2. Schooling and social inequality
• Social conflict analysis explains how schooling cause inequality.
• Explain how stereotype of good and bad students described in the
symbolic interaction discussion arise in the first place.
• In addition, a social conflict challenges the structural functional idea
that schooling develops everybody's talents and abilities by claiming
that schooling plays a part in social stratification.
3. Social control:
Schooling in way of controlling people, reinforcing the acceptance of
status quo.
Samuel Bowles and Herbert Gintis (1976) claim that the rise of public
education in the late 19th
century came at exactly the same time that
factory owners needed an obedient and disciplined workforce.
In schools, immigrants learned not only the English but also the
importance of the following orders:
4. Standerized Testing
• Here is a question of the kind historically used to
measure the academic ability of school age children in
united states:
• Painter is to painting as ________ is to sonnet.
Driver (b) poet (c) carpenter (d) priest
• The correct answer is (b) poet.
• This question is supposedly measures logical reasoning,
but getting the right answer also depends on knowing
what each term means.
5. • Students who are unfamiliar with the sonnet,(western
Europe form of written verse) are not likely to answer the
question correctly.
• The organization that creates standerized tests claims that
this type of bias has been all but eliminated because they
carefully study response pattern and drop any question that
favors one racial or ethnic category.
6. • But critics insist that some bias based on
class race or ethnicity will always exist
in formal testing. Because test
questions will always reflect our
society’s dominant culture, minority
students are placed at disadvantages
(Crouse & Trusheim, 1988; Putka,
1990).
7. School Tracking
• Despite controversy over standerized test, most schools in
the united states use them for tracking assigning students to
different type of educational programs.
• Such as: college preparatory classes,
general education,
vocational and technical training.
• Tracking helps teachers meet each student’s individual
needs and abilities.
• However, one education critic, Jonathan Kozol (1992),
considers tracking an example of ‘’savage inequalities’’ in
our school system.
8. • Most students from
privilege backgrounds do
well on standardized tests an
get into higher tracks, where
they receive the best the
school can offer.
• Students from
disadvantaged backgrounds
typically do less well on
these test and end up in
lower tracks, where teachers
stress memorization and putt
little focus on creativity.
9. • Based on these concerns, school in US are
cautious about making tracking assignments and
giving student the chance to move from one
tract to another. Some school have even
dropped tracking entirely. Tracking can help
match instructions with students abilities, but
rigid tracking can have powerful impact on
student learning and self-concept. Young
people who spends year in higher track tend to
see themselves as bright and able; students in
lower tract end up with less ambition and low
self esteem. ( Bowles & Gintis, 1976; Kilgore,
1991; Gamoran, 1992; kozol, 1992).
10. Inequality among school
• Just as students treated differently within schools,
school themselves differ in important ways.
• The biggest difference is between public and
private school.
11. Public and Private Schools
• Across the united States, about 89% of the 55.6 million school
children attend state founded public school.
• The rest go to private school.
• Most private school students attend one of the 7100 parochial school
(operated by the roman Catholic church). The catholic school system
grew rapidly a century ago as cities swelled with immigrants.
• Enrolling children in catholic schools help the new arrival hold on to
religious heritage in a new and mostly Protestant society.
• Today, after decades of flight fro the inner city by white people, many
parochial schools in-roll non-Catholic, including a growing numbers
of African Americans whose families seeks an alternative to the
neighbor hood to public school.
12. • Experts also have private school, often known a s Christians academies.
• These schools are favored by parents who want:
religious instructions
as well as higher academic
disciplinary standards.
• There are also about 6,900 nonreligious private schools in US that
enroll mostly young people from well off families.
• These are typically praporatory schools, molded on British boarding
schools, that not only provide strong academic programs but also
convey the values
teach the way of life of the upper class.
Many ‘’preppies’’ maintain lifelong school based social
network provide numerous social advantages.
13. Are private schools qualitatively better than
public schools?
• Research shows that holding family social
background constant, students in private schools do
outperform those in public schools on standard
measure of academic success. The advantages of
private schools include smaller classes more
demanding coursework and greater discipline
( Coleman & Hoffer 1987).
14. Inequality in Public schooling
• Public schools are not all the same.
• Differences in funding result in unequal resources; consequently,
children in more affluent areas receive a better education than
children living in poor communities.
• National map 20-1 shows one key way in which resources differ:
average yearly teacher salaries vary by as much as $35,000 in state
by state comparison.
15. • At the local level difference in school funding can be
dramatic.
• Arlington county, Virginia, one of the richest suburbs
in the united states, spend more than $18,500 a year
on each of its student, compared to about $5000 in
poor ares like Alpine, Utah and in-recent years, these
differences have grown ( Winter, 2004).
• The thinking about diversity box shows the effects of
funding difference in the every day lives of students.
16. • Because schools are typically funded through local
property taxes, schools in more affluent areas offers a
better education than school in a poor communities.
• This difference also benefits white over minorities,
which is why some districts enacted a policy of busing
transporting students to achieve racial balance and equal
opportunity in schools.
• Although only 5 % of US schoolchildren are bused to
school outside their neighborhood, this policy is
controversial. Supporters claims that given the reality of
racial segregation, the only way government will
adequately fund schools in poor, minority neighbor hood
is if white children from richer areas attend.
17. • Critic respond that busing is expensive and undermine the
concept of neighborhood schools.
• But almost every one agreed on one thing: given the racial
imbalance of most urban areas, an effecting busing scheme
would have to join inner cities and suburbs, a plan that has
never been political possible.
• Since the 1950s busing students to achieve racial balance in
school has sharply declined. Although there was some modest
decline in Maracaibo segregation in US public school between
1960 and 1970, there has been little change since then ( Logan,
Oakley, & stowell, 2008).
18. • But other policies to address unequal schools
have emerged.
• One plan is to provide money equal across a
state.
• This is the approach taken by Vermont, which
passed a law that distributes per student tex
money equally to all communities.
• But not every one thinks that money is the key
to good schooling. Consider, for example, that
youngstown, Ohio, spends &14500 each year
on each public school student ( 40 % above the
national average) but barley manage to
graduate half of them.
19. • Newark, New Jersey spends double
the national average per student and
still does not graduate half of all
students (Will, 2011). What other
than money is involved? A classic
report by a research team headed by
James Coleman (1966) confirmed that
students in mostly minorities school
suffers from larger class size,
insuffient liberariries and fewer
science labs.
• But the Colemen report cautioned that
more money by it self would not
magically improve scooling. More
important are the corporative efforts
and enthusiam of teachers, parents
and the students themselves.
20. • In other words, even if school funding exactly same everywhere,
studenets who benefits from more cultural capital-that is, those
whose parents value schooling, read to thier children and encourage
the development of imagination-would still perform better. In short
we should not expect schools alone to overcome marked social
inequality in united states .
•
21. Access to higher education:
• Schooling is the main path to good job. But only 70 % of US high schools graduate
enroll in college immedietly after graduation. Among young people 18 to 24 years old,
about 47 % are enrolled in college (National center of education statics, 2010).
• A crucial factor affecting access to us higher education is family income. College is
expensive: Even at state supported institutions, annual tuition average about $ 7600 and
admission to the most exclusive private colleges and universities exceeds $ 50,000 a
year. This means that college attendance is more common among families with higher
incomes. In the united states, some 6.7 million families have at least one child enrolled in
college. Of these families 47 % of income of at least $75,000 annually (roughly the
richest 30%, who fall within the upper middle class and working class), and only 9%
have income of less than $20,000 a year ( the lower class including families classified as
poor) (US Census Bureau,2010).
• These economic differences are one reason that the education gap between the whites
and minorities widens at the college level. Africans Americans are not quite as likely as
non Hispanic whites to graduate fro higher school and are much less likely to complete
four or ore years of college. Hispanic many of whom speak Spanish as their first
language, have a lower rate of higher school graduation, and again, the gap is much
greater when it comes to college degrees. Schooling is an important path to social
mobility in our society, but the promise of school has not overcome the racial inequality
that exists in the united states.
22. • Completing college brings any rewards, including higher earning. In the
pas forty years, as our economy has shifted to work that requires
processing information, the gap in every income between people who
complete only high school and those who earn a four year college degree
has ore than doubled. In fact, today, a college degree ads as much as $ 1
million to a persons lifetime income. In simple terms, higher education is
good investment.
• In 2009, men who are high schools graduates averaged $39,478, and
college graduates averaged $62,444. A men with a bachelors degrees earns
2.6 times a s much in annual income as a man with eight or fewer years of
schooling. Across the board, women earn less than men, although as with
men, added years of schooling boosts their income, although not quiet as
much. Keep in mind that for both men and women, some of the greater
earnings have to do with social background, because those with the most
schooling are likely to come from relatively well-off families to begin with.
23. Great opportunity:
• Expending higher education
• 20.4 million people enrolled in colleges and universities, the US is
world leader in providing a college education to its people. This
country also enrolled students from abroad than any other.
• One reason for this achievement is that there are 4,495 colleges and
universities in US.
• This number includes 2,774 four years institutions ( which awards
bachelors degrees) as well as 1,721 two years colleges ( which awards
associates degrees).
• Some two year college are private, but most are publicly funded
community college that serves a local area( usually a city or a country)
a charge a low tuition ( National center for education statics,2010).
24. • Because higher education is a key
path to better jobs and higher
income, the government makes
money available to help certain
category of people pay the costs
of college.
• After world war 2, the GI Bill
provided college funds to
veterans, which the result that ten
of thousands were men and
women were able to attend
college. Some branches of the
military continue to offer college
money to enlistees; in addition,
veterans continue to benefit from
a number of governments grants
and scholarships.
25. Community college:
• Since the 1960s, the expansion of state funded community colleges has
further increased access to higher education. According to the national
center for education statics (2010), the 1,721 two year colleges across the
US now enroll 41.3% of all college undergraduates.
• Community colleges provide a number of specific benefits. First, their
relatively low tuition cost places college courses and degrees within the
reach of million of families that could not otherwise afford them. Many
students at community colleges today are the first in their family to pursue
a college degree. The lowest cost of community colleges especially
important during periods of economic recession. When the economy
slumps and people lose their jobs, colleges enrollments soar, especially at
community colleges.
• Second, community college has special importance for minorities.
26. • Currently, 40% of all African Americans and
51% of Hispanic undergraduates in US attends
community colleges.
• Third, although it is true that community
colleges serve local populations, they also
attracts students from around the world. Many
community colleges recruits students from
abroad, and about 15% of all foreign students
enrolled on a US campus are studying at
community colleges.
• Forth, the top priority the faculty who work at
large universities in typically research, but most
important job for community college faculty is
teaching. Thus, although teaching loads are
higher (typically four of five classes each
semester), community colleges appeal to faculty
who find their greatest pleasure in the class
room. Community college students often get
more attention from faculty than students at
large universities ( Jacobson, 2003). Finally,
community college teach the knowledge and
carrier skills that countless people depend on to
finds the jobs they wants.
