1. Ch. 2 - Politics of Education
1.1. Four Purposes of Education
1.1.1. 1. The political purpose of education is to instill the law of the government, allegiance to the government, and create different cultures under one government.
1.1.2. 2. The social purpose of schooling is to ensure social cohesion and achieve socialization.
1.1.3. 3. The economic purpose is to prepare students for their future careers outside of school.
1.1.4. 4. The intellectual purpose is to teach students higher order thinking skills and basic cognitive skills.
1.2. According to conservatives, the role of the school is to raise students up that maximize in economic and social productivity. The schools should make students familiar and prepared for their adult roles while giving the students insight into cultural traditions.
1.3. According to radicals, students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds are already underprivileged when it comes to school. Their failure in school is caused by their economic status, not their educational system.
1.4. According to the democratic-liberals, the history of U.S. education revolves around the commitment of equal opportunity education.
1.5. According to the liberals, educational problems are caused by limitations placed on poor and minority students resulting in under achievement, schools cannot help students learn how to be individuals because too much emphasis is placed on discipline, and the traditional curriculum does not include teachings about diverse cultures involved in today's pluralistic society.
2. Ch. 3 - History of U.S. Education
3. Ch. 6 - Schools as Organizations
3.1. Major Stakeholders
3.1.1. • Alabama’s Federal senators are Richard Shelby and Luther Strange and the House Representatives are Bradley Byrne, Martha Roby, Mike Rogers, Robert Aderholt, Mo Brooks, Gary Palmer, and Terri Sewell. Alabama’s state senator for District 8 is Steve Livingston and the house representative for District 24 is Nathaniel Ledbetter. The state superintendent is Governor Kay Ivey and the district representative is Mary Scott Hunter. The superintendent of the local high school is Jim Cunningham and the board members are Kathy Prater, Neal Baine, Carolyn Martin, Randy McClung, and James Durham.
3.2. Elements of Change
3.2.1. School processes and school cultures
3.2.1.1. The elements of change are conflict, the ability to learn new behaviors, team building, and the process and content are interrelated.
4. Ch. 4 - The Sociology of Education
4.1. Theoretical Perspectives
4.1.1. Functionalism
4.1.1.1. Functional theories see society as a machine where all social parts work together to make society work, and in this society, consensus is the normal. Educational systems are supposed to sort students by their abilities.
4.1.2. Conflict Theories
4.1.2.1. In this theory, schools are based on conflict where students fight against teachers, teachers fight against administration, etc. The conflict theorists believe that this conflict is hidden to produce an idea that schools do teach well regardless of social status, but really schools are solely based on social status.
4.1.3. Interactionalism
4.1.3.1. Interactional theories include many points made in the functional and conflict theories. Interactionist theories are concerned with the micro level problems within the school system.
4.2. Effects of Schooling on Individuals
4.2.1. 1. Teacher behavior is a huge factor in the effect schooling has on students. When a teacher has an optimistic attitude towards their students, the students are more likely to do well in the classroom.
4.2.2. 2. Student peer groups are a big factor in a child's life. If a child has a good, positive friend group, they will likely enjoy school. However, if a student is alone and feels like they have no friends, they are more likely to be troublemakers.
4.2.3. 3. Employment opportunities make students strive to complete high school. Many students have better chances at getting a job if they have a high school diploma.
4.2.4. 4. Many people believe education is the pathway to a better life; therefor, they stay in school. Some people, however, think differently. Some people also believe that a degree from a public school does not hold as much weight as a degree from a private school.
4.2.5. 5. Tracking has either a very good or very bad impact on the effect of schooling. If a student is placing on a track based on their abilities and strengths, then tracking is a very positive theory. However, if a tracking decision is based on a student's race or social status, the decision is not fair and does not provide an equal education opportunity to that student.
5. Ch. 5 - Philosophy of Education
5.1. Pragmatism
5.1.1. Pragmatism encourages people to work to achieve their goals. Some of the key researchers of this philosophy are George Sanders Peirce, William James, and John Dewey. Dewey's generic notions were that education was progressive we could achieve betterment through education. The goal of education then is to integrate children into a democratic society where they can transform the current society into an even more democratic one. In this kind of education, the role of the teacher is not an authoritarian figure, but a facilitator that uses methods of instruction such as individual and group lessons, problem-solving, field trips, etc. The curriculum used in the schools starts with known problems and situations then looks at unknown concepts. The curriculum is based on the society's needs as well as the children's interests.
6. Ch 7 - Curriculum and Pedagogy
6.1. Social Meliorist
6.1.1. The social meliorist curriculum is a curriculum that teaches students in ways to help the society and future of our country. The curriculum is based on Dewey's writings and as a refute to the social efficiency curriculum. The point of this curriculum is to show students world problems and train them to be future problem solvers. There is a strong classification between academic and vocational studies that trains students to be prepared for the real world and be able to change their future work zone for the better.
6.2. Traditions of Teaching
6.2.1. Mimetic
6.2.1.1. This pedagogic practice believes the purpose of education is to transmit specific knowledge to students . In this tradition, the teacher and students have an understood relationship where the teacher presents their knowledge to transfer it to the student.
6.2.2. Transformative
6.2.2.1. This tradition believes that the teacher and students are equally important and that the purpose of education is to change the student intellectually, creatively, spiritually, and emotionally. The student's knowledge does not rely on their teacher. Their knowledge relies on the students' questioning and communication with the teacher to scaffold upon previous knowledge and learn more things than a teacher could've ever taught them.
7. Ch 8 - Equality of Opportunity
7.1. Impacting Educational Outcomes
7.1.1. Class
7.1.1.1. A student's class directly affects their education middle and upper-class families tend to be more supportive on their children and give them the best educational opportunities available. Lower or working-class families normally do not place much emphasis on education or finishing school. These lower-class students are often labeled wrongly and biasedly because they do are not able to pursue things like middle and upper-class students can.
7.1.2. Race
7.1.2.1. Race and class are very similar because in the U.S. the lower or working-class is primarily minorities.Studies have proven the White students out-perform African-American students and hispanic-American students on many standardized tests thereby increased the chance of a White student earning scholarships to further their education.
7.1.3. Gender
7.1.3.1. Gender roles in education used to be a big problem; however, in today's time through movements such as feminization, males and females are playing on a more level field. Some academic areas women perform better like reading and writing, but men are better in mathematics, .
7.2. Coleman Study Responses
7.2.1. The first response refuted the decision of the study and claimed that private schools are do not statistically perform better than public schools.
7.2.2. The second response agreed with the study's findings and backed the idea that the school an individual attends is based on their socioeconomic background and race.
8. Ch 10 - Educational Reform
8.1. School-Based Reforms
8.1.1. School-to-work programs are theoretically good ideas for reform. The intention was to train students that did not desire a college degree and prepare them with a vocational skill to be used on-the-job. The problem with these programs is that often times they do not fully prepare students for what it's really like on the job.
8.1.2. Teacher quality is a reform that has been pushed for a long time. Teachers should hold certificates for the subjects they teach and they should be fully equipped with every attribute the school system needs. School systems should also strive to hire qualified teachers instead of under-qualified ones.
8.2. Educational Impacts
8.2.1. Mayoral control has been implemented in schools that need government help. Some thin that instead of takeover, mayoral control is a better option because it is less corrupt. However, some refute that opinion by saying mayoral control in unconstitutional and does not help the school systems at all.
8.2.2. A community based reform is full-service schools. These schools not only educate the student bu they educate the whole community by collaborating with parents and the community and offer adult education classes, training programs, and health clinics.
9. Ch 9 - Educational Inequality
9.1. Cultural Differences
9.1.1. One cultural difference theory is that working-class non-white students reject the culture of schools. These students embrace the lower working-class mindset and do not want to better their circumstances through education.
9.1.2. Another cultural difference theory is that African-American students do poorly in school because they "adapt to their oppressed position in the class and caste structure". This theory suggests that African-American children are raised believing that they cannot not change their circumstances and that they will always be oppressed and the U.S. will always be plagued by racism.
9.2. Educational Inequality
9.2.1. School financing greatly affect the education provided. In schools with more funding, there is better education and resources available for students.
9.2.2. Effective school research would provide more equity in education. If teachers and administrators knew exactly what caused students to underperform - whether it be race, or socioeconomic status.
9.2.3. Differences in curriculum and pedagogy practices between schools is a cause for educational inequality. In lower income schools, teachers are seen and present themselves as authoritative figures that are only there to transfer knowledge to the students. In schools that can afford ore teachers, teachers are seen as educators that allow the students to build on their education. these teachers are the authoritative and the students learn to enjoy education because the teacher is their for the student - not to just teach a concept.
9.2.4. Within schools, educational inequality is caused by curriculum and ability grouping. Schools group students by abilities - the higher scoring kids in one group and the lower scoring kids in another group - to try and provide more specialized teaching. However, in many cases, this grouping does not help students because only the brightest students are being taught to go above and beyond their knowledge while the lower performing students are taught just enough to get them by.