1. Chapter 13
Education
True Blue Sociology Crew
Flat Tires on the Bus Group

2. Trisha Koch: Medical Field
Tavia Loberg: Medical Field
Jordan Cromwell: Human
Services

3. Education
• Education: the social institution by which a society transmits
knowledge—including basic facts and job skills, as well as
cultural norms and values—to its members.
• Consequences of education problems:
• Illiteracy
• More inequality (racial & gender)
• Low rankings nationally in basic test scores
• School violence

4. Problems with U.S. Education
• The United States ranks below about 30 nations in terms of basic
literacy in reading, mathematics, and science.
• Race affects the performance of students through language
barriers, cultural attitudes, and other racial differences.
• For all categories of people, the higher risk of poverty, the
lower the educational achievement.
• Children from low-income families face a double burden of
fewer educational opportunities at school and home.
• Certain segments of the U.S. population are more likely than
others to drop out.
• As much as 15% of the U.S. adult population is functionally
illiterate.

5. Problems with U.S. Education
• Racial segregation occurs because communities are usually
predominantly one race.
• Schools are typically funded by taxes from a community,;
therefore, schools in low-income areas will have less resources
than those in wealthier areas.
• Tracking provides unfair opportunities, and students usually end up
following the path of a self-fulfilling prophecy: a situation in
which people who are defined in a certain way eventually think and
act as if the definition were true.
• Gender tends to shape the quality of education.
• There is a teacher shortage throughout the country.

6. Social Conflict Theory
• Social inequality in the U.S. society allows some
students to perform better than others.
• School funding varies from school to school by
large amounts.
• This leads to some schools having new
supplies, being cleaner, and employing highly
trained staff, while other schools have the
exact opposite.
• Hidden curriculum: explicit and subtle
presentations of political or cultural ideas in
the classroom that support the status quo
• Examples of hidden curriculum include:
• Teaching students that
• Social problems are individualistic
• The existing economic and political
systems are natural
• The United States is the superior
nation
• Schools are teaching students to follow
directions, respect authority figures, and to fit
into the system instead of to think creatively

7. Structural Functional Theory
• The smooth operation of modern societies
depends on schooling according to the
structural functional theory.
• Schooling is an important system of social
placement. Society looks to schools to help
people develop their talents and abilities so
they can find an appropriate job.
• Schooling has been a major avenue of upward
social mobility for people in search of a better
life.
• Because of the cultural diversity of the U.S.
population, schools also have the function of
teaching widely shared cultural beliefs and
values.
• U.S. society relies on schools to prepare people
to participate in this country’s political and
economic systems.
• Schools help integrate individuals from many
different cultural traditions into a single
national community.
• Schools also provide childcare for working

8. Symbolic Interaction Theory
• This theory provides a micro-level look at how individuals
experience the school system.
• Students are labeled by there schools as “gifted”,
“average”, or “deficient.”
• These labels reflect the work students have done, social
class, and race.
• This theory suggests that tracking and other forms of
labeling can create a self-fulfilling prophecy.
• If kids get told they are slow learners they are more
likely to perform poorly.

9. Concept Map for Education
Correlates:
Social class, gender, ethnicity, race, culture
Causes: Consequences:
Structural Functional- • Positive:
• Cultural • Upward social
Nature of the
diversity mobility
Problem:
• Integration in • High-income jobs
Dropouts, high cost of
schools • Less functional
education, illiteracy,
Symbolic Interaction- illiteracy
unequal funding, poor
• Labeling • Negative:
teaching, violence,
• Tracking • Labeling
racial segregation,
Social Conflict- • Bullying
gender inequality,
• Social • Inequality
teacher shortage
inequality • Low-income jobs
• Unequal funding • Low world
ranking
Solutions:
Conservatives-increase competition in schools: school voucher programs, charter schools,
more accountability for students and teachers, magnet schools
Liberals-increase special programs: expand Head Start, increase bilingual programs,
increase government funding for schools and other programs
Radicals-fix structural inequality: make funding equal for all schools, restructure the
economy and political systems to create a more equal society

10. Tavia’s Conclusion
What are the “real” questions?
• How does inequality actually affect
schools?
• Does integration truly affect people’s
performance in school?
• Does tracking really provide students
with schooling consistent with their
interests and abilities?

11. Trisha’s Conclusion
What are the “real” questions?
• What is really the cause of all of the educational
problems?
• Do the people at a disadvantage in school truly
believe it is their fault?
• How does the structure of the educational
system do this?
• Are there any “real” solutions for the problems
of education?

12. Jordan’s Conclusion
What are the “real” questions?
• Why are dropout rates still increasing among
certain groups?
• Why do some schools spend more money on their
students than other schools in certain states? Is
this causing problems?
• Why are more schools not incorporating the
school voucher program or other programs to
provide more options?