Education: Topic 5- The role of education in society Flashcards
Functionalists
What does Durkheim argue about social solidarity?
- Society needs solidarity, for each person to pursue selfish desires
- Education helps create it by transmitting societys culture, like teaching a countries history, giving a sense of shared heritage
- Schools acts as a miniture society prepping us for wider society.
Functionalists
What does Durkheim argue about specialist skills?
- Society needs different specialists to produce complex items
- This requires each person must have knowledge and skills to perform their role
- Schools teach us specialist skills and knowledge to fill each part of labour.
Functionalists
What does Parsons argue about meritocracy?
- Schools socialise children for wider society
- At home our status is ascribed like roles based on age or sex
- In contrast schools judge everyone on the same standar
- Everyone has equal opportunity and achieved not ascribed
- School prepares us for work
Functionalists
What does Davis and Moore argue about role allocation?
- Schools select and allocate pupils for their future work roles. Assessing abilities to match them to the best job best suited for them
- D & M argue inequality is necessary to ensure most important role in society is filled by most talented people.
What are the strengths and weaknesess of functionalism?
Strengths:
* Role allocation explains why certain people gt high payed jobs
* Meritocracy- Explains how the disadvantaged still succeed academically
Weaknesses:
* Not everyone is seens as ‘puppets’
* The education system doesnt teach specialised skills
Neoliberalism & the new right perspective on education
What is the New Rights view on education?
They believe the state cannot meet peoples needs and people are best left to meet their own needs. The solution for this is the marketisation of education.
Neoliberalism & the new right perspective on education
How are the New Rights view similar to functionalists view on education?
They both:
* Believe some poeple are more talented than others
* Favour an education system run on merocratic prinicples and run like a business
* Believe the education system should socialise pupils into shared values and sense of identity
But the new right believes the education system is not achieveing these goals
Neoliberalism & the new right perspective on education
What does Chubb and Moe argue about consumer choice? What was their study?
- They compared 60,000 W/C students from private and state schools. 5% did better at private schools
- US schools are failing due to no equal opportunities, pupils dont have skills for the economy, private schools have better quality
- They believe allowing consumers to shape schools to meet their needs will improve efficiency and quality
Neoliberalism & the new right perspective on education
What are the two roles important for the state?
- Imposes a framework on schools that they have to compete. E.g. league tables, Ofsted
- Ensure schools tranmit a shared culture. E.g. National curriculum
The new right believe education should affirm the national identity, emphasising British positive history, british lit, christian acts in school, whilst opposing multicultural education
Neoliberalism & the new right perspective on education
What are the strengths and weakesses of the New right argument?
Strengths:
* Increasing standars of school
* Agrees it prepares students for workplace
Weaknesses:
* Real cause of low stadards is social inequality, lack of funding
* Benefits M/C with cultural capitqal to access desired school
Marxists perspective on education
What does Althusser argue about the ideological state apparatus?
Schools maintain M/C rules by controlling ideas, values, beliefs.
Keeps the bourgeoisie in power:
* RSA (repressive state apparatuses)- Maintains power with force
* ISA (Ideological state apparatuses)- Maintains power with ideas, values, beliefs
Education performs 2 functions:
* Reproduces class inequality: transmitting it from each generation
* Legitmises class inequality: producing ideologies that disguise the truth
Marxists perspective on education
What does Bowles and Gintis argue about schooling in capitalist america?
- They argue capitalism requires a workforce with all kinds of attitudes and behaviours suited with alienation.
- A study of 237 NY high school students. Found schools reward submissive students which produces obedient workers, whereas students who were independent and creative got low grades
Marxists perspective on education
What does Bowles and Gintis argue about the correspondence principle and hidden curriculum?
These prepare W/C pupils for their role of exploited workers
Correspondence principle:
* Parallels between schooling and work in society
* Both are hierachal
* These structures correspond to those of work
Hidden curriculum:
* ‘lessons’ learnt in school without being directly taught
* Like working for extrinsinc rewards or being on time
Marxists perspective on education
What does Bowles and Gintis argue about the myth of meritocracy?
- The educatino system prevents a revolution by legitimising class inequalities. By producing ideologies to justify why inequality is fair and inevitable
- Factors like income affects a pupils education, ability and achievement
- The myth of meritocracy justifies the privilege of higher classes, seen as gained through succeeding
Marxists perspective on education: Learning to Labour
What does Willis argue about lads counter culture?
Willis study shows that W/C pupils can resist attempts of trying to indoctrinate them, going against capitalism
Participant observation of 12 W/C boys
* Lads found schools meaningless
* See manual work as superior
* Dont need qualification for manual work therefore underachieveing
