A-107: SOCIOLOGY OF EDUCATION

Fall 2007
Wednesdays, 2:00-4:00 pm/Lecture; Weekly Sections (1 1/2 hours)


Professor Office E-mail
Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot 463 Gutman wendy_angus@harvard.edu

Teaching Fellows Office E-mail
Soo Hong tba hongso@gse.harvard.edu
Ann Ishimaru tba ishimaan@gse.harvard.edu
Debby Saintil tba saintide@gse.harvard.edu

Faculty Assistant Office E-mail
Wendy Angus 471 Gutman
617-496-4802
wendy_angus@harvard.edu
Course website URL:http://isites.harvard.edu/icb/icb.do?keyword=k16251

A-107 COURSE REQUIREMENTS

Readings

Each week's reading list will be organized around a central theme. Readings in the
Course Outline represent required reading that will be important to your understanding
and interpretation of the lectures and will provide a common base for questions and
discussion during the weekly sections. The Reserve Reading List refers to a more
expanded range of sources that you might find useful for pursuing topics in greater depth.


Lectures

The Sociology of Education is a lecture course. In my lectures each week I will offer my
interpretations of the intellectual themes found in the course readings and related literature.
The lectures will not summarize or review the content of the readings; rather they will
seek to elaborate central ideas, convey new information, offer alternative perspectives, and
raise questions. (Outlines of my lecture notes will be distributed at the beginning of each
class.) Although there may be opportunity for points of clarification and inquiry during
the lectures, in-depth discussions will take place in the section meetings.


Weekly Sections

The Teaching Fellows will convene weekly section meetings. The sections (lasting an hour and
a half) are mandatory and will provide an opportunity for students to clarify lecture materials,

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analyze closely the course readings, discuss emerging themes and points of synthesis, develop
the connections between personal experiences and theory, and review and prepare for the
examinations. In addition, the teaching fellows will be available to meet with individual students
during their weekly office hours. [Throughout the semester, Professor Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot
will visit each of the sections to talk with students in greater depth about issues and ideas that
may have emerged as important and intriguing in the readings, lectures, and discussions.]


Essay Examinations

During the course of the semester there will be two examinations. These will be take-
home, essay examinations that will ask students to integrate and think critically about
material covered in the lectures, readings, and discussion sections. The examinations will
also be designed to encourage reflection on the connections that might be drawn between
theory and inquiry; research and practice; and analysis and personal experience. The
examination questions will be distributed on Wednesdays at the end of class (on October
31 and December 12) and students will be asked to submit their first exam on the
following Tuesday, November 6 and their second exam on Thursday, J anuary 3 before
12:00 noon. The essay examinations will ask students to choose from among several
questions and write one essay (8-10 pages in length). Students are welcome to discuss
their ideas on, and interpretations of, the examination questions with one another, but the
development and writing of the essays must be an individual, solitary effort. [All
examinations must be double-space typed. No late examinations will be accepted. For
those students mailing the exams, their papers must be postmarked by the due date. Also,
students are not permitted to fax examinations or to send them electronically via email.]


Grades

Students have the option of choosing whether their final transcript grade will be recorded as a
letter grade or satisfactory/unsatisfactory designation. The final grade will reflect your work on
the essay examinations, and of course, attendance and participation in class and sections.


Coursepacks and Required Texts

Many of the required readings are contained in the Coursepack, which students are required to
purchase. The cost of the Coursepack is $40.00. The schedule for Coursepack Distribution is as
follows:
Tuesday, September 18-Friday, September 21, 9:00 am-5:00 pm (Gutman Conference
Center
Monday, September 24-Friday, September 28, 9:00 am-5:00 pm (Gutman Circulation
Desk)

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After September 28th, students who still has not picked up their Coursepacks will need to
contact Carol Kentner, Course Support Administrator (kentneca@gse.harvard.edu), to retrieve
them.

In addition, there are several required text readings. These textbooks are available for purchase
at the Harvard Coop




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A-107 COURSE OUTLINE


CP=Indicates reading is included in A-107/FALL 2005 COURSEPACK.
RT=Indicates reading is a required text/Harvard Coop.


September 19: INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW


September 26: THE ECOLOGICAL LANDSCAPE

Whyte, William Foote, Street Corner Society,
Section I: Chapters 1-3, Appendix A. (RT)


October 3: SOCIOLOGICAL THEMES AND PERSPECTIVES

Wiseman, Frederick, High School II, Part I (Zipporah Films, 1994).
Written Exercise: Observation and Interpretation of Vignettes from the Film.


October 10: THE STRUCTURAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE SCHOOL

Sizer, Theodore, Horace's Compromise, Preface, Introduction, Parts II and IV.
(RT)

Waller, Willard, The Sociology of Teaching, Chapters 2 and 9. (CP)


October 17: THE TEACHER: SOCIAL BACKGROUND, SOCIALIZATION,
STEREOTYPES, AND PROTOTYPES

Ashton-Warner, Sylvia, Teacher, pp. 102-135. (RT)

Lortie, Dan, Schoolteacher: A Sociological Study, Chapters 1, 3, and 5. (RT)

Lawrence-Lightfoot, Sara, I've Known Rivers,
"Listening to the Currents," "Blow, J azzman, Blow" (Charles Ogletree). (CP)


October 24: THE SOCIALIZATION FUNCTIONS OF THE SCHOOL:
TRANSMISSION OF ROLES, NORMS, AND VALUES

Dennison, George, The Lives of Children, Chapters 1, 3 and 8. (CP)

Dreeben, Robert, On What Is Learned in School, Chapters 1-3. (CP)

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Rodriguez, Richard, Hunger of Memory, pp. 3-7 and pp. 43-73. (RT)

Moll, Luis et. al., "Funds of Knowledge for Teaching: Using A
Qualitative Approach to Connect Homes and Classrooms," in
Theory Into Practice, Spring 1992, XXXI(2), pp. 132-141. (CP)


October 31: CULTURE, LEARNING, AND SCHOOLING

Heath, Shirley Brice, Ways With Words, Prologue and Chapter 8. (RT)

Connell, R.W., "Poverty and Education," in HER, Summer 1994, 64(2),
pp. 125-149. (CP)

Brayboy, Bryan McKinley J ones, "Hiding in the Ivy, in HER, Summer 2004,
74(2), pp.125-152. (CP)

**** FIRST ESSAY EXAMINATION ****


November 7: FAMILIES AND SCHOOLS: PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SPHERES

Lawrence-Lightfoot, Sara, The Essential Conversation, Introduction,
Chapters 1 and 2. (RT)


November 14: SOCIAL CLASS, SOCIAL MOBILITY AND SOCIAL SELECTION

Oakes, J eannie, Keeping Track, Chapters 1, 3, and 4. (RT)

Lightfoot, Sara Lawrence, The Good High School, Chapter 2. (RT)

Lawrence-Lightfoot, The Essential Conversation, Chapter 4. (RT)

Louie, Vivian, "Parents' Aspirations and Investment: The Role of Social Class in the
Educational Experiences of 1.5 and Second-Generation Chinese Americans, in HER,
Fall 2001, 71(3), pp. 438-474. (CP)


November 21: AUTHORITY PATTERNS IN SCHOOLS

Ballenger, Cynthia, "Because You Like Us: The Language of Control," in HER,
Summer 1992, 62(2), pp. 199-208. (CP)

Delpit, Lisa, "The Silenced Dialogue," in Other People's Children, pp. 5-9 and
pp. 21-47. (CP)

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Pace, J udith L., Managing the Dilemmas of Professional and Bureaucratic
Authority in A High School English Class, in Sociology of Education, 76,
J anuary 2003. 76, pp. 37-52. (CP)


November 28: THE CRAFT OF TEACHING: MODES OF INQUIRY AND ACTION

Bolster, Stanley, "Toward A More Effective Model of Research in Teaching," in
HER, 53, pp. 294-308, 1983. (CP)

Lampert, Magdeline, "How Do Teachers Manage to Teach," in
Teachers, Teaching, and Teacher Education, pp. 106-123. (CP)

Schn, Donald, The Reflective Practitioner, Chapters 1-2, 5. (RT)

Sullivan, Anne McCrary, "Notes From A Marine Biologist's Daughter," in HER, 70(2),
pp. 211-226. (CP)


December 5: TEACHER AUTOBIOGRAPHY: PERSPECTIVE, EXPECTATION,
AND BIAS

Lawrence-Lightfoot, Sara, Respect: An Exploration, "Creating Symmetry"
(Introduction) and "Self Respect" (Chapter 5). (RT)

Rist, Ray C., "Student Social Class and Teacher Expectations: The Self-Fulfilling
Prophecy in Ghetto Education," in HER, August 1970, 40(3), pp. 411-451. (CP)

Rist, Ray C., "Author's Introduction: The Enduring Dilemmas of Class and Color
in American Education," in HER, Fall 2000, 70(3), pp. 257-265. (CP)

Wright, Travis, On J orge Becoming A Boy: A Counselors Perspective, in
HER, Summer 2007, 77(2), p. 164-186. (CP)


December 12: LEARNING, LIFE STORIES, AND CULTURAL NARRATIVES

Lawrence-Lightfoot, Sara, Balm In Gilead. (RT on Reserve)


**** SECOND ESSAY EXAMINATION ****





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A-107 READING LIST


*Indicates book has been ordered by the Coop.

Anderson, S., Attwood, P., & L. Howard, Facing Racism in Education, Harvard Educational
Review Reprint Series #39, 2004.

Arons, Stephen, Compelling Belief: The Culture of American Schooling, Amherst, MA:
University of Massachusetts Press, 1993.

*Ashton-Warner, Sylvia, Teacher, New York: Touchstone Books, Simon and Schuster, 1986
[originally published in 1963].

Ayers, William, To Teach: The Journey of A Teacher, New York: Teachers College Press,
1993.

Ballenger, Cynthia, "Because You Like Us: The Language of Control," HER, Summer 1992,
62(2), pp. 199-208.

Bellah, Robert et. al., Habits of the Heart, Berkeley: University of California Press, 1985.

Benne, Kenneth, "Authority in Education," HER, August 1970, 40(3), pp. 385-410.

Berger, Peter, Invitation to Sociology: A Humanistic Perspective, New York: Doubleday,
Anchor Books, 1963.

Berlak, Ann and Harold, Dilemmas of Schooling, New York: Methuen, 1981.

Bolster, Stanley, "Toward A More Effective Model of Research on Teaching, HER, 1993, 53(1),
pp. 294-308.

Bourdieu, Pierre and J ean-Claude Passeron, Reproduction in Education, Society, and
Culture, London: Sage Publications, Inc., 1977.

Bowles, Samuel and Herbert Gintis, Schooling in Capitalist America: Educational Reform
and the Contradictions of Economic Life, New York: Basic Books, 1976.

Boyer, Ernest, High Schools: A Report on Secondary Education in America, New York:
Harper and Row, 1983.

Brayboy, B.M.J., Hiding in the Ivy: American Indian Students and Visibility in Elite Educational
Settings," HER, 74(2), Summer 2004, pp. 125-152.

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Briseula, B. et al. (eds.), Acts of Inquiry in Qualitative Research, HER Reprint Series No. 34,
2000.

Bronfenbrenner, Urie, The Ecology of Human Development, Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard
University Press, 1979.

Callahan, Raymond E., Education and the Cult of Efficiency, Chicago, Ill.: University of
Chicago Press, 1962.

Carew, J ean and Sara Lawrence Lightfoot, Beyond Bias: Perspectives on Classrooms,
Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1979.

Cole, Michael et. al., The Cultural Context of Learning and Thinking, New York: Basic
Books, 1971.

Coleman, J ames, "The Concept of Equality of Educational Opportunity," HER, 1968, 38(1),
pp. 7-22.

Coleman, J ames, Equality of Educational Opportunity, in U.S. Government Printing Office,
HEW, 1966.

Comer, J ames, School Power, New York: The Free Press, 1980.

Connell, R.W. et. al., Making the Difference: Schools, Families, and Social Division,
Boston, MA: George Allen and Unwin, 1982.

Cusick, Philip, The Egalitarian Ideal and The American High School, New York: Longman,
1983.

Delpit, Lisa, Other People's Children: Cultural Conflict In the Classroom, New York:
The Free Press, 1995.

Dennison, George, The Lives of Children: A Story of the First Street School, New York:
Random House, 1969.

Dreeben, Robert, The Nature of Teaching, Glenview, Ill.: Scott, Foresman, 1970.

Dreeben, Robert, On What is Learned in Schools, Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 1968.

Durkheim, Emile, Education and Sociology, New York: The Free Press, 1956.

Fine, Melinda, Habits of Mind: Struggling Over Values In America's Classrooms,
San Francisco, CA: J ossey-Bass, 1995.

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Freire Paulo and Donaldo P. Macedo, "A Dialogue: Culture, Language, and Race," HER,
Fall 1995, 65(3), pp. 377-402.

Gans, Herbert, The Urban Villagers, New York: The Free Press, 1962.

Gardner, Howard, Frames of Mind, New York: Basic Books, 1983.

Gardner, Howard, The Unschooled Mind: How Children Think and How Schools Should
Teach, New York: Basic Books, 1991.

Gaztambide-Fernandez, R., Harding, H. and Sord-Mart, T. (Eds.), Cultural Studies and
Education: Perspectives on Theory, Methodology, and Practice, HER Reprint series #38,
2004.

Goffman, Erving, Asylums, New York: Doubleday, Anchor Books, 1961.

Goodlad, J ohn, A Place Called School, New York: McGraw-Hill, 1984.

Green, Thomas, "Schools and Communities: A Look Forward," in HER, 1969, 39(2).

Greene, Maxine, Teacher As Stranger: Educational Philosophy for the Modern Age, Belmont,
CA: Wadsworth, 1973.

Grumet, Madeleine, Bitter Milk: Women and Teaching, Amherst, MA: University of
Massachusetts Press, 1988.

Grumet, Madeleine, "The Line Is Drawn," in Educational Leadership, J anuary 1983, 40(4),
pp. 28-38.

*Heath, Shirley Brice, Ways With Words, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983.

Henry, J ules, Culture Against Man, New York: Random House/Vintage, 1965.

Illich, Ivan, Deschooling Society, New York: Harper and Row, 1970.

J ackson, Philip, Life in Classrooms, New York: Holt, Rinehart, & Winston, 1968.

J ackson, Philip, The Practice of Teaching, New York: Teachers College Press/Columbia
University, 1986.

J encks, Christopher, Inequality: A Reassessment of the Effect of Family and Schooling in
America, New York: Basic Books, 1972.

J ohnson, Susan Moore, Finders and Keepers, San Francisco, CA: J ossey-Bass, 2004.


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Kidder, Tracy, Among Schoolchildren, Boston: Houghton-Mifflin, 1989.

Kozol, J onathon, Savage Inequalities: Children In America's Schools, New York: Crown
Publishers, 1991.

Ladson-Billings, Gloria, The Dreamkeepers: Successful Teachers of African-American
Children, San Franciso, CA: J ossey-Bass, 1994.

Lampert, Magdeleine, "How Do Teachers Manage To Teach," in Teacher, Teaching, and
Teacher Education (Anderson, J ., Okazawa-Rey, M. and R. Traver), 1987, HER,
pp. 106-123.

Lawrence-Lightfoot, Sara, I've Known Rivers: Lives of Loss and Liberation, New York:
Viking Penguin, 1995.

*Lawrence-Lightfoot, Sara, Respect: An Exploration, Reading, MA: Perseus Books, 1999.

*Lawrence-Lightfoot, Sara, The Essential Conversation: What Parents and Teachers Can
Learn From Each Other, New York: Random House, 2003.

Lawrence-Lightfoot, Sara and Davis, J essica Hoffmann, The Art and Science of Portraiture,
San Francisco, CA: J ossey-Bass, 1997.

Leacock, Eleanor Burke, The Culture of Poverty: A Critique, New York: Simon and Schuster,
1971.

Leacock, Eleanor Burke, Teaching and Learning in City Schools, New York: Basic Books,
1969.

Lightfoot, Sara Lawrence, Balm In Gilead: Journey of A Healer, New York: Viking Penguin,
1995.

*Lightfoot, Sara Lawrence, The Good High School: Portraits of Character and Culture,
New York: Basic Books, 1983.

Lightfoot, Sara Lawrence, Worlds Apart: Relationships Between Families and Schools,
New York: Basic Books, 1978.

Lipsitz, J oan, Successful Schools for Young Adolescents, New Brunswick: Transaction Books,
1984.

Lipsky, Michael, Street-Level Bureaucracy: Dilemmas of the Individual in Public Service,
New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 1980.

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*Lortie, Dan, School Teacher: A Sociological Study, Chicago, Ill.: University of Chicago Press,
1975.

Louie, Vivian Shuh Ming, "Parents' Aspirations and Investment: The Role of Social Class in the
Educational Experiences of 1.5 and Second-Generation Chinese Americans, HER, 71(3),
Fall 2001, pp. 438-474.

Louie, Vivian Shuh Ming, Compelled to Excel: Immigration, Education, and Opportunity
Among Chinese Americans, Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2004.

Lukas, Anthony, Common Ground, New York: Knopf Publishing, 1985.

McDonald, J oseph, Redesigning School: Lessons for the 21
st
Century, San Francisco, CA:
J ossey-Bass, 1997.

McDonald, J oseph, Teaching: Making Sense of an Uncertain Craft, New York: Teachers
College Press/Columbia University, 1991.

Mehan, Hugh, Learning Lessons: The Social Organization of the Classroom, Cambridge, MA:
Harvard University Press, 1979.

Meier, Deborah, In Schools We Trust: Creating Communities in an Era of Testing and
Standardization, Boston, MA: Beacon Press, 2002.

Metz, Mary H., Classrooms and Corridors: The Crisis of Authority in Desegregated Secondary
Schools, New York: Doubleday, 1975.

Mintz, Ethan and Yun, J ohn T. (eds.), The Complex World of Teaching, HER Reprint Series
No. 3, 1999.

Moll, Luis et. al., "Funds of Knowledge for Teaching: Using A Qualitative Approach to Connect
Homes and Classrooms," HER, Spring 1992, XXXI(2), pp. 132-141.

*Oakes, J eannie, Keeping Track: How Schools Structure Inequality, New Haven, Conn.: Yale
University Press, 1985.

Ogbu, J ohn, The Next Generation, New York: Academic Press, 1974.

Pace, J udith L., Managing the Dilemmas of Professional and Bureaucratic Authority in A High
School English Class, in Sociology of Education, 76, J anuary 2003, pp. 37-52.

Parsons, Talcott, "The School Class as a Social Environment: Some of its Functions in American
Society," HER, 29(1), pp. 297-318.

Parsons, Talcott, The Social System, New York: The Free Press, 1951.

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Powell, Arthur; Eleanor Farrar; David Cohen, Shopping Mall High School, Boston, MA:
Houghton-Mifflin Co., 1985.

Raider-Roth, Miriam, Trusting What You Know: The High Stakes of Classroom Relationships,
San Francisco-CA: J ossey-Bass, 2005.

Ravitch, Diane, The Great School Wars, New York: Basic Books, 1974.

Ravitch, Diane, The Troubled Crusade: American Education 1945-80, New York: Basic
Books, 1983.

Rist, Ray, "Student Social Class and Teacher Expectations: The Self-Fulfilling Prophecy in
Ghetto Education," HER, August 1970, 40(3), pp. 411-451.

Rist, Ray, "Author's Introduction: The Enduring Dilemmas of Class and Color in
American Education, HER, Fall 2000, 70(3), pp. 257-265.

*Rodriguez, Richard, Hunger of Memory, Boston: D.R. Goodine, 1982.

Rosenthal, Robert and Lenore J acobson, Pygmalion in the Classroom, New York: Irvington
Publishers, 1989.

Rutter, Michael, et. al., Fifteen Thousand Hours, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press,
1979.

Ryan, William, Blaming the Victim, New York: Random/Vintage, 1971.

Santiago, Esmeralda, When I Was Puerto Rican, New York: Vintage Books, 1994.

Sarason, Seymour, The Culture of School and the Problem of Change, Boston, MA: Allyn and
Bacon, 1971.

*Schn, Donald, The Reflective Practitioner: How Professionals Think In Action, New York:
Basic Books, 1983.

Sennett, Richard, Authority, New York: Knopf, 1980.

Sennett, Richard and J ames Cobb, The Hidden Injuries of Class, New York: Knopf, 1972.

*Sizer, Theodore, Horace's Compromise, Boston, MA: Houghton-Mifflin, 1984.

Spindler, George, Education and Culture: Anthropological Approaches, New York: Holt,
Rinehart and Winston, 1963.


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Takaki, Ronald, A Different Mirror: A History of Multicultural America, Boston, MA: Little
Brown and Company, 1993.

Tyack, David and Larry Cuban, Tinkering Toward Utopia: A Century of Public School
Reform, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1995.

Valentine, Charles A., Culture and Poverty: Critique and Counter Proposals, Chicago, Ill.:
University of Chicago Press, 1968.

Waller, Willard, The Sociology of Teaching, New York: Russell & Russell, 1961 [originally
published in 1937].

*Whyte, William Foote, Street Corner Society, Chicago, Ill.: Chicago University Press, 1973,
[originally published in 1943].

Wright, Travis, On J orge Becoming A Boy: A Counselors Perspective, in HER, Summer
2007, 77(2), p. 164-186. (CP)