SOCIAL STRUCTURE
AND AMERICAN
EDUCATION
EAF228
Dr. Mohamed Nur-Awaleh
Equality of Opportunity: Common School Model
Spring, American Education (Figure 4.1)
HighIncome
Jobs
High-Income
Families
Middle-Income
Families
After Graduation
Children from all
All Students Have
Social Classes
an Equal
Receive a
Opportunity to
Common
Compete in the
Education
Labor Market
Low-Income
Families
Social Starting
Line
Common School
MiddleIncome
Jobs
LowIncome
Jobs
Equality of Opportunity: Sorting Machine Model
Spring, American Education (Figure 4.2)
High-Income
Families
Students Sorted by
Teachers, Counselors,
Standardized Tests
into Tracks and
Ability Groups
Middle-Income
Families
Routine Production
Services
Inperson or
Personal Services
Government
Workers
Low-Income
Families
Farmers, Miners
School
Social Starting Line
College SymbolicAnalytic Services
Graduation
School Quality, Educational Attainment, and Income
Spring, American Education (Figure 4.3)
Low-Wealth
Community
High-Wealth
Community
Low-Quality
Schools
High-Quality
Schools
Low Level of
Educational
Attainment
High Level of
Educational
Attainment
Low Lifetime
Income
High Lifetime
Income
Educational Practices That Can Reinforce
Social-Class Differences Among Students
Spring, American Education (Table 4.1)
1. Tracking
2. Ability grouping
3. Counseling methods
4. Teacher expectations
5. Unequal school expenditures
Percentage of Children Under 18 Who Live in Families
Below the Poverty Level, 1960-2000
Arends/Winitzky/Tannenbaum, Exploring Teaching: An Introduction to Education (Figure 10.1)
Source: National Center for Education Statistics, 1996, p. 143; National Center for Children in Poverty, 1998.
Educational Attainment:
Total Money Earnings in 1997
Spring, American Education (Table 4.5)
Mean
Earnings
Male
Female
Associate Bachelor’s Master’s Professional
Degree
Degree
Degree
Degree
Less than
Ninth Grade
High School
Graduate
$22,746
32,611
40,465
55,832
71,225
120,052
10,296
16,996
24,009
30,119
38,337
62,113
Source: U. S. Bureau of the Census, “Money Income in the United States: 1997,” http://www.census.gov/.
The Way They Were in School
Sadker/Sadker, Teachers, Schools, and Society
All of these people were
considered poor learners
in school:
Thomas Edison
Paul Gauguin
William Butler Yeats
Benjamin Franklin
Pablo Picasso
Carl Jung
Henry Ford
Abraham Lincoln
The following individuals were
expelled from school:
Albert Einstein
Salvador Dali
Edgar Allan Poe
James Whistler
Percy Bysshe Shelley
George Bernard Shaw
Percent of African American Students in
Hyper-segregated Schools (90-100% students of color)
Sadker/Sadker, Teachers, Schools, and Society (Figure 13.1)
Source: “Deepening Segregation in America’s Public Schools,” April 1997, Harvard Project on School Desegregation.
U. S. Hispanic Subgroups
Sadker/Sadker, Teachers, Schools, and Society (Figure 13.2)
Source: Our Nation on the Fault Line: Hispanic American Education President’s Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for
Hispanic Students, September 1996.
Country of Origin and Year of Entry into the U.S.
of the Foreign-Born, March 1998
Spring, American Education (Table 6.1)
Country of Origin
Mexico
Cuba
Dominican Republic
El Salvador
Great Britain
China and Hong Kong
India
Korea
Philippines
Vietnam
Elsewhere
Foreign-Born Number
(in thousands)
Foreign-Born (%)
7,119
914
635
723
622
1,022
722
589
1,207
989
11,738
27.1
3.5
2.4
2.8
2.4
3.9
2.7
2.2
4.6
3.8
39.3
Came to the United States
Before 1970
1970 to 1979
1980 to 1989
Since 1990
4,812
4,605
8,236
8,628
Source: U. S. Census Bureau, March 1998 Current Population Survey, http://www.census.gov/.
18.3
17.5
31.3
32.8
Advisory Board for the President’s Initiative
on Race’s Report
Spring, American Education (Table 6.2)
In 1998, the changing racial/ethnic composition of the U.S.
population and resulting educational issues were underscored by
the Advisory Board for the President’s Initiative on Race in One
America in the 21st Century: Forging a New Future. The Advisory
Board’s report presented the following projections and facts:
• By the year 2050, about 50 percent of the U.S. population will be
composed of Asians, non-Hispanic blacks, Hispanics, and
American Indians.
• By the year 2005, Hispanics, who may be of any race, are
projected to be the largest minority group in the United States.
• As of 1997, 61 percent of the Asian population and 38 percent of
the Hispanic population were foreign-born. In contrast, only 8
percent of whites, 6 percent of blacks, and 6 percent of American
Indians were foreign-born.
Source: From One America in the 21st Century: Forging a New Future
1998 SAT Scores by Racial and Ethnic Group
Sadker/Sadker, Teachers, Schools, and Society (Figure 4.2)
Source: College Board, 1998 Profile of SAT Program Test Takers, New York: College Board, 1998.
Percentage of 25- to 29-year-olds Who Have Completed
Selected Levels of Education, by Sex: March 1971 and 1996
Arends/Winitzky/Tannenbaum, Exploring Teaching: An Introduction to Education (Figure 5.4)
Source: U. S. Department of Education, The Condition of Education 1997, Indicator 22.
The Impact of Title IX
Sadker/Sadker, Teachers, Schools, and Society
Title IX of the 1972 Education Amendments Act
specifically prohibits many forms of sex
discrimination in education. The opening section
of Title IX states
No person in the United States shall, on the
basis of sex, be excluded from participation
in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected
to discrimination under any education
program or activity receiving federal financial
assistance.
A Brief Chronological List of Achievements in Providing
Equality of Educational Opportunity for Women
Spring, American Education
1972
Legal action against school systems with segregated courses in home
economics and industrial arts
1974
With backing from NOW, more than 1,000 women’s studies
departments are created on college campuses
1975
Federal regulations to end sex discrimination in athletics
1976
Lawsuits regarding female participation in athletics and genderbiased hiring in school administration
1976
Educational Equity Act authorizes Office of Education to prepare
“non-sexist curricula and non-discriminatory vocational and career
counseling, sports education, and other programs designed to
achieve equity for all students regardless of sex”
1983
Last all-male school in Ivy League, Columbia University, becomes
coeducational
1986
FairTest organized to counter sex bias in high-stakes tests
1996
Virginia Military Institute and the Citadel become coeducational
Accomplishments of NOW and Other
Women’s Organizations by 1996
Spring, American Education
• The number of female medical school graduates
increased from 8.4 percent in 1969 to 34.5 percent
in 1990.
• The percentage of doctoral and professional
degrees awarded women increased from 14.4
percent in 1971 to 36.8 percent in 1991.
• Most discrimination in vocational programs ended.
• Female participation in high school athletics
increased from 7 percent in 1972 to 37 percent in
1992 and in college athletics from 15.6 percent in
1972 to 34.8 percent in 1993.
Student Sexual Diversity: Guidelines for Teachers
Sadker/Sadker, Teachers, Schools, and Society
1. Confront directly school incidents of anti-lesbian and
anti-gay prejudice—harassment, labels, jokes, putdowns, and graffiti.
2. Work to change personnel policies in order to protect
students and staff from discrimination on the basis of
sexual orientation.
3. Provide support groups and other resources for gay,
lesbian, or bisexual students and their families.
4. Submit requests in order to improve both fiction and
nonfiction library holdings on sexual diversity.
5. Include gay, lesbian, and bisexual concerns in
prevention programs (pregnancy, dropout, suicide).
Source: Adapted from “Affording Equal Opportunity to Gay and Lesbian Students Through Teaching and Counseling” (Washington, DC:
National Education Association, 1992).
Student Sexual Diversity: Guidelines for Teachers
(continued)
Sadker/Sadker, Teachers, Schools, and Society
If a student comes to you to discuss gay, lesbian, or bisexual
concerns:
• Be aware that the student may be feeling grief and emotional
pain.
• Use the terms the student uses. Say “homosexual” if that is
the term used, or “gay,” “lesbian,” or “bisexual” if the student
chooses any of these terms.
• Be aware of your own feelings. Avoid making negative
judgments that may cause the student even more pain.
• Respect confidentiality.
• Let the student know you appreciate his or her trust.
• Remember that gay and bisexual male students are
particularly in need of information concerning protection from
AIDS.
Source: Adapted from “Affording Equal Opportunity to Gay and Lesbian Students Through Teaching and Counseling” (Washington, DC:
National Education Association, 1992).