Principles of Sociology week Individual 9 Week 9: Week Nine - Individual Work Only 200 words Instructional Objectives for this activity: · Discuss social structure and explain how one's location in...

Principles of Sociology week Individual 9
Week 9: Week Nine - Individual Work

Page 344
Home schooling might seem to be a radical solution to today’s education problem, but it is one that the parents of over a million U.S.children have chosen. We’ll come back to this topic, but, let’s take a broad look at education.
EDUCATION: TRANSFERRING KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS
Education in Perspective:
Have you ever wondered why people need a high school diploma to sell cars or to join the U.S. Mariners? You will learn what you know on the job. Why so employers insist on diploma and degrees? Why don’t they simply use on- the- job training?
In some cases, job skills must be mastered before you are allowed to do the work. On- the –job training was once adequate to become an engineer or an airline pilot, but with changes in information and technology it is no longer sufficient. This is precisely why doctors display their credentials so prominently. Their framed degrees declare that an institution of higher learning has certified them to work on your body.
Observed that industrialized nations have become credential societies. By this, he means that employers use diplomas and degrees as sorting devices to determine who is eligible for a job. Because employers don’t know potential workers, they depend on schools to weed out the incapable. For example, when you graduate from college, potential employers will presume that you are a responsible person that you have shown up for numerous classes, have turned in scores of assignments, and have demonstrated basic writing and thinking skills. They will then graft their particular job skills onto this particular job skill onto this foundation, which has been certified by your college.
EDUCATION AND INDUSTRIALIZATION:
In the early years of the United States, there was no free public education. Parents with an average income could not afford to send their children to grade school. As the country industrialized during the 1800s, political and civic leaders recognized the need for an educated workforce. They also feared the influx of “foreign” values, for this was a period of high immigration. They looked on public education as a way to reach two major goals; producing more educated workers and “Americaning” immigrants (Hellinger and Judd 1991).
As industrializing progressed and fewer people made their living from farming, formal education came to be regarded as essential to the well- being of society. With the distance to the nearest college too far and the cost of tuition and lodging too great, few high school graduates were able to attend college. As is discussed in the Down- to- Earth Sociology box on the next page, this predicament gave birth to community college.
A group with an equally strong opinion questioned whether preparing high school graduates for entry to four-year colleges and universities should be the goal of junior colleges. They insisted that the purpose of junior colleges should be vocational preparation, to equip people for the job market as electricians and other technicians. In some regions, where the proponents of transfer dominated, the admissions requirements for junior colleges were higher than those of Yale (Pedersen 2001).
Community colleges have opened higher education to millions of students who would not otherwise have access to college because of cost or distance.
U.S. educational system that 36 percent of all under-graduates in the United States are enrolled in them (Statistical Abstract 2012: table 270). They have become the major source of the nation’s emergency medical technicians, firefighters, nurses, and police officers.
The Functionalist Perspective: Providing Social Benefits/page 346
A central position of functionalism is that when the parts of society are working properly, each contributes to the well-being or stability of that society. The positive things that people intend their actions to accomplish are known as manifest functions. The positive consequences they did not intend are called latent functions. Let’s look at the functions of education.
The Conflict Perspective:
Perpetuating Social Inequality:
Unlike functionalists, who look at the benefits of education, conflict theories examine how the educational system reproduces the social class structure. By this, they mean that schools perpetuate the social divisions of society and help members of the elite to maintain their dominance.
Let’s look, and then, at how education is related to social classes, how it helps people inherit the life opportunities that were, laid down before they were born.
The term hidden curriculum refers to the attitudes and the unwritten rules of behavior that schools teach in addition to the formal curriculum. Examples are obedience to authority and conformity to mainstream norms. Conflict theorists’ stress that the hidden curriculum helps to perpetuates social inequalities.
The Functionalist Perspective:
Functionalists stress that religion is universal because it meets universal human needs. Let’s look at some of the functions and dysfunctions of religion.
The Symbolic Integrationist Perspective:
Symbolic interactionst focus on the meanings that people give their experiences, especially how they use symbols. Let’s apply this perspective to religious symbols, rituals, and beliefs to see how they help to forge a community of like minded people.
The Conflict Perspective:
In general, conflict theorists are highly critical of religion. They stress that religion supports the status quo and helps to maintain social inequalities. Let’s look at some of their analyses.
By IQ
In point of fact, this question raises a central issue in intelligence testing. Not all intelligent people would know the answer. This question contains cultural biases. Children from some backgrounds are more familiar with the concepts of symphonies, composers, and sculptors than are other children. Consequently, the test is tilted in their favor.
Unequal funding:
Because public schools are supported largely by local property taxes, the richer communities (where property values and incomes are higher) have more to spend on their children, and the poorer communities have less to spend on theirs. Consequently, the richer communities can offer higher salaries and take their pick of the most highly qualified and motivated teachers. The latest textbooks, computers, and software, as well as offer course, in foreign languages, music, and the arts. Thus, stress conflict theorists, means that in all states the deck is stacked against the poor.
Family Background
The end result of unequal funding IQ tests and the other factors we have discussed is this: family background is more important than test scores in predicting who attends college. Compared the college attendance of the brightest 25 percent of high school students with that of the intellectually 25 percent. Of the brightest 25 percent of high school students, 90 percent of those from affluent homes went to college, while only half of those from low-income homes did.
(In your own words, referencing)
Reference:
Henslin, J. M. (2011).
Essentials of Sociology: A Down-to-Earth Approach,
9th ed. Boston: Pearson.