The document discusses problems with the U.S. education system including low test scores, inequality, and illiteracy. It analyzes causes through social theories including social conflict theory, structural functional theory, and symbolic interaction theory. Solutions proposed include increasing funding equality, special programs, and school choice programs while others question if structural inequality is the underlying cause.

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?