Birgeet

Magallanes
Sociology 1
Education

History of Education in America

In the past, education became important to children when the idea began to spread that
childhood should be a time for learning, and schools for children were developed as places for
learning.
The idea and practice of universal, compulsory public education developed gradually in
Europe, from the early 16th century on into the 19th. It was an idea that had many
supporters, who all had their own agendas concerning the lessons that children should learn.
In the mid 17th century, Massachusetts became the first colony to make a law that children
should go to school which was to turn them into good Puritans. Employers in industry saw
that schooling was a way to create better workers.
In the 19th and 20th centuries, public schooling nowadays is considered conventional schooling
where the methods of discipline became more humane. For example, just like adults go to
work for 8 hours a day, children go to school 6 hours a day plus another hour or more for
homework or study sessions.

Classrooms in the early 17th century until now in the

21st century.

What is education?
Education is a process of inviting truth and possibility, of encouraging and giving time to
discovery. Is a preparation of living and to bring out our develop potential.
According to Peter Snelson, he defines education as a condition of human survival. Which
means that in one generation transmits their wisdom, knowledge and experience to the new
generation, it will help the new generation to prepare themselves for life duties and
pleasure.
It molds children in an acceptable manner, because not only acquire new skills but also form
the society. For that reason, parents and teachers should work together in order to help
develop the young ones.
Education prepares individuals to do things it is their responsibility to do them. For
instance, a parent has the duty to teach children good morals in order to prepare t hem for
the challenges in the future.

Upper class education

An upper class education, is a class of students above the middle class who have the
highest social rank or standing based on wealth, family connections, etc.

Upper class students tend to be best prepared because most of the time they are often
skilled and sophisticated in the ways of the system. They are more confidents and feel
free to take any risks since their social and economic safety net. An upper class student
has the liberty to experience a wide choice of careers and significant exposure to the
world of travel, art, and education.

An upper class education is a able to get the best education than other classes, because
most likely they end up in a private school where they hire the best teachers that will
teach them to have the best knowledge since they get paid with a good amount of
money.

It seems like upper class students have more opportunities to be more successful in the
future because of their advantages. They tend to have better grades and in the future
they have jobs they wanted.

With a good education, an upper class student is able to get a good income that will
help them to continue to be wealthy.

Lower class education

Lower class education means that a students does not have the
opportunity to educate themselves because of money or any other
circumstance.
In a lower class, most students tend to not care about education because
they feel like it is not important in their lives.
The schools in the lower income are characterized by lack of resources,
because of lack of funding. For that reasons, there are not programs,
special education classer, nor extracurricular activities. When schools and
teachers are not receiving the goods required to fulfill their duty, students
cannot be expected to display the motivation to learn in a flawed system.

Education is so low,
that children at a
young age are
unwilling to continue
studying.

Families in the lower

class are most likely
to stay in the lower
class, and has a low
chance to be in the
upper class.

Students in the
upper class because
of their social
advantage have
more opportunities
to have a better
education and to
have a high social
life.

Statistics of graduates/Dropouts
In a research from the National
Center, demonstrated how in 2008,
six years after they started college,
21 studentshave dropped out.
Seven of these dropouts are
fromlower-income families, while
only three students fromupper-class
families have dropped out.

According to National Center, 5 lower class students get their Associates degree and
only 4 get the Bachelors degree. In contrast, 2 upper class students get their
Associates degree and 12 students get their Bachelors degree This demonstrates
that the upper class are willing to get a higher education because of their advantages.

How does it affect society to have an upper

class and lower class education?
In the past, having an upper class and lower class did not matter because children in the lower class
preferred working to help their family than going to school to learn to change their future.
However, nowadays it effects tremendously. In the article of Boundless sociology, mentions how there
has been studies found that upper class employees tend to feel that they are shown respect and given
creative opportunities at work, and consequently report higher job satisfaction than lower class
employees. Thus, the class divide in the workplace can lead to greater or lesser levels of overall
happiness and stress.
In the other hand, it affects the lower class students since they lack of confidence based on real or
perceived weaknesses in preparation. These students often go to college with a lower level of academic
skills and sophistication the upper class peers. Not surprisingly, this affects their performance in the
classroom. It also affects their perception both of their ability to do well and of their place in higher
education. Although many are just as well prepared, uncertainty can lead them to be quieter and less
visibly engaged in classroom encounters. So these students often feel unwelcome. They are very aware
of class and of place and position, and often feel a need to hide their background.

How can we fix this problem?

It is essential that teachers and parents, from the beginning of their kids childhood
encourages them that they have the resources they can get for them to become
successful. Thanks to this, it has helped some lower class students, since they are
aware of the value of higher education, tend to be highly motivated and for that
reason they work very hard to get those accomplishments. They are often
characterized by a fierce determination and goal-orientation. They have a strong work
ethic and often manage hair-raising schedules of work, family, and college, pulling off
the demands of each with grit and a clear sense of purpose. Confusingly, they are both
loyal to their class background and often in the process of moving to the middle class.
Also, America should have a society where education is treated the same, even though
the lower class students have less money, there should be a way to give them the
same results of education by giving them extracurricular activities, programs, etc.

What does a Functionalist thinks

about education?
Functionalist groups focuses on the ways that universal education serves the needs of
society.

According to Durkeim, he identified the latent role of education a s one of socializing

people into societys mainstream. Also, he mentioned how it helped to form a more
cohesive social structure by connecting us together more from diverse backgrounds.

The core values in American education reflect those characteristics that support the
political and economic systems that originally fueled education. Therefore, children in
America receive rewards for following schedules, following directions, meeting
deadlines, and obeying authority.

Therefore, functionalist groups believe that the more educated an individual is the more
liberal they will come, while less educated the more conservative they will be.
Moreover, the heavy emphasis on research at most institutions of higher education puts
them on the cutting edge of changes in knowledge, and, in many cases, changes in
values as well. Therefore, while the primary role of education is to preserve and pass on
knowledge and skills, education is also in the business of transforming them.

What does conflict theory thinks

about education?
In conflict groups, they see the beneficial of education since it maintains a social inequality and
preserves the power of those who dominate society.
Conflict theorists examine the same functions of education as functionalists. Functionalists see
education as a beneficial contribution to an ordered society; however, conflict theorists see the
educational system as perpetuating the status quo by dulling the lower classes into being
obedient workers. Both functionalists and conflict theorists agree that the educational system
practices sorting, but they disagree about how it enacts that sorting. Functionalists claim that
schools sort based upon merit; conflict theorists argue that schools sort along distinct class and
ethnic lines. According to conflict theorists, schools train those in the working classes to accept
their position as a lowerclass member of society. Conflict theorists call this role of education
the hidden curriculum.
Finally, Conflict theorists see education not as a social benefit or opportunity, but as a powerful
means of maintaining power structures and creating a docile work force for capitalism.

Works Cited
1. https://
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www.psychologytoday.com/blog/freedom-learn/200808/brief-history-education
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/business/who-finishes-college /
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2013/04/10/hsdo-a10.html
http://
www.collegetermpapers.com/TermPapers/Soc/Education_as_a_Social_Institution.ht
ml?page=3
http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2012/08/27/yes-the-rich-are-different /
http://isites.harvard.edu/fs/html/icb.topic58474/class.html
http://www.cliffsnotes.com/study-guides/sociology/education/theories-of-education
https://www.boundless.com/sociology/textbooks/boundless-sociology-textbook/stratific
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/