The Role of the Education System

MARXISM Marxism says education has three functions…

1) Prepares children for the world of work by giving them skills and values employers need

2) Passes on ruling class ideology that supports capitalism

3) Legitimises inequality

MARXISM Bowles and Gintis (1976) - Correspondence Principle

Theres a correspondence between pupil experiences of school and adult work. Pupils are prepared for the world of work by the school system:

• Pupils are taught to accept the hierarchy at school. Work also has a hierarchy

• Pupils are motivated by grades to do boring work. Workers are rewarded with pay to do boring work

• The school day is broken into small units. So is the work day

• At school and work subservience (following the rules) is rewarded

MARXISM Bowles and Gintis - Hidden curriciulum

The hidden curriculum in schools reinforces capitalist values. The hidden curriculum refers to the implicit lessons taught in schools (eg obedience, punctuality, acceptance of hierarchy etc). These lessons prepare students to become compliant workers

*Education reproduces class inequality by transmitting these norms and values to benefit the ruling class

MARXISM Neo Marxist - Althusser

Education passes on capitalist ideology. Althusser sees educaiton as part of the “ideological state apparatus”, in other words it’s a tool of capitalism which is used to pass on the belief that society is fair, even though it isn’t - it legitimises inequality. Althusser thinks education produces a docile and obedient workforce who will not challenge authority

MARXISM Willis (1977)

Education doesn’t turn out an obedient workforce. Some kids form an anti-school subculture to cope with school and cope with school and then adult work by mucking about

MARXISM Bourdieu

Bourdieu used the concept of cultural capital (language, skills, knowledge and attitudes) to explain how middle class children generally go on to fill the top jobs in society

MARXISM How does education legitimise inequality though meritocracy?

Marxists claim that meritocracy is a myth, so working-class pupils are blamed for their poor results, when in fact they’re a result of their social class

FUNCTIONALISM Durkheim

Durkheim said that education passes on norms and values in order to integrate individuals into society. Education helps to create social order based on cohesion and value consensus, and to strengthen social solidarity

FUNCTIONALISM Parsons

Parsons describes school as a bridge between the family and adult roles of society. Schools pass on a universal value of achievement. Parsons says that education selects children into appropriate roles because it’s meritocratic (meaning that the best students rise to the top)

FUNCTIONALISM Davis & Moore (1945)

Every society sorts its members into different positions. They think that there are rules for how education does this - called “principles of stratification”. They believe that there has to be a system of unequal rewards (more money or status) to motivate people to train for the top positions

FUNCTIONALISM Functionalism says education has three functions…

1) Secondary socialisation, passes on core values

2) Sifts and sorts people for the appropriate jobs (the allocation function)

3) Teaches the skills needed in work and by the economy

FUNCTIONALISM How is the education system meritocratic?

When social rewards are allocated by talent and effort rather than because of a position someone was born into

Talent + motivation + equal opportunity = qualifications and a high position in society

Similarities between Functionalists and Marxists

Both Functionalists and Marxists look at the big picture - institutions and the whole structure of society. They tend to ignore social interaction - with the exception of Willis. Both say education has a huge impact on the individual and that it’s closely linked to the economy and work

Differences between Functionalists and Marxists

The biggest difference is how they see inequality. Marxists say education helps to reproduce and legitimise inequality. Functionalists say education passes on the value of meritocracy and lets people better themselves

FUNCTIONALISM Criticisms

1) Evidence of differential achievement in terms of class, gender and ethnicity suggests that education is not meritocratic

2) ‘Who you know’ is still more important than ‘what you know’ in some parts of society. So the allocation function isn’t working properly

3) It can be argued that the education system doesn’t prepare people adequately for work. For example, the lack of engineering graduates indicates education is failing to produce what employers and the economy needs

4) Functionalism doesn’t look how education may serve the interests of particular groups in terms of ideology and values. It doesn’t explain conflict

MARXISM Criticisms

1) Marxism assumes people are passive victims. It exaggerates how much working class students are socialised into obedience. Willis showed how students actually resist authority

2) Most people are aware of the inequality in education, and don’t think that this inequality is legitimate

FEMINISM Feminists say that the Education System is Patriarchal

• Some feminists argue that the hidden curriculum unofficially reinforces gender differences

• There are still gender differences in subject choice in schools. Gender stereotyping may still exist

• Girls are now outperforming boys at school, but boys still demand more attention from the teacher

• Men seem to dominate top positions in schools (head teacher, deputy head) and even more so in universities

FEMINISM What do liberal feminists want in education?

Liberal feminists want equal access to education for both sexes

FEMINISM What do radical feminists want in education?

Radical feminists believe men are a bad influence, and want female centred education for girls

FEMINISM What do marxist feminists want in education?

Marxist feminists want to consider gender inequalities combined with inequalities of class and ethnicity

NEW RIGHT The New Right Believes that Education Should Provide Individual Choice

New Right theorists believe in the power of individual choice, and prefer this to the state intervening in people’s lives

They claim that the role of a school should be more like a business. Businesses have to compete with one another to attract consumers and provide those consumers with the products they want and need. New Right theorists claim that this forces all businesses to continually improve their standards

State schools are run by state, so they don’t have to compete for their consumers (pupils, parents and employers). New Right theorists say that this has caused poor standards. They want to accelerate the creation of an ‘education market’, where a school’s role is to provide what its community wants and needs