1. Politics of Education
1.1. Four Purposes of Education
1.1.1. Intellectual: "To teach basic cognitive skills such as reading, writing, and mathematics,; to transmit specific knowledge; to help students acquire higher-order thinking skills such as analysis, evaluation, and synthesis".
1.1.2. Political: "insulate allegiance to the existing political order; to prepare citizens who will participate in this political order; to help assimilate diverse cultural groups into a common political order; and to teach children the basic laws of society".
1.1.3. Social: "help solve social problems; work as one of many institutions to ensure social cohesion' to socialize children into the various roles, behaviors, and values of the society".
1.1.4. Economic: "prepare students for their later occupational roles and to select, train, and allocate individuals into the devision of labor".
1.2. Perspective: The role of the school
1.2.1. Conservative: the role of the school is essential to both economic productivity and social stability.
1.3. Perspective: Explanations of unequal performance
1.3.1. Liberal: some students have better life chances than other students therefore they have more advantages than others. Because of this, to level the playing field and give students of more disadvantaged backgrounds a better chance, programs and policies are created.
1.4. Perspective: Definition of educational problems
1.4.1. Radical: the educational system promotes inequality of both opportunity and results. The education system has failed certain social groups through curriculum and policy.
2. Schools as Organizations
3. Curriculum and Pedagogy
4. History of U.S. Education
4.1. The Age of Reform: The Rise of the Common School - Horace Mann of Massachusettes is the father of the free public school.
4.2. The Radical - Revisionist School: Educational system expanded to meet the needs of the social elite for the control of the working class and immigrants and for the benefit of the economy.
5. Sociological Perspectives
6. Equality of Opportunity
7. Educational Inequality
8. Educational Reform
9. Philosophy of Education
9.1. EXISTENTIALISM: "Pose questions as to how their concerns impact on the lives of individuals"
9.1.1. GENERIC NOTIONS: They believe that we're put on earth without any help or direction and must figure out what to do with out lives somehow - "people must create themselves" "the choice is up to the individual."
9.1.2. KEY RESEARCHERS: Soren Kierkegaard (1813-1855), Martin Buber (1878-1965), Karl Jaspers (1883-1969), Jean Paul Sartre (1905-1986), Maxine Greene (contemporary).
9.1.3. GOAL of EDUCATION: focus should be on the individual, "both cognitively and affectively." "Education should stress individuality' that it should include discussion of the non-rational as well as the rational world; and that the tensions of living in the world...should be addressed."
9.1.4. ROLE of the TEACHER: They believe that the role of a teacher is very personal and with that, carrying a large responsibility. Risks should be taken by the teachers and they should expose themselves to students who are resistant to education. Students are encouraged to become "in touch with their worlds" and they are also empowered to "choose and to act on their choices."
9.1.5. METHOD of INSTRUCTION: Learning is viewed as extremely personal. Learning is also viewed as more of a cooperative experience between the student and the teacher where the each learn from each other. Teachers "help students understand the world through posing questions, generating activities, and working together."
9.1.6. CURRICULUM: Curriculum that is "heavily biased toward the humanities." - something that "invoke responses in readers that might move them to new levels of awareness..."
10. Sociology of Education
10.1. Theoretical Perspectives
10.1.1. FUNCTIONALISM: functionalists view society in a machine-like way.
10.1.2. CONFLICT THEORY: They do not think that society is based on a "collective agreement, but on the ability of dominant groups to impose their will on subordinate groups through force, cooptation, and manipulation.
10.1.3. INTERACTIONALISM: extensions and critiques of the functional and conflict perspectives.
10.2. 5 EFFECTS ON SCHOOLING ON INDIVIDUALS THAT GREATLY IMPACT STUDENTS:
10.2.1. 1. GENDER: More teachers are female, where as more administrators are male - does this send a subliminal message that somehow females are lesser than males?
10.2.2. 2. TRACKING: "Placement of students in curricular programs based on students' abilities and inclinations"
10.2.3. 3. INADEQUATE SCHOOLS: The difference "between schools and school systems" greatly impact the inadequacy of their education. The education students in Urban schools pale in comparison to the education students in suburban or private schools receive.
10.2.4. 4. TEACHER BEHAVIOR: Teachers have a large impact on students. If they favor a student or dislike a student, the effects can be seen academically.
10.2.5. 5. EDUCATION & MOBILITY: There is a large difference and result seen of students between educational AMOUNT and educational ROUTE. "In general, the data do not support the belief that education alone provides individuals with great amounts of economic and social mobility."