Ch 2 Politics of Education

1. Perspectives

1.1. According to this chapter, the role of the school is a central focus of each of the perspectives and is at the heart of their differing analyses. The major concern is with the aims, purposes, and functions of education in a society.

1.2. According to this chapter, the explanation of unequal educational performance is based off of a liberal perspective that argues that individual students or groups of students begin school with different life chances and therefore some groups have significantly more advantages than others.

1.3. According to the text, the definition of educational problems states that the biggest issue between all political perspectives is that there are inequalities of results because of where people were born and another problem is that most diverse groups are left out and mistreated.

2. Purposes of Education

2.1. Intellectual- The intellectual purpose of teaching is to teach basic thinking skills such as reading, writing, and math. This is used to help students prepare for society in the latter years of their lives. In this chapter it states that these certain skills are analysis, evaluation, and synthesis.

2.2. Political- The political purpose of teaching is to teach students about common political order and to teach the basic laws of society

2.3. Social- The social purpose of teaching is to be able to work out social issues and prepare students for what the appropriate manner is for everyday society

2.4. Economic- The economic purpose of teaching is to help prepare students for their career in the future.