Education Essay

Assignment #2 – Education
      Have you ever studied abroad? Conduct an internet search and identify another country, other than the United States and investigate the educational programs that are present. How does it compare to the educational system in the U.S? In what ways might the system be better or worse than that in America?
Develop an essay addressing all of the above questions.
Acceptable Length: 2-3 pagesFormatting Requirements:

• Put your name, course and section number, and assignment title at the top of the document. 
• Use one-inch margins. 
• Use a 12-point Times New Roman font. 
• Use double line spacing in the document. 
• Use MLA_Citation_Style 

Instructor Resource

Coates, The Matrix of Race

SAGE Publishing, 2018

Lecture Notes

Chapter 6: Education
Learning Objectives

6-1 Describe the current state of education in the United States and the key historical factors that have shaped it

6-2 Compare the major sociological theories of education

6-3 Analyze the matrix perspectives to education

6-4 Identify alternatives to the educational system that recognize intersectional realities

I. The Shaping of the Matrix of U.S. Education

A. Educational opportunities are not the same for all

1. Educational segregation is woven into the fabric of the United States

a. Different educations create different identities

B. The matrix of race matters in the institution of education and vice versa

1. It is shaped by decisions, definitions, and declarations about difference

2. C. Wright Mills (1959) asserts education functions to maintain the social hierarchy

C. The institution of education is vital and complex

1. Some see it as a solution for inequalities

a. Others see education itself as rife with inequalities

1. This is especially true for those who are not white or affluent

b. 82% of all 9th grade public school students graduated high school after 4 years, with Asian American (89%) and white (87%) students graduating at higher rates

1. Latino (76%), Black (73%), and Native American (70%) students graduated at much lower rates (NCES 2015)

II. Education Today

A. A college degree still provides a material boost to lifetime earnings

1. Ten years after graduation the alumni of elite institutions are out-earning their peers from other colleges

a. Male graduates earn more per year than female graduates (Carnevale, Rose, and Cheah 2011)

B. Many U.S. children begin their structured experience of education soon after birth

1. 43.2% were organized in day care or preschool

a. The remaining were under the care of a parent or relative (U.S. Census Bureau 2011)

b. Black and Latino children were a little less than half as likely to attend preschool as White and Asian children

2. Mothers with only high school educations are five times less likely to enroll their children in preschool than mothers with college degrees

C. Who enrolls and attends school has changed over time

1. Gains that Blacks and Latinos have made in graduating from high school as well as the gains in enrolling in and attending college have not resulted in a proportionate attainment of Bachelor’s Degrees

a. In the 2011–12 school year, Latinos made up 18% of all high school graduates

1. They also made up 19% of the college enrollments, but by the time they were 25–29 years old they made up only 9% of bachelor’s degrees awarded

III. A Short History

A. The institution of education in the United States has almost always been the site of conflict, debate, and confrontation over access

1. This conflict is often between dominant groups and Blacks, Latinos, women, poor and working class families, sexual minorities, and those with physical and mental disabilities

IV. Native American Boarding Schools

A. Harvard University was the first university built and chartered in the United States

1. The Harvard Indian College was established in 1655

a. It was intended to educate English and Indian Youth in “knowledge and godliness” (McGrory 2011)

2. Until 1903, over 460 boarding and day schools were built close to reservations and run by religious organizations using federal funds

a. 100,000 indigenous children were “educated” out of their cultures, languages, and ways of life

b. Native American activism arose in the 1960s in attempt to close these schools

1. Eventually, community schools and colleges run by tribes themselves were established

V. Early African American Education: “Separate but Equal”

A. After the emancipation of enslaved Africans in 1863 and the Civil War in 1865, the Reconstruction period began

1. There were four main challenges in this process

a. To rebuilt the Southern economy on free labor, not slaves

b. To change the South so it could rejoin the United States

c. To integrate freed Africans into society

d. Protect freed Africans from harm

1. In the face of industrialization and capital development in the northern United States, only the first challenge was achieved

2. The “education of the Negro” began in “separate but equal” schools

a. The goal was to keep blacks domesticated and subservient

1. By 1870 the institutionalization of comprehensive and separate public schools systems for whites and blacks was underway

3. Booker T. Washington grew concerned about increasing violence targeting the black community and schools

1. He articulated the Atlanta Compromise in a speech given on September 18, 1965

a. Southern blacks would agree to work and submit to white political rule

1. In exchange, whites would guarantee basic education and allow for due process in the law

b. One year later, the U.S. Supreme Court in Plessy v. Ferguson, responded by declaring racial segregation in public facilities was constitutional

1. It was argued that this fell under the doctrine of separate but equal, which heralded the Jim Crow era of legal segregation

VI. Social Desegregation

A. W.E.B. DuBois and the black civil rights group he founded called the Niagara Movement called for free education for all

1. From his criticism, the Harlem Renaissance was born

a. Black scholars, scientists, and artists aimed to reject negative characterizations of blackness

1. They asserted the existence of the “New Negro”

B. Brown v. Topeka Board of Education set aside the Plessy v. Ferguson decision and held that “separate” was by definition “unequal”

1. For decades, Black schools had been underfunded

a. According to testimony offered to the Court, the costs to equalize these programs would bankrupt the south

2. Mendez et al v. Westminster School District of Orange County was a case where Mexican plaintiffs won the case as the ruling declared the segregation of Mexican and Mexican American students into separate schools was unconstitutional

3. Education in the United States has involved decisions and definitions including who is considered fully human and who is valued

VII. Theories of Education

A. Sociology offers many potential theoretical perspectives and these theories help us understand the origin of stock stories about education

B. Social-Functional Theory: Education as a Socialization Process

1. Education is a socialization process

a. Socialization is the process whereby members of society are taught society’s roles, norms, and values

2. Emile Durkheim argued that educational instilled a sense of morality and cohesion within individuals (1955, 1962, 1977)

a. Children are subconsciously infused with values (such as patriotism and individual effort) and this takes place in the classroom

1. Students are taught conformity

2. This conformity makes us follow norms and produces social cohesion

C. Human Capital Theory: Education as Skill Acquisition

1. Schools aim to give students skills for the global economy

a. This theory asserts that education invokes an apprenticeship model of education

1. In pre-capitalist society, a craftsman would take on an apprentice to train in tasks such as cobbling (typically men)

2. In “dame schools,” female teachers taught sewing and knitting (Forman-Brunell 2011)

3. Boys from affluent families went to grammar schools to learn writing, math, and languages such as Latin (Zhboray 1993)

2. The provision of skills that are exchangeable within a social structure for other forms of capital has been described as the development of human capital (Schultz 1961; Becker 1964; Coleman 1988)

a. The assumption that education leads to skills, and that skills leads to jobs, has serious consequences for non-white and lower-class members of society

1. It posits that the playing field is level,

2. Education delivers these skills,

3. Race, class, and gender play no moderating role in the effects of these processes

VIII. Examining the Concealed Story of Race and Education Through the Matrix

A. Education as conversion tool

1. The institution of education becomes a tool with which groups in society attempt to change social arrangements and meaning systems

a. Education can be seen as a conversion story

b. The colonization of the mind refers to inferiority left on the psyche of individuals and communities long after colonizers left

1. A deep re-socialization experience takes place in those who have been stripped of their dignity and self-determination

2. Black Studies, Chicano Studies, Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies, and Indigenous Studies in the United States are disciplines in which many education-as-conversion stories have been uncovered

a. Many of these disciplines began as student movements aimed at changing institutions

1. They grew in earnest as a result of the Civil Rights Movement

b. The first four-year Black Studies program was organized by Nathan Hare and Jimmy Garret in 1968 at San Francisco State University

B. Education as a site of class construction

C. Education has consistently perpetuated class inequality

1. The notion that education provides a society with the knowledge necessary to function is encouraged by the dominant class

a. Some argue that if you do not receive an education, you are not a full member of society

2. Education has played a role in creating and reproducing classes over generations

a. Schools do this implicitly, structurally, and culturally

1. For example, dress codes inform students that they are only allowed to wear certain clothes at school

2. Dress codes often have race, class, and gender overtones

D. Cultural capital refers to the resources (meanings, codes, understandings) that individuals can accumulate to exchange for other goods – socially or economically (Bourdieu and Passeron 1977)

1. Cultural capital exists in three forms

a. Embodied personal characteristics (the ability to feel and think in ways acceptable to the dominant class)

b. Physical objects (books, clothes, music, etc. recognized by the dominant class as worthy

c. Institutionalized recognition (like a college degree) as an accepted credential that determines the graduate’s worth in the job market

2. Cultural capital teaches us the rules of society

a. The dominant class creates and benefits from these rules

b. The “rules” are not attainable for all as they are rooted in privilege

E. Education as creating workers

1. Schools exist to create (not educate) workers for the labor force

a. Karl Marx asserts that all social institutions exist and operate to benefit the bourgeoisie (the owning class) and their interests

1. Based on this, schools produce proletariats (workers)

b. Skills learned in school are not intended to benefit the students, but those who will use the students for profit

F. Education as a citizen machine

1. Schools and the institution of education socially construct age hierarchies, gender identities, student roles, and ways to think

a. This includes the creation of nationalist sentiments

1. For example, reciting the Pledge of Allegiance

b. Education is a tool for social control

1. Students are taught how to act in society as proper citizens

IX. Education, Race, and Intersectional Realities

A. Depending on an individual’s race, class, gender, sexuality, and abilities – they experience education differently

B. Social class

1. We are born into a social class

a. Social class is one of the most fundamental axes of inequality in all societies

2. The United States is the only nation that funds its public schools on the basis of local and state revenues

a. This means that a community can support its school system only to the extent that its local tax revenues (based on the income and wealth of its residents) can afford

1. This explains disadvantaged schools in disadvantaged communities

b. One result of this is the school-to-prison pipeline

1. Black, Latino, and Native American schools have little funding

2. This impacts achievement rates

3. Students are more likely to drop out of school if they feel they don’t have the means to succeed

4. In result, students turn to committing crimes and then are put into prison (Redfield and Nance 2016)

C. Many students see higher education as a requirement for a decent-paying job

1. College has grown increasingly expensive, putting many graduates into debt

a. More Black and Latino students take out loans than whites or Asians

D. Gender

1. Despite advancements in school enrollment for girls around the world, women still account for the majority of illiterate adults

a. This is particularly true in South and West Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, and the Arab States

2. Education is one of the most effective ways to fight poverty

a. It is also a precondition for girls and women to stand up against injustice

b. In 2011, Malala Yousafzai of Pakistan, 14 at the time, was shot in the head and neck by the Taliban for her political activism with girls in her community

1. This experience reminds us that worldwide the education of girls fundamentally matters

3. Boys and girls experience schooling very differently

a. Girls do less well on standardized tests than boys but get better grades (Duckworth and Siegelman 2006)

b. Girls’ behavior in school is more in line with institutional expectations of students (Downey and Vogt Yuan 2005)

c. Girls show more interest in schooling than boys (Rosenbaum 2011)

d. High school boys and girls are taking more similar classes, unlike earlier decades (Hallinan and Sorensen 1987)

4. Girls engage more fully than boys in many aspects of school

a. One cause of this is society’s limited definition of masculinity

1. Teenage boys do not see engaging in school as a path to providing masculinity as they may be bullied as geeks

b. Among black youth, getting good grades is often seen as “acting white”

5. In the wake of the #BlackLivesMatter campaign, the African American Policy Institute released a report called Black Girls Matter: Pushed Out, Overpoliced, and Underprotected (Crenshaw 2015). Various findings include:

a. School-age black girls experience a higher rate of violence

b. Girls often “act out” when their counseling needs are disregarded

c. Schools often fail to intervene in harassment of girls

d. Pregnancy makes it difficult for girls to engage fully in school

6. Gender, racial, and class differences affect the labeling of students with disabilities and the services they receive

a. Students of color (especially black boys) are more likely than whites to be labeled with intellectual disabilities (USDOE 2016)

E. Sexuality

1. In 1999, the Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network (GLSEN) published its first National School Climate Survey

a. 8,500 students were canvassed to understand their experiences

b. LGBTQ experience hostile schools climates and lower educational aspirations

c. Students reported assaults on their sexuality and gender

1. This includes physical and emotional assault

2. LGBT students of color receive harassment in addition to daily microaggressions that they receive from others when others make assumptions about their statuses

a. This includes race, class, etc.

3. The GLSEN report and LGBTQ students offered several solutions:

a. Increased opportunities for gay-straight alliances

b. Curricula must be inclusive of their experiences

1. This includes supportive teachers

c. Comprehensive anti-bullying policies and laws should be in place

X. Alternative Educational Movements and the Future of Education

A. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Paulo Freire sought to reveal the oppressive foundations of capitalist education systems, particularly in colonized countries

1. He called for the construction of a pedagogy of liberation whereby education can free people and not confine them

2. Believing that the capitalist system of education was instrumental in silencing the oppressed, he argued for a form of education through which the oppressed, in dialogue with one another and by drawing from personal experience, would come to critically question the oppressive system

a. He explained that individuals must recognize that they are oppressed

1. After this, they must participate in their own liberation to transform society

B. Imagining new educations

1. Freire advocated for student-teachers

a. Students are seen as having experiences based on their places within the matrix

b. A dialogue begins that includes respect for each other’s knowledge and uncovers the myths that hold us in oppression

1. In this way, the classroom constructs liberation

c. Knowledge is constructed from personal experiences

2. Schools should be transformed into local spaces for cultural knowledge of marginalized communities

a. The school would also be a center for participation and organization of the school community in conjunction with other social movements

3. Based on radical reimagining of education, teacher-students and student-teachers learn to change their views of themselves and the world

a. A curriculum should be centered on present social, economic, and historical conditions rather than being a continuation of the past

4. Education ought to be socially contextualized and aware of power

a. We must see ourselves as the change we want to see in the world

5. Student-teachers understand that they possess the right to speak and call for a renegotiation of curriculum

a. In this way, they gain ownership

b. Race, class, and gender are embraced as sites of creativity

1. This allows student-teachers the ability to see multiple perspectives and build communal identity

C. Education as an human right

1. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) enshrines education as a human right

a. We need human rights principles to be structured into social relationships that exist in schools

b. We must move toward a liberation curriculum

c. There should be alternative models to civics, political science, social science, and history

1. Current structures prepare citizens and not humans

d. We must enhance the promotion and protection of all human rights