1 Copyright © 2004 by Nelson, a division of Thomson Canada Limited. Chapter14 Education by Ian...

Copyright © 2004 by Nelson, a division of Thomson Canada Limited. 1

ChapterChapter 1414 Education Educationby Ian Gommeby Ian Gomme


THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE SIGNIFICANCE OF EDUCATIONEDUCATIONMore years of schooling usually translates into:• more labour-force participation• higher income• lower unemployment• more respect• living longer and healthier• being more tolerant of group differences• participating politically• doing volunteer work


UNEMPLOYMENT AND UNEMPLOYMENT AND EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENTEDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT


THE FUNCTIONALIST THE FUNCTIONALIST APPROACHAPPROACH• Functionalists argue that education satisfies

several needs that must be met for society to survive and prosper:

• Manifest functions (intended and formally stated): personal development, cultural reproduction, social integration, selection and screening, dissemination of knowledge.

• Latent functionsLatent functions (unintended and informal): legitimation of inequality, provision of marriage market and childcare, restriction of job competition.


THE CONFLICT APPROACH ITHE CONFLICT APPROACH I

• Conflict theorists assert that value consensus and integration are products of the power exercised by the strong over the weak. They highlight school as an arena of social conflict and emphasize the role of education in reproducing the social and economic order of capitalism.


THE CONFLICT APPROACH IITHE CONFLICT APPROACH II

• One version of conflict theory derives from Marx and holds that mass education developed along with industrialization to benefit the interests of the capitalist elite:

• The formal curriculum provides the knowledge and skills needed by the work force in an expanding capitalist economy.

• The hidden curriculum encourages students’ acceptance of authority and control.


THE CONFLICT APPROACH IIITHE CONFLICT APPROACH III• A second version of conflict theory, resistance

theory, attributes lower-class students’ modest achievements not to their inability but to their unwillingness to perform.

• Lower-class you thus put little effort into their education and engage in deviance to achieve self-esteem and dignity.

• They also espouse working class culture, extolling the virtues of manual labour and resenting the way teachers demean manual work.

• As a result of their resistance and rebellion, many working-class youth acquire working-class jobs.


THE CONFLICT APPROACH IVTHE CONFLICT APPROACH IV• The third version of conflict theory is

credentialism.• Collins argues that it is not education per se that

mot people seek but the degree or diploma – the credential, which is required for good jobs and high prestige.

• Occupational groups professionalize to elevate their status and eliminate competition.

• Consequently, the credentials needed to perform jobs get inflated.


EQUALITY OF OPPORTUNITY EQUALITY OF OPPORTUNITY AND OUTCOME IAND OUTCOME I• Functionalism and conflict approaches differ in assessing the

degree to which scribed statuses affect student experiences and performance outcomes. What does the evidence show?

• Sex: There was never much difference between males and females in high school completion rates; women’s participation rates in postsecondary education overtook those of men in 1987. However, there are sex differences in postsecondary specialization. Women are underrepresented in science, math, and engineering and overrepresented in humanities, social science, health care, fine art, and education, i.e., they specialize in fields that pay less and are more insecure.


EQUALITY OF OPPORTUNITY EQUALITY OF OPPORTUNITY AND OUTCOME IIAND OUTCOME II• Ethnicity. Census data do not support the view

that members of various ethnic groups, including visible-minority groups, suffer restricted educational opportunities. In fact, Canadians of British and French origin have below-average educational attainment.

• Aboriginal Canadians are the only major exception to this rule. Historically subject to extremely high levels of discrimination, their educational attainment is well below the national average.


SECONDARY SCHOOL SECONDARY SCHOOL GRADUATION AND ETHNICITYGRADUATION AND ETHNICITY


UNIVERSITY DEGREE AND UNIVERSITY DEGREE AND ETHNICITYETHNICITY


YEARS OF SCHOOLING AND YEARS OF SCHOOLING AND VISIBLE MINORITY STATUS, MENVISIBLE MINORITY STATUS, MEN


YEARS OF SCHOOLING AND YEARS OF SCHOOLING AND VISIBLE MINORITY STATUS, WOMENVISIBLE MINORITY STATUS, WOMEN


EQUALITY OF OPPORTUNITY EQUALITY OF OPPORTUNITY AND OUTCOME IIIAND OUTCOME III

• Socioeconomic status. Disadvantage due to socioeconomic background is strong and enduring in Canada.

• While there is no significant difference in college participation across income groups, youth from top-quartile families are 2.5 times more likely to attend university than those from the bottom quartile (40% vs. 16%).

• What mechanisms produce these patterns? Symbolic interactionism sheds light on this question.


POSTSECONDARY EDUCATION POSTSECONDARY EDUCATION AND FAMILY INCOMEAND FAMILY INCOME


THE EFFECT OF FATHER’S THE EFFECT OF FATHER’S EDUCATION ON UNIVERSITY-EDUCATION ON UNIVERSITY-LEVEL EDUCATIONLEVEL EDUCATION


THE SYMBOLIC THE SYMBOLIC INTERACTIONIST APPROACH IINTERACTIONIST APPROACH I• Symbolic interactionists hold that:

– people use nonverbal and verbal symbols to communicate;

– communication requires interaction; and– the attribution of meaning is an active process,

i.e., people creatively modify meanings as they interact.

• According to the SI perspective, definitions of self, society and situation emerge from symbolic interaction and influence subsequent behaviour.


THE SYMBOLIC THE SYMBOLIC INTERACTIONIST APPROACH IIINTERACTIONIST APPROACH II

The SI perspective illuminates:• how teacher’s expectations of upper and lower

class students independently influence students’ classroom performance; and

• how tracking leads to low expectations of lower class students in lower tracks, while low expectations result in low achievement.


THE SYMBOLIC THE SYMBOLIC INTERACTIONIST APPROACH IIINTERACTIONIST APPROACH II

The SI perspective also illuminates:• how language “codes” may restrict the

opportunities of working class youth; • how cultural capital (exposure to high culture)

may win upper class students more attention and assistance; and

• how the hidden curriculum operates as an important agency of informal socialization, favouring children who are not from lower classes.


SUPPLEMENTARY SLIDESSUPPLEMENTARY SLIDES

EDUCATION LEVELS VARY EDUCATION LEVELS VARY BY REGIONBY REGION

Ont.

Que.

B.C.

N.S.

Y.T.

Alta.

Man.

Sask.

N.B.

P.E.I.

Nfld.

N.W.T.

0 5 10 15 20 25

Canada21.8%

Persons Aged 25-34 with University degree, 1996

%

Proportion of population aged 25-34 with post-secondary education, selected CMA's, 1996

%

Québec

Ottawa-Hull

Montréal

Vancouver

Toronto

Calgary

Edmonton

Total CMA's

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70

Completed university Completed college-non-university

Copyright © 2004 by Nelson, a division of Thomson Canada Limited.

WOMEN HAVE EXPERIENCED BIG WOMEN HAVE EXPERIENCED BIG INCREASES IN LEVELS OF EDUCATIONINCREASES IN LEVELS OF EDUCATION

Education levels of Persons 25-34 improve especially for women

Male Female Male Female0

5

10

15

20

25

30%

1981

1996

Less than high school Completed university19

73-7

4

1976

-77

1979

-80

1982

-83

1985

-86

1988

-89

1991

-92

1994

-95

1996

-97

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70 %

Percentage of graduates who were female

Bach

Masters

Doctorate



Female Illiteracy, Less Developed Countries (%)(green=develped country or no data; # of countries in parentheses)

38.4 to 91.6 (46)9.8 to 38.3 (46)0.2 to 9.7 (46)

Male Illiteracy, Less Developed Countries (%)(green=developed country or no data; # of countries in parentheses)

22.4 to 76.2 (47)6.6 to 22.3 (44)0.2 to 6.5 (47)

Male and Female Male and Female Illiteracy, LessIlliteracy, LessDeveloped Developed Countries, 2000Countries, 2000

Outside the richest countries of the world, female illiteracy is higher than male illiteracy. But is male illiteracy distributed across countries in much the same way as female Illiteracy? In other words, do high male and female illiteracy go hand in hand? Do low male and female illiteracy? Compare thesetwo maps to find the answer. Do you think illiteracy is always a function of economic development? For example, compare illiteracy rates in Russia (with a Gross Domestic Product per capita in 2000 of $7,700), Argentina (with a Gross Domestic Product per capita in 2000 of $12,900), and Spain (with a Gross Domestic Product per capita in 2000 of $18,000). Do illiteracy rates differ much in these countries? If so, why? If not, why not?

EIGHTH GRADE STUDENT EIGHTH GRADE STUDENT BEHAVIOUR PROBLEMS, BEHAVIOUR PROBLEMS, SELECTED COUNTRIES, 1999SELECTED COUNTRIES, 1999

0

20

40

60

80

Classroomdisturbance

Cheating Vandalism Theft Physicalinjury to other

students

Intimidation orverbal abuse

of otherstudents

Intimidation orverbal abuseof teachers

or other staff '

Canada

Italy

Japan

Russia

U.S.A.

0

10

20

30

40

Classroomdisturbance

Cheating Vandalism Theft Physical injuryto otherstudents

Intimidation orverbal abuse ofother students

Intimidation orverbal abuse of

teachers orother staff '

Percent Percent

Principal reported that behavior threatened a Principal reported that behavior threatening asafe and orderly environment at least weekly safe and orderly environment is a serious problem



POPULATION 15 YRS+ BY HIGHEST POPULATION 15 YRS+ BY HIGHEST DEGREE, CERTIFICATE OR DEGREE, CERTIFICATE OR DIPLOMA, CANADA, 2001DIPLOMA, CANADA, 2001

LevelLevel NumberNumber PercentPercent

None 7,935,075 33.2

High school 5,499,885 23.0

Trades 2,598,925 10.9

College 3,578,400 15.0

University < B.A. 601,425 2.5

B.A. 2,411,475 10.1

> B.A. < Masters 382,955 1.6

M.D. 122,535 .5

Masters 642,055 2.7

Earned Doctorate 128,625 .5

Total 23,901,360 100.0

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