1. Politics of Education
1.1. Four Purposes of Education
1.1.1. Political
1.1.1.1. The political purposes of schools include the following: teaching children the basic laws of our government, preparing the children who will one day be political figures, to form a universal political group that everyone is involved in, and to encourage children to be faithful to our current political system.
1.1.2. Social
1.1.2.1. The social purposes of school include solving social problems, to unite all institutions under one social group that works together, exposing kids to the social behavior of society, and teaching the kids how to behave in social environments.
1.1.3. Economic
1.1.3.1. Schools have economic purposes such as preparing kids for the work field. Schools are to teach kids useful skills and how to use tools that are needed in the labor force.
1.1.4. Intellectual
1.1.4.1. The intellectual training performed by schools includes cognitive skills such as reading, writing, and mathematics. Overall the goal is to help children attain mature thought processes that yield analysis, evaluation, and synthesis critical thinking skills.
1.2. Role of the School
1.2.1. One example of the perspectives on the role of the school is the liberal perspective. The liberal perspective believes the schooling system should balance the needs of society and individuals such that all citizens receive equal and fair opportunity for wealth, power, and status. Also, liberal perspective constitutes adulthood based on individual merit and achievement.
1.3. Explanations of Unequal Performance
1.3.1. Liberals believe that there are circumstantial disadvantages for particular students as soon as the student begins school. Therefore, liberals believe that schools should put policies and programs in place that level the opportunities in a fair manner so that disadvantaged students have a better chance at success.
1.4. Definition of Educational Problems
1.4.1. 1) Schools limit the chances of poor/minority children and this causes underachievement by these groups.
1.4.2. 2) By placing too much emphasis on authority and discipline schools damage their ability to help students develop as individuals.
1.4.3. 3) The results attained from schools are not weighted enough. It is not fair for schools of low socioeconomic background to be held to the same standards as schools with high socioeconomic background.
1.4.4. 4) The curriculum in based on tradition that does not allow for the diverse cultures that make up the school body.
2. Curriculum & Pedagogy
3. Equality of Opportunity
4. Educational Inequality
5. Educational Reform
6. History of U.S. Education
6.1. Reform in U.S. Education
6.1.1. The reform movement that has had the most impact on education is progressivism. Progressives believe in experiential education that tests ways to teach and adapts through changing times. This is of crucial importance because as technology and culture grows and changes so does our education system. We have to adapt to use the newest technology and teach it as well now that so many jobs focus on technology as well as economic gain.
6.2. Historical Interpretation
6.2.1. The democratic-liberal interpretation of U.S. education history involves that of opportunity and purpose. Each step that was made in education pushed towards a future for equal opportunity for all. These steps aimed at leveling the "field" so that those who were more disadvantaged would have the same opportunity as the privileged. As this continued and schools had more diversity, the goals of education became more diverse as well.
7. Sociological Perspectives
7.1. Theoretical Perspectives
7.1.1. Functionalism
7.1.1.1. Functionalism is based on the idea that all parts of the social system are interdependent on each other and encourage the effectiveness of society. By each group of society having its own viewpoint and perspective, societal groups feed from each other. The conflict actually helps vocalize problems which is the first step to fixing problems. Functionalism demonstrates that with this society diplomatically keeps equality distributed. Overall, education does play a large role in developing the moral unity that helps build social connections.
7.1.2. Conflict Theory
7.1.2.1. Conflict theory is produced from the belief that the disagreement between people and social classes is what drives society. Whereas functionalism is based on the fact that the differences help groups overcome problems, conflict theory suggests that the groups of the most power rule over those with little power and this is what drives society. Conflict theory keeps inequality intact in order to keep the people currently in power remaining in power.
7.1.3. Interactionalism
7.1.3.1. Interactional theories derive from both functionalism and conflict theories. While functional theory and conflict theory contain very vague overviews that lack evidence, interactional theories in education consider the realistic relationships that are between students with students and students with teachers. Interactionalism remains to look at both the "big picture" and the "small picture" so it considers how situations look from the outside and what happens inside the situations.
7.2. Effects of Schooling
7.2.1. Knowledge and Attitudes
7.2.1.1. Research has proven that the status of the schools directly corresponds to the learning achievement of the student. However, the knowledge and attitudes that students gain and develop become less attributable to school when taking into consideration their socioeconomic background so this still plays a large role. Students of high economic status also show more significant progress and academic achievement than those of low economic status. Again this idea of those with advantages doing better in school is combated by the proof that no matter the socioeconomic background there is more improvement with more years of schooling.
7.2.2. Employement
7.2.2.1. It is a common belief that people with a college education are more likely to receive a higher salary. While this tends to be proven true, people with a college education are not statistically proven to perform jobs better than counterparts without a college education. While having a higher education may increase reputation and help people receive better jobs, high schools do not actually prepare students for careers or the job field.
7.2.3. Teacher Behavior
7.2.3.1. Teacher behavior is directly related to student success. In clinical trials, teachers have been told that some students tested for more potential than others and the ones that the teacher was told tested positively in these tests seemed to be given more attention and encouragement which caused the students to succeed at higher levels. This proves that there is a direct correlation between the teacher's treatment of the student and the student's success.
7.2.4. Education and Inequality
7.2.4.1. In the United States, our economic class system is very unequal. The top 5% of the population makes more than 50% of the entire United States wages. The bottom 5% of the population makes only 3.4% of the total U.S. income. This affects our students in education more than we know. Not only does the students' class shape how others in the school system see them, but it also puts the students with less advantages grouped together in poor schools very often. This is because the people that this system benefits keep this system in place and it puts barriers in between the social classes. The rich stay rich while the middle class disappears and creates a larger poor class. Then the poor are normally grouped together at low income schools as well.
7.2.5. Inadequate Schools
7.2.5.1. Urban education specifically has failed to educate the minorities and poor children. More so, the schools systems have failed to prepare them for productive and successful lives because the school systems are currently set up in ways that reinforce the inequalities between the social classes. Also, the difference in the schools that children go to can make a huge difference in the students' futures because of the social aspect of the diploma received. Some students get the opportunity to go to well renowned schools with high reputation while others have no choice.
8. Philosophy of Education
8.1. Pragmatism
8.1.1. Generic Notions
8.1.1.1. Some of the generic notions of pragmatism were based off of one of the key founders of pragmatism--John Dewey(1859-1952). These ideas included instrumentalism and experiementalism. These ideas were furthered by the theory of evolution which goes without saying involves progress. For Dewey, this meant that education was needed to achieve progress. In the classroom, this idea involved finding the interests of the students and encouraged them to plan his/her own plan of study in these interests, maintaining group learning, and most of all have experimental trials to test these plans of study.
8.1.2. Key Researchers
8.1.2.1. Founders of pragmatism include: George Sanders Pierce (1839-1914), William James (1842-1910), and John Dewey (1859-1952).
8.1.3. Goal of Education
8.1.3.1. Dewey's vision of pragmatism in schools revolved around the social order. With pragmatism having firm foundations in testing ideas he believed that pragmatism should be preached in schools in ways that allow ideas to be tested, challenged, and restructured, because Dewey believed that this would result in a better social order. Allowing for testing and restructuring allowed for constant improvement. The goal with the school systems was to balance the social role of the school with the growth and development of the individuals.
8.1.4. Role of Teacher
8.1.4.1. The role of the teacher in pragmatism is more closely related to the role of a facilitator. Due to pragmatism's focus on being able to test ideas and question the current belief and reorder the beliefs to the structure of the results of the tests, the teacher mainly suggests, questions, and helps plan the courses of study. The teacher is no longer a role of authority but a role of companion and guider.
8.1.5. Method of Instruction
8.1.5.1. In this system, children were encouraged to learn the way they were more comfortable learning. Dewey believed that children learned both individually and within groups. Traditional learning styles that forced particular structures such as stationary furniture was removed in place of chairs and desks that could be grouped together. Teaching styles and times were lenient instead of focusing on a strict time schedule. Instead of focusing on timing and structure, this style focused on lenient, comfortable settings and choices for students to pick his/her learning style preference.
8.1.6. Curriculum
8.1.6.1. The progressive curriculum of Dewey's is the notion of a "core curriculum." In this system of study that curriculum changes based on the interests and the needs of the students as well as the social order changes. Also, the curriculum would involve problem solving concepts that involve all subject matter such as math, science, history, reading, writing, music, art, wood or metal working, cooking, and sewing. The goal is to think and solve problems with an open mind that intertwines all the academic and vocational disciplines.