1. Sociological Perspective
1.1. Public Education, Globalization, and Democracy: Whither Alberta?
1.1.1. Sociological perspectives
1.1.1.1. Structural Functionalist
1.1.1.1.1. A structural functional perspective states that education, along with the other institutions, work together in order to sustain a functioning society.
1.1.1.2. Conflict
1.1.1.2.1. Conflict Theorists see societies social, political, and economic inequalities. This inequality produces conflict. This theory argues the education is unequally spread throughout society.
1.2. Unequal Student Attainments: Class, Gender, and Race
1.2.1. This article largely comments conflict perspective, and structural functionalist perspective. These two view points often take opposite sides in this article.
1.2.1.1. A big question of this article is: Do schools create inequality? Does race, class, or or gender say anything about where a student is destined to end up in the school system?
1.2.1.1.1. Structural Functionalists think that they don't. Functionalist believe that schools are actually great equalizers. Education is an institution that prepares individuals to function in society. It generates equal opportunities for all, and creates a level playing field. Education should be a meritocracy, where individuals are rewarded for ability sand talent. Academic rewards go to whoever has performed the best, regardless of what that student's background may be.
1.2.1.1.2. Marxist conflict theorist believe that yes, schools do create social inequalities. This theory states that schools offer minorities little choice other than entering into low paying jobs. Teachers also often stereotype various minorities, which can determine the level of education these students have access to. Students may be steered into lower streams early on, preventing them from ever working their way up.
1.3. The School as an Informal System of Socialization
1.3.1. Symbolic Interaction - Mead
1.3.1.1. Mead believe that socialization occurs through an ongoing process of the development of oneself. Mead believes that there is an "I" and a "Me" aspect of every individual.
1.3.1.1.1. "ME"
1.3.1.1.2. "I"
1.3.2. Interpretive Sociologist - Schutz
1.3.2.1. Examined interpretive principles and methods that individuals use to make sense of a situation.
1.3.2.2. Intersubjectivity - The knowledge we accumulate through experiences, including knowledge about others transmitted to us by parents and teachers.
1.3.2.2.1. Common sense knowledge is gained over time, and individuals have in on hand to use for practical purposes. This knowledge can be used for interpretation of the individuals past and current experiences.
1.3.3. Structural Functionalists and the Hidden Curriculum
1.3.3.1. School has a purpose to socialize children and prepare them for their roles in society. Much of what children learn is not found in the formal curriculum. As well as formal lessons, social experiences play a large role in the learning process. This helps develop identity and personality.
2. Philosophical Perpective
2.1. Public Education, Globalization, and Democracy: Whither Alberta?
2.1.1. Neo-liberal ideas have affected all public services in Alberta, especially Education.
2.1.1.1. A neo-liberal critique of Canada's "poor education performance" is that it has compromised Canada's competitive position in the global marketplace.
2.1.1.1.1. Value is now being placed increasingly on education as a tool to prepare students to work, as opposed to the interrelatedness of the economy, society, and public and private realms.
2.1.2. Blame has been placed on the education system in Canada for the productivity decline, social inequality, changing family structure, and heightened consumerism.
2.1.2.1. Education is treated as a scapegoat, and thought of as both the problem and the solution for social conditions and political agendas.
2.1.3. The New Right government politicized education and involved the business community more and more into public education.
2.1.3.1. This lead to the corporate sector having a great influence on education and the restructuring of Canadian schools.
2.1.3.1.1. The corporate sector entered into partnerships with Canadian schools and promoted privatization, marketization, and commodification of educational services.
2.1.4. The role of education under Klein is dramatically different from the ideal role of education as written by the authors.
2.1.4.1. Klein's government intended students to attend school in order to learn job related skills. This would eventually result in society being equipped to jump start the economy.
2.1.4.2. The authors state that education should involve a deep understanding of why our world is changing, our interactions with other cultures, as well as what divides cultures, classes, and nations. Education is necessary for democratic citizenship, and should creat a safe place for the development of personal autonomy and social criticism.
2.2. Unequal Student Attainments: Class, Gender, and Race
2.2.1. This article shows that different groups have different perspectives of how unequal Canada's schools are today, although each perspective appears to value racial, class, and gender equality.
2.2.2. Different cultures value education in different ways. Many aboriginal cultures have alternative methods of learning that aren't taught in the mainstream schools available for these children. This means that children grow up with certain values, and are taught a whole new set in school. This may be a cause for inequality in the classroom.
2.2.3. Schools, teachers, and communities greatly impact academic success. Schools are quite unequal in terms of budget, teacher salaries, class sizes, and library funds (especially in the states). Student achievement is affected by this.
2.3. The School as an Informal System of Socialization
2.3.1. MEAD
2.3.1.1. Norms are not simply internalized; they are socially constructed. The socialization process that guides these norms is influenced by family background, which includes the following:
2.3.1.1.1. Social Class
2.3.1.1.2. Ethnicity
2.3.1.1.3. Language
2.3.1.1.4. Gender
2.3.1.1.5. Cultural Practices
2.3.1.1.6. Religion
2.3.2. Emile Durkeim
2.3.2.1. Schooling passes on society's normative system.
2.3.2.1.1. Moral Socialization:
2.3.3. Political socialization refers to the way that schools instills norms and values that end up supporting the prevailing structure of society, including the dominant political ideology.
2.3.4. Piaget uses a cognitive perspective to talk about the development of perception and thought processes.
2.3.4.1. Piaget says that biological and environmental factors work together to shape human behaviour. There are two levels of morality that individuals reach.
2.3.4.1.1. Moral Realism: This is attained around the ages of 4 to 7. These individuals judge misbehaviour solely in terms of consequences.
2.3.4.1.2. Moral Autonomy: This occurs usually in children 7 to 9 years of age. At this stages individuals realize the reasons behind misbehaving.
2.3.5. Social Learning Theory: This is a behaviourist theory because it focusses on solely on environmental factors. This is all external to the child. This principle is based around positive and negative reinforcement shaping behaviour.
2.3.5.1. This theory states that behaviour, language, beliefs, and norms are all earned by observation and imitation.
3. Historical Perspective
3.1. Public Education, Globalization, and Democracy: Whither Alberta?
3.1.1. Klein Revolution: Ralph Klein was elected as Prime Minister in 1993
3.1.1.1. Positive changes Klein made to the education system: Involve parents through school councils, expand curriculum options for students, and accommodate work schedules for individual teachers.
3.1.2. Klein made neo-liberal changes to the education system in Alberta. He wanted privatization of public schools.
3.1.2.1. The government: increases private enrolments, brought businesses into classrooms, cut tax payer funding to schools and increased parent costs through fees, raffles, and bingos, and increased the number of parent volunteers in school.
3.1.2.1.1. The promotion of community development means that whether the district is rich or poor, they have to rely on whichever resources they have access to. The increases inequality between the rich and poor school districts.
3.1.3. "Deficit Crisis" in Alberta from 1993 to 1996 lead to major cuts on social areas, especially Education.
3.1.3.1. At the September 1997 Growth Summit, the key recommendation coming out was that more money should be put into social infrastructure.
3.1.3.1.1. On November 26, 1997, Tresurer Stockwell Day announced that the whole 1997/1998 would go towards repaying debt. That meant that education would continue to suffer budget cuts.
3.1.4. 9 commonalities based on neo-liberal principles were included in the government reforms of education across Canada in the 1990's:
3.1.4.1. 1. The adoption and expansion of province-wide and national testing and student achievement exams.
3.1.4.2. 2. The tentative statement of national standards (with the exception of Quebec) for science and other subjects.
3.1.4.3. 3. The creation of partnerships between schools and corporations.
3.1.4.4. 4. The establishment of parent advisory councils for administrators.
3.1.4.5. 5.The formation of influential stakeholder commissions and provincial and national levels.
3.1.4.6. 6. The centralization of control over funding and curriculum.
3.1.4.7. 7. The reduction or elimination of the power of local, democratically elected school boards.
3.1.4.8. 8. The regionalization of curriculum development and evaluation.
3.1.4.9. 9.The end of 25 years of sustained growth in spending on public education and the initiation of deep cuts in some provinces
3.1.5. These nine commonalities along with the changes Klein made influenced our present day education system in multiple ways.
3.1.5.1. The biggest effect is that education funding from the government was cut, and schools continue to struggle to make ends meet with the tax-payer money that they are allotted. There is noticeable in equality between districts, and parents are continually asked to help out in classrooms on a volunteer basis.
3.2. Unequal Student Attainments: Class, Gender, and Race
3.2.1. Historically, education has been for the upper and middle classes, as well as predominantly for males. This inequality has been reduced over time, although it hasn't gone away completely.
3.2.1.1. Females have historically not been intellectuals. Only in the past 30 years have females started to equal, and even surpass males in post-secondary.
3.2.1.1.1. There are still certain fields which are predominantly male, such as engineering, dentisty, and science.
3.2.1.2. Although education was initially only for those with a higher socio economic status, this gap is slowly closing. That being said, parental education, income, and occupation prestige are still strong predictors of a child's academic success.
3.2.1.2.1. This means that although various school vary in the amount of resources they have, a child's family background is still a better predictor of student achievement.
3.2.2. Canadian society has also historically favoured certain majority races, and this inequality can still be seen in Canada today.
3.2.2.1. The Vertical Mosaic model states that certain races carry certain privilege, thus monopolizing the school system. This ranking is tied to how closely the race resembles the british majority. The rankings are as follows:
3.2.2.1.1. 1. British Canadians
3.2.2.1.2. 2. Northern Europeans
3.2.2.1.3. 3. Central and Southern Europeans
3.2.2.1.4. 4. French Canadians
3.2.2.1.5. 5. Various other minorities
3.2.2.1.6. 6. Aboriginal Canadians
3.3. The School as an Informal System of Socialization
3.3.1. Historically, schools were run through the church. Early on in schools, moral and political socialization took place.
3.3.2. The British Class Model
3.3.2.1. Elite System
3.3.2.1.1. Access to higher education, as well as leadership positions and careers in the professions.
3.3.2.2. Working Class System
3.3.2.2.1. Provided reading and writing essentials, but not a whole lot more.
3.3.3. The British class model maintained the power structure and social status quo.
3.3.3.1. This model has supposedly disappeared, but the past system clearly still influences education today. In present day Canada, the most powerful positions are still held by English speaking Europeans.