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Sociological Perspective on Educational Issues
I. Introduction American education serves both political (power) and economic needs, which dictates the function of education. Today, there is a huge debate on the function of education by sociologists and educators. Specifically this paper will not only address the functions of education but also, educational issues that affect both spectrums of society. Because it is known that education does promote social inequality through the use of tracking and standardized testing and the impact of its hidden curriculum that will be used as an example to understand the issue of tracking (Sociology, John J Macionis). This paper touches will be trying to show that schools differ widely in their funding and
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These social inequalities that happen to affect the students are based on their race, social status and financial income. After researching, the article “On Being White”, shows that it is more common for an African American student to have a harder time at school and not have adequate teaching over a white American. The African American community in the United States are expected to fail and most likely end up in at or below the poverty line. A critical contribution to this all starts at a young age in terms of where they are placed no matter their gender to learn. Whether it be a public or private school a student should not have to be ranked and essentially stereotype based on their physical appearance (On Being White, Bruce, Allie Jane). Furthermore, social inequality within the education system is based on racism which compliments the conflict theory. The school should be based on the functional theory and it is ashamed that it isn’t because as much as African American students are more likely to fail and not have a future they are the more determined based on their history (Rethinking Anti-Racism and Equity Education, Rosina Agyepong). The nation 's goals should be to help educators identify and acknowledge the intentional and unintentional consequences of maintaining white supremacy within higher education, despite espoused efforts to dismantle
Unequal funding and lack of opportunities offering are restricted minority students to compete to white students. The school system is not independently separated from race and racism as people think. Race and racism are social illness that immediately need action in order to bring the best atmosphere and energy for educational system because schools are places for teaching and learning. Schools should not allow race and racism affect their spaces’ neutralization. Withstanding race and racism in education is a long and difficult task, but it is a worthy effort because in the future, all children will able to receive a better and equal
The first reason African American males are less likely to graduate from college is because of society’s belief that they devalue education. Meanwell, Patel, and McClure’s essay, “ Well, That Culture Really Values Education,” explores this concept because throughout historical landmarks such as, Brown v. Board of Education, have aimed to break down the inequality in education. Despite this, there are still disproportionate numbers in the level of white female and male students graduating compared to African American males. So, this leads to their explanation of a myth that “education is more valued white communities,” however research finds that Black students hold positive attitudes toward education. They also mention that Black students who
America is often thought of as the land of equality and opportunity. We have fought for many things like all people being treated as equals and women’s rights and seen change, but one thing that has not seen a lot of change is the equality for the students in the American education system. Many people think that the American education system gives all students an equal chance to succeed, but minority students such as Hispanics, African-Americans, Asians, etc. have a harder time persevering in school than other students. Since our education system is based on strict disciplinary methods, curriculums for students that speak English, and funding for resources, the question that arrives in many people’s minds are, if all students are given an equal
Even though the Brown v. Board of Education was 62 years ago, African Americans are still fighting to have an equal education opportunity. “But many schools are as segregated today as they were before the ruling, and black children throughout the United States are performing at the bottom of the American educational system” (Jackson 1). Nevertheless, it took decades of hard work and struggle by numerous African Americans for a better education system. Education is the key to success, it gives people the knowledge that they need to strive and become more intelligent thinkers, which leads to more opportunities for them in the job industry. Ever since the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which banned discrimination of any kind, African Americans have every right to have this equal educational opportunity like everyone else. But yet, they were stopped in their tracks by disapproving Americans, who confined the succession of African Americans in the education system. Now that we are in the 21st century, there’s still negligence on black’s education. The black community do not have equal education opportunities because of the lack of funding, poverty experienced by the children in the neighborhoods and society’s views of the black community.
The students in the school are shied away and even denied opportunities for higher education by the teachers, “Many have been discouraged or prevented from pursuing academic or work goals” (Kivel 44). From not believing in the students to not wanting them to get further ahead in life, the teachers in this low budgeted, racist school are sacrificing the students future in the name of institutionalized racism. This causes the students to remain in the same social class for another generation, once again, starting the cycle of integrated racism in the schools and surrounding
...disparities between the two ethnic communities that can be traced back to the legacy of slavery and other forms of oppression that blacks have suffered.” Supporters of this view felt that educational achievement correlates more strongly with economic status than with any other single variable. Since the majority of the black community lags behind whites in income and wealth, the educational inequalities are caused by the economic inequalities. They believe that once the inequalities disappear, the educational disparities will as well. Many argue that this is not a viable argument. They point to other minority groups such as Asians, some of whom are financially worse off than blacks, and they excel in school . They felt that because the civil rights legislation removed all roadblocks back in the 60’s and 70’s something else must be contributing to the large gap.
Prejudice, racism, discrimination have always been present in society. Combined together, they form one of the most terrible and dreadful ways of treating and thinking about another human being. The effects of these actions and views on individuals have impacted society in an irreparable and tragic way. Judging someone by the color of their skin creates permanent impacts in people’s lives. A consequence caused by that old-fashioned way of thinking and seeing society in general is the effects these views have on black children education: a considerable number of American black children suffer to get a good education since they are in preschool.
Segregation in educational institutions taking place in the United States is not often talked about. People may consider apartheid schooling taking place presently to a nation that does not respect basic human rights. Thus, the injustices taking place in public schools are not easily classified because it is commonplace to many. It can be argued that apartheid schooling was never completely dismantled in the United States. Jonathan Kozol’s book The Shame of the Nation (2005) provides evidence and insight to apartheid within the educational system that children are currently experiencing. The structure in children’s curriculum, the way they are spoken to as well as the funding public schools are funded are examples to the inequalities that children face. Conceptually, structural violence is what keeps educational injustices to recur.
Over the past four-hundred plus years, racism has plagued the history of American society. The idea that one person is inherently better than another because of the color of their skin has always been present from our founding to today. During the rise of the Civil Rights movement in the mid 1900’s, racism was repeatedly being dealt blows by those brave enough to stand up for the rights they felt belonged to citizens of all shapes and colors. One important event that led to progress for people of color was the desegregation of the schooling systems. From young girls walking into all-white schools to black men being selected to participate in different academies, the Civil Rights movement to desegregate schools was influential in how progress
When segregation in schools was abolished in the 1950’s, the African American community surely did not anticipate any outcome that wasn’t positive. This is not to say that American schools should remain segregated, however, the sudden shift in the societal structure caused an imbalance in, what was intended to be, an equal opportunity classroom.
The current socio-economic climate of the United States and the world at large can best be characterized as one in which access to both opportunity and wealth are increasingly scarce to those living in poverty. While there are a number of contributing factors that create this mass inequality, the scope of this argument will focus on education. The American schooling system is lagging behind globally and the current programs in place are ineffective to the point of being detrimental. This paper asserts that specific changes to the public education system will produce positive outcomes not only in the global ranking but will be additionally beneficial in bridging the opportunity gap and countering the growing culture of classism. Specifically, the argument, backed by statistics and application of sociological principles, will support the notion that adding sociology as part of a compulsory curriculum is a viable means to reverse the increasing disparity between the rich and the poor.
It isn’t just about how hard you work in a classroom but smaller things can make a larger impact in the end. Your parents educational background, your parent’s income, where you live, and the majority race at your school, these can all play a factor in how well you succeed. Watching the film Frontline in class was eye-opening to me for a few reasons. The family got up before sunrise so that they could travel miles and miles just to go to a school that is more integrated. The outside small towns of Baton Rouge wanting to create a new school district would make it even harder for these children to travel and receive a more equal education. For example, Woodlong High was majority white and before you knew it the school was 60% African American. It isn’t bad that the African Americans integrated into the school, the problems arise when the white community leaves the district. Just like when my family moved to Iowa City, we were pushed to avoid going to a school whose majority population was African American. They don’t outright say, “you should move here so that your children grow up with a majority White population”. By steering this way, you do see divide within the community. This would be called contemporary discrimination because of how they may not come out and say these things but there is an underlying meaning that does fall in the
One can gain insight through participation and observations of lectures. The concepts that I grasped are based on the individuality and interest of various topics and how I perceive them. Through taking the course of Sociology of Education I have been able to read and conceptualize how prominent education is in the United States; therefore projecting that education is an important tool the modern world correlates with success. Individuals that subject themselves to receiving an education through research validate that they can reach their optimal potential. Sociology of Education covered vast areas of vital informations which put educations and its functions into perspectives by stages.
Social institutions are an important element in the structure of human societies. They provide a structure for behavior in a particular part of social life. The five major social institutions in large societies are family, education, religion, politics, and economics. While each institution does deal with a different aspect of life, they are interrelated and intersect often in the course of daily life. For example, for schools to be able to exist they rely on funding from the government. This is an intersection between politics and education. Social institutions affect individual lives through other aspects of society such as culture, socialization, social stratification, and deviance. This paper will focus on the social institution of education, and how it affects individual lives through socialization, deviance, and social stratification.
The Role of Education in Modern Society Functionalism is based on the notion of social consensus. They see society as consisting of distinguishable parts. All these parts have a clear role, which is to fulfil functions, which keeps the society. whole and orderly. As applied to education, functionalists view the education system as fulfilling the important function of socialisation.