role of education

Question 1

what does durkheim believe the role of education is

Answer 1

• durkheim – performs two functions
  - promotes social stability by binding people
  together by teaching students the norms
  and values of society and teaches children
  to follow the same universalistic rules
  - prepares students for work by equipping
  people with the specialist skills needed

Question 2

what does parsons believe the role of education is

Answer 2

• secondary socialisation – school is there to act as a bridge between family and wider society, and teaches everyone universalistic standards
• meritocracy – individual achievement (everyone achieves their status through their own efforts and abilities), equal opportunity (everyone has the opportunity to reach their full potential)

Question 3

what did davis and moore believe the role of education was

Answer 3

• role allocation
• some people are more talented than others and some job roles are more complex than others
• for society to function well, the most talented people need to get the more complex jobs
• higher rewards are offered for more complex jobs, which motivates people to strive for them
• the education system allows the most talented individuals to get the best qualifications and the best jobs

Question 4

evaluation of the functionalist view of education

Answer 4

• women and ethnic minorities are less likely to get the best jobs, are they talentless and lazy
• marxists argue that education in a capitalist only encourage the shared values of the ruling class, the minority

Question 5

how does althusser view the role of education

Answer 5

• education is part of of the ideological state apparatus
• the rsa and isa maintain capitalism
• education is an isa through two functions
  
  • reproduction – the next gen of workers is
    reproduced through failing students from
    working class backgrounds
  • legitimation – by making lies like
    meritocracy appear as truth, people blame
    failure on the individual rather than the
    capitalist system

Question 6

how does bowles and gintis view educations role

Answer 6

• correspondence principle
• myth of meritocracy
• role allocation

Question 7

what is the correspondence principle

Answer 7

• school prepares students for work, and that school mirrors the workplace in several ways
• this occurs through the hidden curriculum, which is all the lessons you are taught in school that arent directly taught

Question 8

what is the myth of meritocracy

Answer 8

• success isnt based on hard work and talent but rather it is down to class background

Question 9

what is bowles and gintis’ role allocation

Answer 9

• their research shows that the best grades go to the most obedient students

Question 10

what does willis believe about the role of education

Answer 10

• learning to labour
• willis criticises bowles and gintis
• instead of the correspondence principle, willis believes that working class pupils dont passively accept the system but know they are set up to fail
• they see through the myth of meritocracy and form counter school subcultures
• the boys still fail and become servants to capitalism

Question 11

evaluation of the marxist view of education

Answer 11

• postmodernists believe marxism is out of date, the correspondence principle no longer exists and we live in a post class era
• feminists argue that schools reproduce patriarchy rather than capitalism
• working class students are often romanticised and seen as heroic rather than badly behaved students who make bad decisions

Question 12

how does neoliberalists view the role of education

Answer 12

• neoliberalism is very similar to the new right and they share ideas on how education should be run
• they both think schools work best in a free market environment, where schools act like businesses for their consumers (students)

Question 13

how is the new right similar to functionalism

Answer 13

• the belief that some are naturally more talented than others
• the belief that education should be meritocratic and based on competition
• the belief that education prepares students for work (in a good way)
• the belief that education socialises people to share values

Question 14

what does chubb and moe believe the role of education is

Answer 14

• one size fits all
• the government cannot run a good education system
• this is because a state run education system is essentially the same for everyone
• the new right believe that individuals and communities have a variety of different needs and a state run education system cannot provide for this

Question 15

why does the new right believe state run schools allow for low standards

Answer 15

• state run schools are not accountable to students and parents
• schools that get poor results do not have to change, therefore there is a lower standard of education, which means a less qualified workforce

Question 16

what is the solution given by new right theorists

Answer 16

• marketisation
• each family should be given a voucher to send with whichever private school they like

Question 17

what do the new right believe the schools should encourage

Answer 17

• schools should promote britishness and teach about positive elements of british history
• they oppose multiculturalism within education as it fails to promote our single set of shared norms and values

Question 18

new right evaluation

Answer 18

• gerwitz and ball – marketisation only benefits the middle class as they are the ones with the material and cultural resources to receive the benefits
• the new right contradict themselves by favouring parent choice in deciding education, but wanting the state to demand a national curriculum
• the new right ignore what others believe to he the real cause of low educational results