Chapter 1 & 2: Historical Development and Function of Education

Question 1

What was schooling like in the pre-industrial society?

Answer 1

• Little formal education
• Mostly informal learning (agriculture, apprenticing)
• Living, learning, and working in one location; meaning there was little need for schools since you learned what was needed on a day to day basis

Question 2

How did schooling change during industrialization?

Answer 2

• Separates living from working and creates a complex division of labour; instead of farming and building things yourself, we now buy it
• Deskilling of much work - most work is an assembly line rather than artisanal, requires little education
• However, there is also an emergence of new skill requirements: both technical and social which do require education (literacy, accounting, etc.)

Question 3

When did “mass schooling” begin?

Answer 3

• Throughout 19th century, most non-elite children do not receive formal education
• Basic instruction at home including farming skills and morals
• Sporadic “mass” schooling begins around 1850s

Question 4

What did education focus on when it first became “mass schooling”?

Answer 4

• No industrial logic
• Basic skills - reading, writing, and arithmancy (the three R’s)
• Views of children as vulnerable and susceptible to moral corruption, needed to teach moral development such as Christian values
• Early forms of nation building; desires to increase immigration and a sense of Canadian identity

Question 5

What is functionalism?

Answer 5

Functionalism is a theoretical approach that explains social phenomena and institutions by the social needs they fulfill and the contributions they make to social order.
Functionalism aims to keep a balance between institutions and social facts. Intended consequences are manifest functions, and unintended consequences are latent function.

Question 6

What are the three key concerns in functional perspective on education?

Answer 6

1. Social solidarity
2. Role differentiation
3. Human capital development (technocratic functionalism)

Question 7

Which philosopher is known for functionalism?

Answer 7

Emile Durkheim

Question 8

What was Durkheim intending to understand with consensus and stability?

Answer 8

• Durkheim wanted to understand how we can make society function with so many new roles
• Division of labour creates complex modern societies with greater individualization and greater reliance on others
• How can we make this work? There’s a decline of “collective” or “community” as socialization agents and now schools “take over” this function

Question 9

What were the original needs for schooling?

Answer 9

1. Continued nation-building;
   - Immigration, but also international conflict (ex. the two world wars)
2. Urbanization
   - Shift towards different schools and living arrangements
3. Technical complexity
   - New skills required for technical and political competitiveness (individual and nation-wide)

Question 10

Who said:
“Looking to the future we face two possibilities: the ending of this civilization such as it is, or its final flowering and fulfillment in greater progress. Education is our only hope, our challenge in the peaceful competition of the future. But, if war should come, our wits might well save us. We would be well advised to spend on the cultivation of those with a sum comparable with what we are spending on explosive defense”
and how does it relate to today?

Answer 10

Sputnik Shock in the 1950s.
This is not much different from today: we still work towards globalization and a knowledgeable society.
He was explaining a massive expansion in modern education.

Question 11

Describe attendance in mass education in the 20th century.

Answer 11

• Daily attendance becomes universal in Canada in the mid 20th century
• Education becomes a key socialization institution (outside the family)
• It’s a growing trend to attend school through the years

Question 12

What does Canadian schooling look like today?

Answer 12

• Canada has over 15 500 elementary and secondary schools employing nearly 310,000 educators, who teach over 5 million children
• In 2012, university enrolment stood at 1.9 million
• 64 percent of people between the ages of 25 and 64 have a college or university degree (highest in the world)

Question 13

What are the two aspects of role differentiation?

Answer 13

1. Social solidarity and Redirection:
   - Person-centered (family) to achievement oriented (school)
   - Universality
2. Role Differentiation and Meritocracy:
   - Rewards based on achievement rather than on inherited status
   - Selection of most-suited for adult roles

Question 14

What are the key aspects of meritocracy?

Answer 14

• Power is achieved
• Achievement has to be demonstrated
• Achievement can be measured

Question 15

What would it take for a merit based society to be fair?

Answer 15

• Everybody has equal opportunity to develop skills and demonstrate merit
• Talent and effort are rewarded
• We can agree what constitutes merit

Question 16

How are schools functionalist and meritocratic? (There are manifest functions)

Answer 16

• Universal access through free public schooling: everyone starts from the same place and have the same opportunities
• Socialization in a number of ways: learning to coexist with other; accepting completion and achievement ethos; learning rules and adult conduct
• Children are rewarded and progress through the system based on achievement: this can be measured by test and assignments
• Achievements leads to different learning experience: academic vs. applied streams
• These differences lead to different forms of technical skills: abstract vs. manual competencies
• This leads to different post-secondary post-high-school destinations and adult roles, based on competence and merit

All these are considered manifest functions (intended consequences) of schooling

Question 17

What are latent functions of schooling?

Answer 17

• Normalize social control, ex. quiet while others are talking, respect authority
• Create a youth culture; there is now time to be a teenager
• Create a marriage market and facilitates assortative mating: choosing a mate who is similar to oneself on various ranking criteria
• Create a custodial and surveillance system for children
• Helps regulate labour markets; ex. by keeping students off the labour market and in school

So fairness and merit-based selection is a foundational principle of functionalism; how does reality stack up to the promise?

Question 18

How does the conflict theory apply to schooling?

Answer 18

Unlike the consensus implied in functionalism, conflict perspectives look at power relations that create inequality and stratification.

Conflict theory applied to schooling:

• Racial inequalities: racial discrimination and Eurocentric curriculum
• Class inequalities: family income and resources, parental education and head start, and middle-class values in schools

Question 19

How do racial inequalities and class inequalities contradict meritocracy?

Answer 19

Differences in these categories means that schooling success is not entirely meritocratic and certain social groups are systematically disadvantage

Question 20

How is socio-economic status (SES) measured?

Answer 20

Socio-economic status (SES) is measured by income, education and occupation

Question 21

What is the strongest indicator of student success in the post-secondary education system?

Answer 21

Parents education is the strongest related to the success of their children → 17% of children whose parents only graduated high school had dropped out, while only 8% whose parents went to university

• Parental education also affects whether students even apply to post-secondary education
• The higher the education of the parent, the higher the chance for the child to attend university and receive the degree

Question 22

Why should achievement gaps not make sense?

Answer 22

• We all have the same opportunities meaning there should be no “group-level” gap, only individual gaps
• Schooling has become more progressive: more students should find meaning today than in the past

Question 23

What are the two sociological explanations for achievement gaps that Davies rejects?

Answer 23

1. Structural Reproduction

2. Cultural Reproduction

Question 24

Define structural reproduction (rejected)

Answer 24

• Correspondence Principle: schools are structured to “cool out” low SES students
• Capitalist labour markets require “leaders/managers” and “followers/workers”; we learn at school to accept this hierarchy and that some will become leaders, typically advantaged students, and some will become followers, typically disadvantaged students
• Class position determines where we end up and school structures reaffirm these positions
• Mechanisms to achieve this: streaming, curriculum and pedagogy

Question 25

Define cultural reproduction (rejected)

Answer 25

• Based on theories of Pierre Bourdieu
• Habitus (beliefs and values, linked to social class): middle class embraces school while the working class resists
• Capital (economic, social and cultural): our social background gives us money, connections and past experiences that assist or hinder in schooling
• Field: schools are middle-class institutions that reward middle-class students and their middle-class habitus
  ex. to be successful as an electrician requires a different habitus and different forms of social and cultural capital than to be a successful lawyer

Habitus example:
- a child from a wealthier family will have a habitus to sit still in classrooms from travel experiences, use a wider selection of words taught by parents, and to take the schooling game more seriously

Question 26

What are the two sociological explanations that Davies proposes to explain achievement gaps.

Answer 26

1. Families

2. Neighbourhood effects

Question 27

Why does Davies reject structural reproduction and cultural reproduction?

Answer 27

The authors argue that these perspectives no longer reflect modern schooling

• An “explosion” of parental expectations, ex. to attend university or college, are no longer restricted to privileged or middle-class families
• School reforms catering to diverse students needs:
  a. Less streaming today
  b. More alternative models to succeed
  c. More inclusive curriculum and pedagogy
  d. Better teacher training

Question 28

How does Davies propose that families increase achievement gaps?

Answer 28

• Disadvantaged families have more serious struggles such as job loss and poverty than their child’s education
• Privileged and middle-class families embrace education inside and outside class → they attend more parent teachers, request IEPs, etc
• Pre-school prep, summer learning, parental school involvement, tutoring, concerted cultivation (organized leisure) are more accessible to middle-class children

Question 29

Why does Davies suggest that neighbour effects increases the achievement gap?

Answer 29

• Schools cannot be seen in isolation from their environment
• Disadvantaged neighbourhoods suffer from multiple problems (poverty, crime, poor housing, etc.)
• Neighborhood disorder affects schools (safety in and around schools, infrastructure, etc.)
• Less fundraisings for extras and public funding only goes so far

Question 30

What does research suggest for early education in Canada?

Answer 30

• Good quality, regulated, accessible day care/
  kindergarten is good for all Canadians
• Prepares young people for school
• Frees parents to work
• Particularly helpful to families with lower incomes (access & quality issue)

Question 31

True or False: Canada is doing well in child care and child transitions?

Answer 31

False. Unicef Research on Child Care and Child Transitions shows that Canada is last among developed nations and meets only one of 10 benchmarks
Top countries: sweden, iceland, denmark, finland, france, norway
Bottom countries: mexico, spain, united states, australia, ireland and canada

Question 32

Why is Canada doing poorly in child care and child transitions?

Answer 32

• Financial concerns: cost of expanded daycare program
• Infrastructure: not enough building, supplies and teachers
• Ideological issue: debates regarding role of family; the state should not have to raise children

Question 33

What is the strongest predictor of educational success in elementary/high school?

Answer 33

It’s been show that parental SES is the strongest predictor of student achievement

• Rist found that students’ appearance is shown to be used by teachers as a marker of educational potential
• Their pattern of speech, a key to success, is at a lower level than the middle class

Question 34

Define habitus.

Answer 34

Bourdieu defines habitus as a set of acquired patterns of thought, behaviour, and taste, informed by one’s social class that constitutes the individual’s sense of self within the social structure.

Working class students gravitate towards applied and vocational courses, while middle-class students never considered anything other than university streams

Question 35

Define achievement gap.

Answer 35

Achievement gaps are disparities in learning school material that emerges over time between various groups such as social strata - reducing this is a primary priority for education policy today.

Question 36

How does coming from a low SES family affect school performance.

Answer 36

• Children from higher SES repeatedly outperform their less advantaged peers on virtually all schooling indicators (graduation rates, grades, post-secondary attendance)
• Rates for high school dropout of low SES students dropped in Canada from 1990 to 2005, but has not declined since.

Question 37

What changes were made in the 1960s to the education system and why?

Answer 37

• curriculum revised
• more electives introduced
• more group discussion
• personal expression
• critical thinking
• they wanted to raise graduation rates: community colleges were invented to meet the emerging labour market
• dozen new universities

They reasoned that an expanded number of slots, coupled with affordable tuition, would eventually erase SES, gender, and racial inequalities in access to Canadian higher education

Question 38

By the 1970s, were the changes made in the 60s effective at changing SES disparities?

Answer 38

No. By the 1970s, despite these efforts, SES disparities still persisted.

Question 39

Define the correspondence principle and give an example.

Answer 39

Correspondence principle is the idea that school streams mirror different kinds of workplaces in order to socialize future workers into various positions in stratified workplaces
ex. academic streams give students more autonomy and discretion in order to ready them for occupations requiring independence and less supervision
It’s part of the Reproduction Theory.

Question 40

How have summer learning studies contributed to SES inequality research?

Answer 40

Summer learning studies find that socio-economic gaps in learning growth are markedly smaller during the school term than they are during the summer when children are not in school

• Schools appear to provide learning opportunities that are more equal than those in families and neighbourhoods
• Public schools offer working-class and poor students better access to sports and other extracurricular activities than do other neighbourhoods

Question 41

What is a “primary mechanism” vs. a “secondary mechanism” in regards to children’s learning.

Answer 41

• A “primary mechanism” is a social force that affects children’s capacity to learn school material
• A “secondary mechanism” influences their aspirations and expectations for schooling

Question 42

What is a new primary mechanism and how is it effecting children’s learning?

Answer 42

Out-of-school learning is a new primary mechanism.

• There are growing SES gaps in money parents spend on enriching goods and services for their children, such as books, computers, and private tutoring - creating a gap in “school readiness”
• Canadian data show that five year old children from poor families have much lower school readiness than those from well-off families - this predicts achievement in later grades
• Non-school time is an important primary mechanism of SES gaps because children are exposed to greatly varying learning opportunities and resources outside of school

Question 43

What is a new secondary mechanism and how is it effecting children’s learning?

Answer 43

Evolving Parenting Strategies for Educational Competition is a new secondary mechanism.

• Even taking into account skill levels and grades, youth from higher SES origins are likelier to graduate from high school, enter higher education, and attend higher ranked universities
• Today’s schools expect parents to be “active, involved, assertive, informed, and educated” → class differences in parenting practices, rather than differences in participation in highbrow culture, are prime generators of inequality

Question 44

What is “concerted cultivation” and who partakes in it?

Answer 44

Middle-class parents partake in “concerted cultivation”

• They use elaborate language and reasoning while disciplining, which builds children’s sense of entitlement when dealing with teachers
• Middle-class children made the most requests for help and most successful at eliciting assistance
• Parents embrace school-like activities in their homes, structuring their children’s play and searching for “teachable moments” in the hopes of nurturing cognitive skills

Question 45

In America, what is neighbourhood poverty associated with?

Answer 45

Neighbourhood poverty is associated with lower:

• school achievement and attainment
• verbal ability
• test scores
• graduation rates
• heightened problem behaviour

Question 46

What is “physical disorder”? What does research correlate with physical disorder?

Answer 46

“Physical disorder” is strewn garbage, graffiti, derelict lots, broken windows and vandalized property.

High levels of disorder are correlated with:

• concentrated poverty
• crime
• lack of social support
• lower self-esteem
• worse physical and mental health
• Disorder might encourage student deviance, alleyways give students a place to smoke, drink, fight, and steal
• Disorder can divert high-achieving and rude-abiding students toward more orderly schools; leaving the disordered school underfunded and with more troubled youth