Unit: Education
Aim: How can we identify both the latent and manifest
functions of education in the United States?
Do Now: Describe some aspects of
education that you enjoy, and some
that you do not - why?
What do you see the purpose of
mandatory education to be? In
other words, why are American
students forced into schools until
at least the age of 16 (with some
exceptions)?
Sociological Perspectives on Education
1. Functionalists – What purpose does formal school have for
society?
2. Conflict Theorists: schools reproduce the social inequalities
of a society
3. Interactionists: study education on a micro-level, how
teacher/student interaction shapes how students perform in
school
Manifest vs. Latent (hidden) Functions
Manifest Functions include:
1.
Transmission of content knowledge
and academic skills
Latent functions (sometimes called the
1.
2.
3.
‘hidden curriculum”) include:
transmission of dominant cultural
values
Socialization and social integration
of students into larger society
Replacing family functions
What values are being taught here?
Why would a school want to instill values such
as this in students?
What values are being taught here?
Why would a school want to instill these values in
students?
Changing cultural values?
The Pledge has been modified four times since its
composition, with the most recent change adding
the words "under God" in 1954.
What values are being taught here?
What interest do
schools have in
enforcing a dress
code (or uniforms)
Latent Functions of
Schools
I. Obedience to Authority:
• Students are taught to obey rules without question
• Students are punished for disobeying rules
• What is your opinion of Sewanhaka’s system of
rules/punishments? Which are good/bad? Why?
II. Gender Stereotypes
• Career advice still
gendered for boys
and girls. Some
subjects, activities,
programs, or sports
are seen as “male”
or “female”
• Can you think of
examples?
III. Acceptance of Inequality
• Conflict theorist sociologists
view education as a
mechanism for maintaining
social inequalities and
reproducing the class system.
• Sets students apart by
perceived ability (A.P.,
Regents, Honors)
• Encourages the idea that
What are some differences
some people are inherently
better than others. Prepares
between ‘rich’ and ‘poor’
students for acceptance of
Schools?
societal inequalities.
Weaver Indian
School
Throughout the
first half of the
twentieth century,
Alabama schools
were segregated
into white, black,
and Indian
institutions. The
Weaver Indian
School at Mount
Vernon,
northeastern
Mobile County,
was an Indianonly school.
Pope Chapel Elementary School, Panola County, 1955.
A Tale of Two Schools
(New York Times - 2014)
http://www.nytimes.com/interact
ive/2014/05/04/magazine/taleof-two-schools.html
Unequal Funding:
• Public schools supported by
property taxes, so richer
communities have more to
spend on students/schools
• Richer areas can offer higher
salaries and recruit the best
teachers and buy better
equipment (computers, books,
etc.)
• Because of this, students from
richer areas are better equipped
for success after school than
poor students.
Credentialism and Status
Credentialism refers to the
increase in the minimum
amount of education
needed to enter a field
Conflict theories believe that
this reinforces inequalities,
as poorer people cannot
afford to earn higher degrees
Tracking: the practice
of placing students in
specific curriculum
groups based on test
scores or perceived
abilities
Academic Tracking
• Students attend academic classes only with students whose overall
academic achievement is the same as their own.
• Advanced tracks study higher mathematics, more foreign languages, and
literature.
• Students in less academic tracks acquire vocational skills such as welding
or cosmetology, or business skills, such as typing or bookkeeping.
• Students are usually not offered the opportunity to take classes deemed
more appropriate for another track, even if the student has a
demonstrated interest and ability in the subject. Has anyone had this
experience?
Tracking Discussion Questions:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
What are the benefits/disadvantages of having students of
similar abilities in the same class, as opposed to having
students of different abilities in the same class?
Does tracking accurately separate students of differing
abilities, or does it actually serve to create differences in
abilities?
Should there be a separation between A.P./Regents level
courses? Why or why not?
Should there be trade programs in school ( Cosmo, Auto,
Culinary, etc)?
Should the military recruit in schools?
The Correspondence Principle: how schools
mirror society
Capitalism
Promotes Competition
Social Inequality
Unequal funding for schools
Racial-ethnic prejudice
Minorities funneled into job
training programs which are
not academically based
Make students submissive to
authority
Promote punctuality in
attendance and homework
Need for submissive workers
Need for dependable workers
Harlem Children’s Zone part 1:
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Di0-xN6xc_w
Little Rock: 50 Years Later:
Interactionist Perspective
Describe the ways in which a teacher treats you
(either good, bad, or indifferent) impacts
how you do in school (if at all).
Study classroom interaction. They study how teacher
expectations cause a self-fulfilling prophecy, producing
the very behavior that the teacher is expecting.
Two Famous Case Studies of
Interactionst Approach
Rosethal/Jacobson
(1968)
Ray Rist
(1970)
Ray Rist Experiment (1970)
• In a kindergarten classroom where both students and teacher were
African American, the teacher assigned students to tables based on
ability; the “better” students sat at a table closer to her, the “average”
students sat at the next table, and the “weakest” students sat at the
farthest table.
• Monitoring the students through the year, Rist found that the students
closer to the teacher received the most attention and performed better.
The farther from the teacher a student sat, the weaker that student
performed.
• Rist continued the study through the next several years and found that
the labels assigned to the students on the eighth day of kindergarten
followed them throughout their schooling.
Teacher
Table 1: Mrs. Caplow assigned those she considered to be ‘fast learners’
They sat closest to her in the front - came from better social classes
Table 2: ‘Average students’ sat in between tables 1 & 3
Table 3: ‘Poor Students’ - lower social classes, less expectations, sat
in the back of the room.
Rist continued the study through the next several years and found
that the labels assigned to the students on the eighth day of
kindergarten followed them throughout their schooling.
The Rosenthal/Jacobson Experiment: Teacher
Expectation
• Predicted that, when given the information that certain
students had higher IQ’s than others, elementary school
teachers may unconsciously behave in ways that facilitate and
encourage (or discourage) the students' success
• Those labeled as ‘spurters’ made more progress because
teachers expected them to, and encouraged them more