Guhin Syllabus: Sociology of Education
1
Sociology of Education
Professor Jeffrey Guhin
Days of the Week, Time, Room
Office Address
Office Hours
E-Mail
Introduction
Public schools are controversial, and in a lot of different ways. In this class, we’ll look at
those controversies by reading both empirical and theoretical work on some of public
education’s biggest questions. What should schools do? How should schools deal with
inequalities of gender, race, and class? How should schools teach about sex, morality,
citizenship, and religion? We’ll be focusing almost exclusively on public schools and
almost all of our readings will be about the United States first because those are the
dominant interests for American sociology of education and second because that
containment will help keep our semester focused.
The class has five parts: (1) a brief introduction, (2) three weeks on the history of
education in the United States, (3) seven weeks on inequality, (4) three weeks on politics
and culture, and (6) one final week to wrap everything up.
Contemporary sociology of education has a few important divisions. There are
qualitative scholars who do archival work, interviews, and ethnographies, and while
they sometimes write articles, they usually write books. And then there are quantitative
scholars who study surveys or networks, and while they sometimes write books, they
usually write articles. We’ll be dipping into both this semester, though we’ll be
emphasizing work from qualitative books mostly because it’s easier for non-specialists
to follow. There are also different phases of education: K-8, high school, college, and
adult education. We’ll be looking at each of these, though we’ll be emphasizing K-12.
Finally, most sociologists study schools primarily as a means of understanding and
explaining stratification, that is, why and how certain people end up with fewer
resources than others. Along these lines, many studies look at issues of race, gender, and
class in schools, showing how prejudice and inequality can become institutionalized,
reproducing advantages for some and disadvantages for others. That’s important work,
and it will dominate our semester. However, there are other important studies of
schools that look at how schools think about all sorts of things, including morality,
citizenship, and religion. We’ll look at these as well. We’ll also not limit ourselves
exclusively to the sociology of education: especially in our second section, we’ll be
looking at a lot of history and philosophy.
My goals this semester are to help you think critically about public schools, to read and
write sociologically, and to (I hope!) get excited and passionate about the sociology of
education. These readings are a buffet of many different conversations, questions, and
issues, and I hope you keep coming back for more!
Guhin Syllabus: Sociology of Education
2
Grades
You’ll have four components to your grade: (1) a final paper, (2) a final exam, (3)
weekly reflections, and (4) participation.
(1) Final Paper (25%): You have two options for this paper. The first option is to
write a ten to fifteen page research paper on public schools in the United States,
looking at one of themes we discussed in the class. An outline for this paper will
be due in the eighth week of classes and will be one fifth of the final paper grade.
The final paper is due the last day of class. The second option is to complete at
least ten hours of community service in an education-related activity. You will
then write an eight to ten page paper linking the readings with your experience. I
will provide more requirements for these papers later in the semester. You will
meet with me at least twice, and on both occasions we will talk about this paper.
I’m eager to work with you on your writing, though if you’re having trouble with
your paper, I’d also encourage you to go to the Writing Center.
(2) Final Exam (25%): The final exam will be a combination of short answer,
matching, and essays. It will require a basic knowledge of the arguments, ideas,
and terms we read this semester. If you do the reading, pay attention in
discussion, take good notes and, well, study, you should be fine.
(3) Weekly Reflections (25%): You are to write two to three paragraphs per week
on the readings. I would recommend about a paragraph each, and I would
suggest finishing them before class so that you come with something to discuss.
(Writing out your thoughts beforehand can be very helpful for some people.)
These reflections should be e-mailed to me each week by Friday evening at 11:59
pm. If you don’t get them in by then, you can still send them, as I’m interested in
your thoughts, but you won’t get any credit. These reflections should not just be
summaries: they should be arguments or opinions. You can relate the text to
another text, to an issue in the news, or even to your own life. These reflections
will be especially helpful if you’re doing service learning.
(4) Participation (25%): Your participation grade will be based on your role in
class discussion and visiting me twice in my office hours over the course of the
semester (each visit is one fifth of the participation grade). A good participant,
like a good human being, is thoughtful and considerate, neither intimidated by
her own errors nor eager to find them in others; she is eager to share her own
thoughts and loathe to suppress someone else’s. Or, more succinctly: Don’t try to
be perfect. Speak your mind. Don’t be mean. Say something smart, but don’t try to
prove you’re smart. If you’ve been talking a lot, let others talk. If you haven’t
talked, talk. Bringing cookies is good; not sharing cookies is bad. Etc.
Guhin Syllabus: Sociology of Education
3
Plagiarism
Plagiarism makes me very sad. I deal with it as harshly as possible. Be warned. If you
think you might be plagiarizing, ask me, or go to the Writing Center and ask them.
Service Learning
As mentioned above, instead of writing a final paper, you have the option of writing a
reflection that integrates our readings with an experience of service. I would encourage
all of you to do this. We’ll talk more about the politics and ethics of community service
in class, but the most important thing to remember here is that the people you’re
working with are people, not simply a means of getting a grade or learning about society.
Of course, you all already know that, but it’s an important thing about which we all need
to be reminded. You’ll need to decide by about the second week if this is what you want
to do, and we’ll set you up with the Service Learning Office.
My Availability
Come see me. In fact, it’s required. It’s especially important for you to come see me if
you’re having any kind of problems with the class. I’m eager to work with you for this
class to be as meaningful and (dare I say it) fun as possible, but for that to happen, you
have to let me know how I can help. Come by my office hours anytime, and if you can’t
come, e-mail me and we’ll set something up.
Contacting Me
E-mail me anytime and I’ll get back to you in 24 hours. Don’t send me a “the world is
ending e-mail” right after that e-mail, because I really will get back to you, unless, that is,
the world has ended, in which case we both probably have better things to do on the last
day on Earth, notwithstanding the wonderful company I assure you I would be on such
an occasion.
What We’re Reading
I have tried to keep readings to around 100-120 pages a week, with about 50-60 pages
per meeting. If you find a reading really hard to understand, please come see me! The
goal here is never to stump you. Also, if you find the reading especially interesting, read
more! If you’re looking for extra reading, I’d encourage you first just to read the rest of
whatever text was selected. After that, check out more work by the author, or search
google scholar for folks who have cited that author (or look in the bibliography for
people the author cited). Via such meager beginnings has many an academic journey
begun. I’d be happy to give you more recommendations as well.
Guhin Syllabus: Sociology of Education
4
Whenever possible, these texts are available at the course website. The only exceptions
are the following books, for which I’ve assigned too much for us to photocopy the
relevant sections for educational purposes. These are all great books that are worth
having.
1. Greenawalt, Kent. 2005. Does God Belong in Public Schools? Princeton: Princeton
University Press.
2. Lareau, Annette. 2003. Unequal Childhoods: Class, Race, and Family Life. Berkeley:
University of California Press.
3. Mehta, Jal. 2013. The Allure of Order. New York: Oxford University Press.
4. Wills, Paul. 1977. Leaning to Labor: How Working Class Kids Get Working Class
Jobs. New York: Columbia University Press.
A Safe Space
We’ll be talking about all sorts of issues this year, including race, class, sexuality,
religion, the role of government, and the nature of the good life. Those are all hard
things to discuss and they’re also hard things to hear being discussed. There’s a few
ways to make sure these class discussions go well:
(1) Avoid “all” statements. Talking about all schools, all members of a particular
racial or class group, or any other kind of totalizing statement is rarely effective
or empirically tenable.
(2) Remember that we’re trying to figure this stuff out. There’s a tendency for people
with more confidence to just say what they think and less confident people to
premise their opinion with hedges like “I think” or “It seems to me that”. You can
go either way on this (I think it’s actually quite savvy to keep multiple rhetorical
strategies in your back pocket depending on the situation). The important lesson
for this class is to remember that the data we’re looking at is complicated, and all
of us (including the authors, and the professor) are giving our best
interpretations, not perfect representation of the truth.
(3) Be brave. When I say this, I only partially mean that you should say things that
might be controversial. What I’m much more concerned about is that you say
things that might not be perfectly formed. Most of us do at least some of our
thinking through talking out an idea, and if you’re afraid how everyone else will
react to the idea, you’ll never say anything.
(4) Cultivate a spirit of generosity. Assume the best in others’ comments, and in the
readings. If you think an argument doesn’t work, that’s interesting, but even more
interesting is how it could be better on its own terms. That doesn’t mean we
shouldn’t criticize the texts or each others’ opinions. The most interesting
discussions are usually disagreements. However, let’s do our best to keep that
discussion from becoming totalizing, ad-hominen, or exclusively critical.
(5) The best conversations are scaffolds going up. Find what you agree with in a
comment or reading, and use that as leverage for a criticism. We’re here to help
each other learn, not to tear each other down.
(6) Have fun! I’m really thrilled to be doing this class with all of you. It’s going to be a
great semester.
Guhin Syllabus: Sociology of Education
5
The Schedule
Section One: Introduction
Week One: Why Are There Schools?
Day One: Introduction, Go Over The Syllabus, Get to Know Each Other.
Day Two: Tyack, David and Larry Cuban. Tinkering Towards Utopia. pp. 1-39.
Section Two: Historical Background
Week Two: The Origins of American Public Education
Day One: Katz, Michael B. Class, Bureaucracy, and Schools. pp. 3-55.
Day Two: Tyack, David B. The One Best System: A History of American Urban Education.
pp. 78-125.
Week Three: The Progressive Legacy
Day One: Ravitch, Diane. Left Back. pp. 19-87.
Day Two: Mehta, Jal. The Allure of Order. pp. 1-63
Week Four: The Problem of Accountability
Day One: Reese, William J. Testing Wars in the Public Schools: A Forgotten Legacy. pp.
188-233.
Day Two: Mehta, Jal. The Allure of Order. pp. 248-293.
Section Three: Education and Inequality
Week Five: Explaining Inequality
Day One: Bernstein, Basil. “Elaborated and restricted codes: their social origins and
some consequences.”
Day Two: Bourdieu, Pierre and Jean-Claude Passeron. Reproduction in Education, Society,
and Culture. pp. 1-68.
Guhin Syllabus: Sociology of Education
6
Week Six: Sex Education
Day One: Pertzela, Natalia P. Classroom Wars: Language, Sex, and the Making of Modern
Political Culture. pp. 158-201.
Day Two: Fields, Jessica. Risky Lessons: Sex Education and Social Inequality. pp. 1-67.
Week Seven: Sexual Stratification
Day One: Pascoe, C.J. Dude You’re a Fag: Masculinity and Sexuality in High School. pp. 2583.
Day Two: Armstrong, Elizabeth A. and Laura T. Hamilton. Paying for the Party: How
Colleges Maintain Inequality. pp. 50-116.
Week Eight: Unequal Childhoods
Day One: Lareau, Annette. Unequal Childhoods: Class, Race, and Family Life. pp. 1-32.
Day Two: Lareau, Annette. Unequal Childhoods: Class, Race, and Family Life. pp. 33-104.
Week Nine: Racial Inequality
Day One: Carter, Prudence L. Keepin’ It Real: School Success Beyond Black and White. pp.
19-76.
Day Two: Lewis-McCoy, R. L’Heurex. Inequality in the Promised Land: Race, Resources,
and Suburban Schooling. pp. 1-18, 45-94.
Week Ten: Class Inequality
Day One: Willis, Paul. Leaning to Labor: How Working Class Kids Get Working Class Jobs.
pp. 1-50.
Day Two: Willis, Paul. Leaning to Labor: How Working Class Kids Get Working Class Jobs.
pp. 52-116.
Week Eleven: The Problem With Discipline
Day One: Nolan, Kathleen. Police in the Hallways: Discipline in an Urban High School. pp.
19-72.
Day Two: Ferguson, Ann Arnett. Bad Boys: Public Schools in the Making of Black
Masculinity. pp. 49-99.
Guhin Syllabus: Sociology of Education
Section Four: Politics and Culture in Schools
Week Twelve: Schools and Morality
Day One: Seider, Scott. Character Compass: How Powerful School Culture Can Point
Students Toward Success. pp. 1-41.
Day Two: Hunter, James Davison. The Death of Character: Moral Education in an Age
Without Good or Evil. pp. 151-201
Week Thirteen: Schools and Religion
Day One: Greeawalt, Kent. Does God Belong in Public Schools? pp. 1-57.
Day Two: Greeawalt, Kent. Does God Belong in Public Schools? pp. 58-125.
Section Five: Conclusion
Week Fourteen: What Have We Learned about Schools?
Day One: Payne, Charles M. So Much Reform, So Little Change: The Persistence of Failure
in Urban Schools. pp. 1- 48.
Day Two: Review for the Final and Party.
7