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Chapter 8:
Problems in Education
“At the present time, public education is in peril.
Efforts to reform public education are, ironically,
diminishing its quality and endangering its very
survival.” -- Diane Ravitch, educational historian
and former U.S. Assistant Secretary of
Education
What is Education?
• Education is the process by which a
society transmits knowledge, values, and
expectations to its members so they can
function in society.
What is Education? (cont’d)
• Schooling serves a number of important
functions for society:
– The transmission of knowledge
– Learning to follow society’s rules and to
respect authority
– Being socialized to develop other qualities
that will eventually make us efficient and
obedient workers
What is Education? (cont’d)
• Educational institutions also help to reproduce
the inequality seen in society.
• The hidden curriculum describes the values
and behaviors that students learn indirectly over
the course of their schooling because of the
educational system’s structure and teaching
methods.
What is Education? (cont’d)
• The Pygmalion Effect: the idea that
teachers’ attitudes about their students
unintentionally influences their academic
performance.
What is Education? (cont’d)
• Kozol’s ethnography, Savage
Inequalities, contends that because
schools are funded by local property
taxes, children in poor neighborhoods are
trapped in poor schools, which reinforces
inequality.
What is Education? (cont’d)
• Many believe that America’s educational
system is in crisis, though there is little
agreement on how to fix the problem.
• Some attempts have included: 
What is Education? (cont’d)
• Early college high schools: institutions
that blend high school and college into a
coherent educational program in which
students earn both a high school diploma
and two years of college credit toward a
bachelor’s degree.
What is Education? (cont’d)
• Homeschooling: involves the education
of children by their parents, at home.
What is Education? (cont’d)
• School vouchers are payments from the
government to parents whose children
attend failing public schools to help
parents pay for private school tuition.
What is Education? (cont’d)
• Charter schools: public schools run by
private entities to give parents greater
control over their children’s education.
What is Education? (cont’d)
• Distance learning includes any
educational course or program in which
the teacher and students do not meet
together in the classroom, a situation
increasingly available over the Internet.
Sociological Theories of Education
Structural-Functional Perspective
• Education serves 4 important
functions:
–Instruction
–Socialization
–Sorting individuals into various
statuses
–Custodial care
Sociological Theories of Education
Structural-Functional Perspective
• Multicultural Education: Education that
includes all racial and ethnic groups in the
school curriculum thereby promoting
awareness and appreciation for cultural
diversity.
• FAIR Education Act
Sociological Theories of Education
Structural-Functional Perspective
Sociological Theories of Education
Conflict Perspective
• Educational institution solidifies class positions
and allows the elite to control the masses.
• Quality education and educational opportunities
are not equally distributed.
Education perpetuates racial inequality:
• Gross inequalities between poor districts and
middle-and upper-class districts.
• Schools in poor districts have inadequate
facilities, materials, and personnel.
Sociological Theories of Education
Conflict Perspective
Sociological Theories of Education
Symbolic Interactionist Perspective
• Concerned with the individual and smallgroup issues in education:
– Teacher-student interactions
– Student self-esteem
– Self-fulfilling prophecy - Occurs when people
act in a manner consistent with the
expectations of others.
The Inequality of Educational Attainment
Social Class and Family Background
• One of the best predictors of educational
success and attainment is socioeconomic
status.
• On standardized tests such as the SAT and
the ACT, “children from the lowest-income
families have the lowest average test
scores.”
• Families with low incomes have fewer
resources to commit to educational purposes.
What Do You Think?