Contemporary Education in Other Nations
   1. Education in Japan: Like other countries, Japan did not make public education mandatory for children until the country underwent industrialization. In hopes of catching up with the West, officials created an education system that was viewed as a form of economic and national development and as a means of identifying talent for a new technological elite.

2. Education in Bosnia: With recent social unrest, the principal ethnic groups in Bosnia have taken control of over its children are educated and how cultural ideas are presented to them.

III. Sociological Perspectives On Education

1. Functionalists view education as one of the most important components of society.
   1. Education serves five major manifest functions-open, stated, and intended goals or consequences of activities within an organization or institution:
      1. Socialization-students learn the student role, specific academic subjects, and political socialization.
         
         
      2. Transmission of culture-cultural norms and values are transmitted to each new generation and recent immigrants.
         
         
      3. Social control-schools serve as control agents by teaching values such as respect and obedience.
         
         
      4. Social placement-schools identify the most qualified people to fill available positions in society and channel them into programs based on ability and achievement.
         
         
      5. Change and innovation-schools introduce new programs to meet societal needs; college faculty members are encouraged to engage in research.
         
         
   2. Education has at least three latent functions-hidden, unstated, and sometimes unintended consequences of activities within an organization or institution:
      1. Restricting some activities-mandatory education laws keep children off the street and out of the job market.
         
         
      2. Matchmaking and production of social networks-young people often meet future marriage partners and develop social networks with people similar to themselves.

3. Creation of a generation gap-if students embrace newly-acquired information that contradicts beliefs held by their parents or religion, a generation gap may ensue.
   
   
2. According to conflict theorists, schools perpetuate class, racial-ethnic, and gender inequalities as some groups seek to maintain their privileged position at the expense of others.
   1. Reproduction of class: education is a vehicle for reproducing existing class relationships.
      1. According to Pierre Bourdieu, children have less chance of academic success when they lack cultural capital-social assets that include values, beliefs, attitudes, and competencies in language and culture.
         
         
      2. Children from middle- and upper-income families are endowed with more cultural capital than children from working-class and poverty-level families.
         
         
      3. Class reproduction also occurs through standardized tests, ability grouping, and tracking of students.
         1. Tests often measure students' cultural capital rather than their natural intelligence or aptitude.
            
            
         2. Ability grouping and tracking-the assignment of students to specific courses and educational programs based on their test scores, previous grades, or both-affect students' achievements and career choices.
            
            
   2. The hidden curriculum is the transmission of cultural values and attitudes, such as conformity and obedience to authority, through implied demands found in rules, routines, and regulations of schools.
      1. Social class and the hidden curriculum: Although students from all classes are subjected to the hidden curriculum, working-class and poverty-level students may be affected the most adversely because they become aware that they will be expected to take orders from others, arrive at work on time, follow bureaucratic rules, and experience high levels of boredom without complaining.
         1. As a result, students may be disqualified from higher education and the credentials needed in a society that emphasizes credentialism-a process of social selection in which class advantage and social status are linked to the possession of academic qualification.

2. Credentialism is closely related to meritocracy, a social system in which status is assumed to be acquired through individual ability and effort.
   
   
2. Gender bias and the hidden curriculum: According to conflict theorists, gender bias is embedded in both the formal and the hidden curricula of schools.
   1. Through reading materials, classroom activities, and treatment from teachers and peers, female students learn they are less important than male students.
      
      
   2. Differential treatment undermines females' self-esteem and discourages them from taking certain courses, such as math and science, that usually are dominated by male teachers and students.
      
      
   3. Teachers tend to give girls less attention while encouraging boys to be problem solvers and asking them complicated questions.

3. Social Class in Higher Education
   1. Access to colleges and universities is determined not only by a person's prior academic record but also by the ability to pay.
      
      
   2. Thus the ability to pay for a university education reproduces the class system.
      
      
3. Interactionist Perspective on Education
   1. Education and the Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
      1. For some students, schooling may become a self-fulfilling prophecy-an unsubstantiated belief or prediction that results in behaviour which makes the originally false belief come true.

2. For example, if a teacher (as a result of stereotypes based on the relationship between IQ and race) believes that some students from visible minorities are less capable of learning, that teacher (sometimes without even realizing it) may treat them as if they were incapable of learning.
   
   
2. Education and Labelling
   1. IQ testing has resulted in labelling of students.
      
      
   2. Labels placed on students by educators may indeed become a self-fulfilling prophecy if students become convinced that they are less intelligent and thus less capable than others.
      
      
   3. A self-fulfilling prophecy also can result from labelling students as gifted. When some students are labelled as better than others, they may achieve at a higher level because of the label, or they may face discrimination from others (e.g., Asian Canadians as superintelligent).

4. Some analysts suggest that girls receive subtle cues from adults that lead them to attribute success to effort while boys learn to attribute success to their intelligence and ability. Conversely, girls attribute failure to lack of ability while boys attribute failure to lack of effort.

IV. Current Issues In Education In Canada

1. Inequality in Public Schools versus Private Schools
   1. There is a perceived conflict between public and private schools for students and financial resources; however, far more students and their parents are dependent on public schools. Private schools are tend to be reserved for students from high-income families and for a few lower income students with scholarships.
      
      
   2. Parents whose children attend private schools believe that more emphasis is placed on academics and higher moral and ethical standards even though there is little to substantiate the claim that private schools are better for students than public schools.
      
      
2. Dropping Out
   1. The overall dropout rate has decreased in recent years. Still, about 15 percent of people under the age of 24 leave school without earning a high school degree. The dropout rate varies by ethnic group and region.
      
      
   2. There are multiple reasons why students drop out.
      1. According to Gilbert and Orok, male school leavers identified a preference for work, boredom, financial pressures, and problems with parents.
      2. Other students view school as a waste of time.
      3. Female leavers also identified boredom and a preference to work, in addition to problems with school work and pregnancy.

3. Despite high hopes, dropouts face disappointment as most jobs require at least a high school degree.
   
   
3. Declining Academic Standards and Functional Illiteracy
   1. Across Canada, parents and students are concerned that the public education system is doing a poor job, and in recent international tests Canadian students did not do as well as students in other industrialized countries.
      
      
   2. Much of the blame for the performance of the education system has been placed on reforms that emphasized child-centred education-a system of learning that encourages children to progress at their own rate. Critics of this approach also point to the rising rate of functional illiteracy-the inability to read or write at a skill level needed to carry out everyday tasks-in Canada, especially among youth.
      
      
4. Gender Bias in Schools
   1. The educational opportunities for women in Canada are not the same as for men. Studies show that this gender bias pervades the overall academic environment.
      
      
   2. Sociologists conclude that more research is needed on how gender bias affects both female and male students and that more forums are needed in schools to allow people to discuss how education contributes to sexism and a limited view of masculinity and femininity that directly affects individuals and their academic accomplishments.
      
      
5. Equalizing Opportunities for Students with Disabilities
   1. Until recently, children with physical or mental disabilities were segregated in public schools or sent away to specialized schools. Many schools have attempted to mainstream children with disabilities by inclusion programs.
      
      
   2. Although much remains to be done, recent measures to enhance education for children with disabilities has increased the inclusion of many young people who were formally excluded or marginalized in the education system.
      
      
6. The Soaring Cost of Postsecondary Education
   1. Postsecondary education has been described as a dividing line of the modern labour market-employers want people with a postsecondary degree. The rising cost of education, though, has made access a problem.
      
      
   2. Students who cannot afford a university education often turn to community colleges. However, the rate of enrolment in community colleges is also declining due to rising fees.

3. Despite rising fees, some analysts still see a university education as a bargain. However, others argue that higher fees reproduced the existing class system in Canada.

V. Education In The Future

1. Education will remain an important social institution as we enter the twenty-first century. Also remaining, however, will be the controversies over what should be taught and how to raise levels of academic achievement.

2. Increasingly information technologies are being accepted as an integral part of education.
   
   
3. The further challenge facing the education system is to facilitate learning in an increasingly pluralistic society and to make education more accessible at all levels of education, especially to those with disabilities and those from disadvantaged backgrounds.

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