1. Politics of Education
1.1. Four Purposes of Education
1.1.1. 1. Intellectual Purpose: To teach basic cognitive skills, to transmit specific knowledge, and to help students acquire higher level thinking skills
1.1.2. 2. Political Purpose: To maintain a patriotic allegiance, to prepare citizens who will participate in political order, and to teach the basic laws of society
1.1.3. 3. Social Purpose: To help solve social problems, to work as one of many institutions to ensure social cohesion, and to socialize children into various roles, behaviors, and values of society.
1.1.4. 4. Economic Purpose: To prepare students for their later occupational roles and to select and train individuals for labor
1.2. The Conservative Perspective
1.2.1. The Role of the School: The conservative perspective sees the role of the school as providing the necessary educational training to ensure that the most talented and hard-working individuals receive the tools necessary to maximize economic and social productivity. They see the school's role as essential to both economic productivity and social stability.
1.2.2. Explanations of Unequal Performance: Conservatives argue that individuals or groups of students rise and fall on their own intelligence, hard work, and initiative. Achievement is based on hard work and sacrifice. The school system is designed to allow individuals the opportunity to succeed.
1.2.3. Definition of Educational Problems: The conservative perspective argues a decline of standards, decline of cultural literacy, a decline of values, and the decline of authority.
1.2.3.1. The decline of standards refers to schools lowering academic standards which reduced educational quality.
1.2.3.2. The decline of cultural literacy refers to schools "watering down" the traditional curriculum and thus weakening the school's ability to pass down American and Western civilization heritage.
1.2.3.3. The decline of values refers to the schools being unable to teach traditional morals and values.
1.2.3.4. The decline of authority refers to schools losing traditional disciplinary function, causing chaos.
2. History of U.S. Education
2.1. Brown V. Topeka Board of Education
2.1.1. Brown V. Topeka Board of Education reversed the case of Plessy V. Ferguson. The unequal and separate education of African-Americans in the South became a focal point of the civil rights movement from the 1930s-1950s. Brown V. Topeka Board of Education was the major victory establishing state-imposed segregation as unconstitutional. This was most influential because this was the beginning of viewing all students as equal learners.
2.2. The Democratic-Liberal School Interpretation
2.2.1. Democratic-liberals believe that the history of U.S. education involves the progressive evolution of a school system committed to providing equality of opportunity for all. It is suggested that educational expansion involved the attempts of liberal reformers to expand educational opportunities to larger segments of the population. Democratic-liberals reject the conservative view of schools.
3. Philosophy of Education
3.1. Pragmatism - A philosophy that encourages people to find processes that work in order to achieve their desired ends
3.1.1. Generic Notations
3.1.1.1. John Dewey's form of pragmatism was founded on the new psychology, behaviorism, and philosophy of education. This called for an attainment of a better society through education. Pragmatism is often referred to as progressive.
3.1.2. Key Researchers
3.1.2.1. Francis Bacon
3.1.2.1.1. He is the founder of pragmatism's "roots." Bacon wanted to abandon traditions for a experimental approach to the world.
3.1.2.2. John Locke
3.1.2.2.1. He was interested in the way people come to know things and emphasized world experience is important for later developments in the philosophy of education.
3.1.2.3. Jean-Jacques Rousseau
3.1.2.3.1. He placed specific emphasis on environment and experience. This makes him important to subsequent pragmatic thinkers.
3.1.2.4. John Dewey
3.1.2.4.1. His philosophy of education was the most important influence on what has been termed progressive education. Dewey's work had the most profound intellectual and practical influence on U.S. progressive education.
3.1.3. Goal of Education
3.1.3.1. According to John Dewey, the goal of education was to provide students with the knowledge of how to improve social order. School should function as preparation for life in a democratic society. There should be a balance of societal needs and individual needs.
3.1.4. Role of Teacher
3.1.4.1. The teacher is no longer the authoritarian figure from which all knowledge comes from. The teacher is more of a facilitator that encourages, offers suggestions, questions, and helps plan and implement courses of study.
3.1.5. Method of Intruction
3.1.5.1. Pragmatism's method of instruction is known as the problem-solving or inquiry method. Students should ask questions about what they want to know. They should learn individually and in groups.
3.1.6. Curriculum
3.1.6.1. Curriculum is integrated and known as a curriculum of expanding environments. Alternate to traditional subject matter, curriculum is related to the needs and interests of the student.
4. Schools as Organizations
4.1. Major Stakeholders
4.1.1. Alabama State Senators
4.1.1.1. Richard Shelby & Luther Strange
4.1.2. 5th Congressional District Representative
4.1.2.1. Mo Brooks
4.1.3. Alabama State Superintendent
4.1.3.1. Michael Sentance
4.1.4. District 06 State School Board Representative
4.1.4.1. Cynthia Sanders McCarty
4.1.5. Morgan County Superintendent
4.1.5.1. Bill Hopkins, Jr.
4.1.6. Local School Board Member District 1
4.1.6.1. Bill Rhodes
4.2. Elements of Change
4.2.1. School Process and Culture
4.2.1.1. School processes identify cultural qualities of schools that involve emotional recall, not cognitive outcomes. Schools are so deeply political that effective changes can be difficult. Changing school processes and culture aims to make a school more learning centered. This takes time, effort, intelligence, and good will. Teachers must be at the forefront of educational change, requiring the teaching profession to be redefined. Planned changes will require new ways of thinking.
5. Sociological Perspectives
5.1. Theoretical Perspectives
5.1.1. Functionalism
5.1.1.1. Functionalism views society as a machine, where on part articulates with another to produce the dynamic energy required to make society work. Functionalists assume that conflict represents a breakdown of shared values. Educational reform should create programs and curricula that are advanced, rational, and encourage social unity.
5.1.2. Conflict Theory
5.1.2.1. Conflict Theory views the glue of society as economic, political, cultural, and militaristic power. It contests the belief that society is held together by shared values alone. In this perspective, students and teachers share an antagonistic relationship. The results in the achievement ideology where schools promote learning not based on social class, but on individual ability.
5.1.3. Interactionalism
5.1.3.1. Interactionalism extends and critiques the functional and conflict theories. It states the these two theories are abstract and too general on a level of analysis. Interactional theories attempt to make the commonplace strange by turning on their heads everyday taken-for-granted behaviors and interactions between students and teachers, as well as their peers.
5.2. Five Effects of Schooling on Idividuals
5.2.1. Attitude
5.2.1.1. Education is related to an individual's well-being and self-esteem. The more years of schooling, the greater knowledge and social participation is obtained. Research has shown the higher the social class, the higher achievement is shown.
5.2.2. Employment
5.2.2.1. Graduating from college leads to greater employment opportunities. Although employees expectations of further education is growing, the amount of education a person has rarely relates to job performance. Academic credentials do correlate with higher incomes.
5.2.3. Mobility
5.2.3.1. Most Americans believe that more education leads to economic and social mobility. However, the type of school a person attends may have an effect on their social mobility. Some people view schooling as an equalizer for social classes.
5.2.4. Student Peer Groups
5.2.4.1. Student cultures play an important role in shaping their educational experiences. Student subcultures continue to be important after high school. It can determine what type of career they strive for, as well as what type of social groups they join.
5.2.5. Gender
5.2.5.1. Schools can reproduce inequalities through gender discrimination. Men are frequently paid more that women for the same job. Women have fewer job opportunities than men. These inequalities persist even though females tend to outperform males in most subjects throughout school.
6. Curriculum and Pedagogy
6.1. Developmentalist Curriculum
6.1.1. The developmentalist curriculum is related to the needs and interests of the student rather than the needs of society. This is derived from some of John Dewey's writings. This approach to curriculum is progressively student-centered. It's main focus is to allow the student to relate life experiences and and learning together. From this perspective the teacher is viewed as a facilitator for student growth.
6.2. Dominant Traditions of Teaching
6.2.1. Memetic Tradition
6.2.1.1. The mimetic tradition is based on the viewpoint that the purpose of education is to transmit specific knowledge to students. The most common method in memetic tradition is the didactic method. This method relies on lecture or presentation as the main source of communication between teacher and student. Memetic tradition assumes education as transferring knowledge from one to the other.
6.2.2. Transformative Tradition
6.2.2.1. The transformative tradition indicates that the purpose of education is to change the student in a meaningful way. This tradition rejects the authoritarian role of the teacher. Transformative teachers believe that teaching begins with active participation from the students. Although lecture style teaching may be used, didactic methods are generally avoided by transformative tradition.
7. Equality of Opportunity
7.1. Impact on Educational Outcomes
7.1.1. Class
7.1.1.1. Students in different social classes have different kinds of educational experiences. Several factors can influence this. Education can be expensive, therefore, wealthier families are more likely to benefit. Peer groups also have a significant influence on students' attitudes toward learning. Children from working-class families are more likely to underachieve or drop out of school. The higher the social class of a student, the more likely they are to go to college and finish.
7.1.2. Gender
7.1.2.1. Even though women are often rated as higher performing students than men, in the past they were less likely to achieve the same amount of education. Today, females are less likely to drop of of school than males. Studies show that females have caught up to males in academic achievement. Despite this, women can still be victims of discrimination occupationally and socially.
7.1.3. Race
7.1.3.1. Despite the Civil Rights Movement, U.S. society is still highly stratified by race. African-American and Hispanic students are more likely to drop out than Caucasian students. An individual's race has a direct impact on how much education they are likely to achieve. Explanations as to why minorities underachieve compared to whites vary. It is extremely difficult for society to separate race from class.
7.2. Coleman Study 1982
7.2.1. (Response One) What Coleman say as significant, others argued as insignificant. In 1985, a study was conducted to show that the differences between public and private school achievements were insignificant. Although studies showed that private schools are more adequate, especially for low-income students, the relationship with student outcomes is still insignificant.
7.2.2. (Response Two) Where an individual goes to school is often related to race and socioeconomic background. However, the racial and socioeconomic composition of the school has greater effect on student achievement than their race or class. Here, it is argued that race and class are predictors of academic success. This study concluded with elimination the high level of segregation that remains in the education system as a necessity.
8. Educational Inequality
8.1. Cultural Deprivation Theories
8.1.1. Cultural deprivation theory suggests that working-class families often lack the cultural resources, such as books, and thus arrive at school at a significant disadvantage. The culture of poverty rejects the idea of schooling as a means of social mobility. This theory was criticized by social scientists. They stated the theory as paternalistic and racist. Critics also argue that is places the responsibility of educational outcome on the parents instead of educators.
8.2. Cultural Difference Theories
8.2.1. Cultural difference theorist agree that there are cultural and family differences between working-class and middle-call students. The students might arrive to school without skills and attitudes required by the school. However, this is not due to deficiencies in their home life but rather to being a part of an oppressed minority.
8.3. School-Centered Explanations
8.3.1. School Financing
8.3.1.1. Public schools are financed through a combination of revenues from local, state and federal sources. A significant source of finance is property tax. Since property taxes are higher in more affluent areas, these schools receive better funding as a result. Individual states have taken on the responsibility of attempting to decrease inequalities in school funding.
8.3.2. Effective School Research
8.3.2.1. Critics of the student-centered finding argued research suggested that there were differences between good and bad schools, and between good and incompetent teachers. This concerns the unequal performance of nonwhite and working-class students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. If there are significant differences in student performance between schools within lower socioeconomic neighborhoods, then there have to be school effects.
8.3.3. Within-School Differences
8.3.3.1. Different groups of students in the same schools perform very differently. This suggest that there may be school characteristics affecting these outcomes. At the secondary level, students are divided by both ability and curriculum. This means that different groups of students often receive considerably different types of education within the same school. There is considerable debate among educators about the efficiency of this tracking.
8.3.4. Gender and Schooling
8.3.4.1. Feminists agree that schooling often omits the educational opportunities and life chances of women in a number of ways. Curriculum often portrays men's and women's roles often in stereotypical and traditional ways. Schooling often limits the educational opportunities and life chances of women by reinforcing gender roles and gender inequality. For example, men are almost always more likely to hold administrative positions in education.
9. Educational Reform
9.1. School-Based Reforms
9.1.1. Privitization
9.1.1.1. Private education companies have increasingly become involved in public education. Many companies have taken over the management of failing schools and districts. Contracts have been made between companies and schools to offer more tutoring programs. It is still too early to assess the progress of privatization.
9.1.2. School-to-Work Programs
9.1.2.1. School-business partnerships have been incorporated into school-to-work programs. These programs should provide relevant education, skills, and valued credentials. Every state has three core elements for these programs: classroom instruction, work-based learning, and connecting activities.
9.2. Societal, Community, Economic, and Political Reforms
9.2.1. State Intervention
9.2.1.1. Virtually all state accountability systems focus on rewards and sanctions. State policy maker are direction their attention to how to reward schools and districts that perform well and how to sanction those that do not. There appears to be no standard method of imposting or implementing state control of local school districts.
9.2.2. Full Service and Community Schools
9.2.2.1. Educating a whole community is one way to attack inequity. full service schools focus on meeting students' and their families education, physical, psychological, and social needs in a coordinated and collaborative fashion between school and community services. These programs are specifically targeting at-risk neighborhoods and aim to prevent future educational problems.