Chapter 16. Education

Based on Notes

Education

a social institution through which a society’s children are taught basic academic knowledge, learning skills, and cultural norms

Education system

socializes us to our society - we learn cultural expectations and norms

Two main socializing tasks of education

homogenization and social sorting

Homogenization

diverse backgrounds learn a standardized curriculum that effectively transforms diversity into homogeneity

Social sorting

common knowledge base, a common culture, and a common sense of society’s official priorities, and perhaps more importantly, they learn to locate their place within it

The major factors affecting education systems

resources, money, value placed on education, social factors

Education in Afghanistan

• Fall of the Taliban in Afghanistan - spike in demand for education - over 6.2 million students - severe shortage of teachers

• Education of women - additional challenges since cultural norms say they should be taught by female teachers

Female education for Afghanistan’s future

an educated mother to have educated children - positive cycle of education for generations to come

The World Bank

assisting the people of Afghanistan in improving educational quality and access

The Education Quality Improvement Program

provides training for teachers and grants to communities

Strengthening Higher Education

focuses on six universities in Afghanistan and four regional colleges - focus on fostering relationships with universities in other countries

Two types of learning

referred to as formal education and informal education

Formal education

the learning of academic facts and concepts through a formal curriculum

Informal education

learning about cultural values, norms, and expected behaviours by participating in a society

Cultural transmission

refers to the way people come to learn the values, beliefs, and social norms of their culture - both formal and informal

Universal access

This term refers to people’s equal ability to participate in an education system

Ontario - Bill 82 -1980 - established five principles for special education programs and services for special needs students

• Universal access

• Education at public expense

• An appeal process

• Ongoing identification and continuous assessment

• Appropriate programming

“Inclusion”

a method that involves complete immersion in a standard classroom

“Mainstreaming”

balances time in a special-needs classroom with standard classroom participation

Functionalists

believe that education equips people to perform different functional roles in society - manifest and latent functions

Manifest functions

socializations, cultural norms, social placement

Latent functions

courtship, social networks, working in groups

Critical sociologists

view education as a means of widening the gap in social inequality - social class, bias of IQ tests

Feminist theorists

sexism in education continues to prevent women from achieving a full measure of social equality

Symbolic interactionism

sees education as one way that the labelling theory can be demonstrated in action - labelling - direct correlation to those who are in power and labelled

Social placement

Education also provides one of the major methods used by people for upward social mobility

Individualism

the valuing of the individual over the value of groups or society as a whole

Cultural capital

accumulation of cultural knowledge that helps one navigate a culture

Hidden curriculum

refers to the type of nonacademic knowledge that one learns through informal learning and cultural transmission

Tracking

formalized sorting system that places students on “tracks” (advanced versus low achievers) that perpetuate inequalities

Grade inflation

a term used to describe that letter grades and the achievements they reflect has been changing over time

Credentialism

emphasis on certificates or degrees to show that a person has a certain skill, attained a certain level of education, met certain job qualifications