Chapter 16 Flashcards
Describe EDUCATION
EDUCATION is an important institution in society. It influences socialization, status, the social order, and economic productivity. Students become productive and obedient people.
At school, BEHAVIORS are MODIFIED,
employment SKILLS are DEVELOPED,
social interaction and conflict are negotiated,
notions of social reality are defined, and
structures of inequality are reproduced.
Describe the Relationship btw Industrial Capitalism and Public Education
In the past education was reserved for bureaucrats who wanted to preserve power, so no one could oppose them.
Industrialization and public education became dependent with the rise of industrial capitalism.
Education in Canada was seen as a means of achieving economic modernization and social control.
At that time, Egerton Ryerson promoted a school system that was universal, free, and compulsory.
Stephen Schecter argued that state-run education was premised on centralization and uniformity, both were used as SOCIAL CONTROL to be used on the working class.
Describe HUMAN CAPITAL THESIS and
conditions Post WW2
The need for a more educated workforce after WW II led to the expansion of Canadian colleges and universities. The perceived relationship between educational expansion and economic growth forms part of the HUMAN CAPITAL THESIS, which states
industrial societies invest in factories, equipment, and schools to enhance the skills and knowledge of
workers.
This thesis is used to justify the low wages paid to marginalized groups by claiming they have less human capital (i.e., education, skills, knowledge).
Since the 1970s, decreasing corporate taxes have led to cuts in government funding of postsecondary
institutions. As a result, colleges and universities have turned to corporations for support. This relationship has created problematic changes to postsecondary education and research because institutions become more corporatized and branded.
Describe HIDDEN CURRICULUM
Within an educational system, institution, or course lies the HIDDEN CURRICULUM
the LATENT curriculum and the UNSTATED, unofficial agenda of school system authorities.
It can serve as a LATENT DYSFUNCTION by reproducing the class system and lowering class mobility.
Describe PIERRE BOURDIEU
CULTURAL CAPITAL
MICHEL FOUCAULT
DOCILE BODY
Cultural capital (as formulated by Pierre Bourdieu), discipline, the “ROUTINIZATION” of the individual, and the creation of a “DOCILE BODY” of students (Michel Foucault) where students are CONDITIONED to behave exactly how admins want them to. Docile Bodies form TENETS within the hidden curriculum. There are 3 ways to make them.
Cultural capital asserts that the culture of the UPPER CLASSES gives them ADVANTAGE in EDUCATION that benefit them in their upcoming careers.
Foucault suggests that docile bodies are conditioned by a specific set of procedures to behave exactly as administrators wish.
Describe 3 disciplinary methods used to
Create DOCILE BODIES
HIERARCHAL OBSERVATION
NORMALIZING JUDGMENT
EXAMINATION
HIERARCHAL OBSERVATION involves controlling people’s behaviour by observing them thru surveillance. This causes them to ALWAYS be AWARE OF THEIR ACTIONS and increases the authority’s power over them.
NORMALIZING JUDGMENT comes into play when individuals are JUDGED on how their ACTIONS RANK when COMPARED with the PERFORMANCE of OTHER, not on right and wrong. This is PERVASIVE because a higher level of achievement is always possible.
The EXAMINATION combines hierarchical observation and normalizing judgement, where
RESULTS ARE USED BY anonymous, INVISIBLE functionaries to SORT and JUDGE PEOPLE.
ie. test scores are recorded to understand performance
Describe JEANNIE OAKES
Describe TRACKING
Lower vs. Higher TRACK
To examine cultural reproduction, JEANNIE OAKES
researched TRACKING, or streaming, in junior and senior secondary schools.
TRACKING is the procss of CATEGORIZING students to ASSIGN them to DIFFERENT CLASSES. This is done BASED on the student’s perceived ABILITY and desired educational outcome (e.g. university degree, a trade).
Students who accept their tracking placements as “FAIR” LEGITIMIZE INEQUALITY reproduced by the ed system.
Oakes’s research concludes that sorting was based as much on class, “race,” and ethnicity as on perceived ability. LOWER tracks often offer LOWER EDUCATION QUALITY. She found that instruction in lower-track classes was focused on BASICS, ROUTINE and DISCIPLINE (where teachers were more punitive), while instructional and learning activities were highlighted in higher-track classes (where teachers provided more trust-based, supportive interactions).
Describe JEAN ANYON
REPRODUCTION OF SOCIAL STRUCTURE
Jean Anyon’s research highlights the REPRODUCTION OF SOCIAL STRUCTURE, where the education system helps working-class children become working-class adults, middle-class children become middle-class adults and so on. Anyon studied five elementary schools and divided them into four categories:
working class (memorization), middle class (Get the right answer, read text), affluent professional (research, expressing creativity), executive elite (analytical reasoning, logic).
She found that instruction in each type of school varied considerably, depending on the class-based expectations of the children.
Describe HOMEWORK and
Academic Success
Studies of homework and its role in reproducing the existing class structure have shown that STUDENTS from MIDDLE-class and UPPER-CLASS HOMES have a ADVANTAGE in DOING HOMEWORK. Their PARENTS are better equipped to ASSIST with homework (in terms of both time and formal educational background), and their homes contain quiet space and UPDATED TECHNOLOGIES for doing homework.
Further, studies of homework’s impacts on family life have demonstrated that homework REDUCES the TIME SPENT on FAMILY ACTIVITIES. Conflicts and power struggles over homework are also common, thereby having a NEGATIVELY AFFECTS FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS.
Describe ABORIGINAL EDUCATION PRIOBLEMS
FOUCAULT
DISQUALIFIED KNOWLEDGE
Several issues regarding education in Canada have emerged. One area of concern is Aboriginal education. For example, the decrease in and outright lack of Aboriginal voices in curricular materials (e.g. textbooks), even those about Aboriginal people, is a worrying trend. Foucault describes this as
DISQUALIFIED KNOWLEDGES: Knowledge that is disqualified because it INADEQUATELY MATTERS TO TASK
Describe POST SECONDARY
ADJUNCT FACULTY problem
Other issues focus on post-secondary education, which has changed dramatically over the last 30 years, mainly due to economic policies and education being treated more like a business.
An example of these changes is the increasing use of ADJUNCT FACULTY. These instructors, most of whom have the same credentials as full-time faculty, are hired on a contractual or non-permanent basis. Adjunct faculty often teach courses that full-time instructors either can’t or don’t want to teach and allow institutions to save money on benefits, competitive salaries, and office space. A two-tiered system of faculty currently exists now in Canada, with non-permanent faculty often exploited and placed in vulnerable positions vis-à-vis rehiring
Describe The
TRANSITION TO ONLINE LEARNING
Another change in post-secondary education is the move away from in-person teaching to ONLINE INSTRUCTION. While online teaching has been hyped as offering more “advanced” and “open” LEARNING and increased “ACCESS,” these claims r MORE MYTH THAN REALITY.
Concerns about online education include issues of alienation, COMMODIFICATION OF EDUCATION, the disappearance of critical analysis skills, and the eventual creation of a hierarchy of students where those who can afford to attend an actual school will be perceived as having better credentials than those who can afford only an online program. This perception will simply REPRODUCE CLASS HIERARCHY.
Describe
McJOB
PLAGIARISM
The sociology of education explores other issues as well. One is the UNEMPLOYMENT OF PEOPLE WITH DEGREES ie. the MCJOB held by numerous university graduates or the death of jobs requiring degrees.
Another is the INCREASE in PLAGIARISM and the ways it is viewed culturally (including by corporate culture) and economically supports the essay industry and businesses that catch plagiarizers. Its like a VICTIMLESS CRIME.
Describe ANOMIE
ÉMILE DURKHEIM
ANOMIE is CONFUSION caused when
LINK between individual and institution
BREAKS DOWN
ie. Children drop out of school = bad news.
INSTITUTION is a set of IDEAS about HOW to accomplish
IMPORTANT GOALS in society / culture.
Describe ASSIMILATION Model
Initially, ASSIMILIATION was the model. English Canada was viewed as a white Protestant nation into which all students, regardless of background, would be assimilated.
This MONOCULTURAL approach CONTINUES TODAY, foregrounding EUROCENTRISM.
