Review of Education Problems

Summary

1. In the early nineteenth century in the US, a movement for free compulsory education began for reasons such as perceived needs to unify the country, to “Americanize” immigrants, and to give members of the working-class the skills, knowledge, and discipline they needed to be productive workers.
2. Social location affects educational attainment, and thus achievement gaps. As we can see from the experiences of low-income students, Black, Brown, and Indigenous students, and d/Deaf and neurodivergent, access to education and educational outcomes depend on your race, class, gender, and ability, and the intersection of those identities. However, we must also examine the wider social and historical forces that cause educational debt.
3. Functionalism stresses the functions that education serves for society and notes that social problems within the institution disrupt societal harmony and inhibit innovation. Conflict theory stresses that education reinforces existing social inequalities for several reasons, including the use of tracking, funding between rich and poor communities, and the hidden curriculum. Symbolic interactionism emphasizes the social interaction that’s part of schooling and calls attention to the ways in which the treatment of students as smart or dull can affect how much they end up learning.
4. Many schools are decrepit and lack sufficient books and equipment, and many are also segregated by race and social class. Historical de jure segregation has been outlawed, but de facto segregation persists. The history Indian boarding schools as a practice of genocide continues to impact Indigenous communities today. 
5. Increasing interest in school choice has led to controversy over whether the government should provide aid to parents to send their children to private and parochial schools. Research suggests that this practice may fuel educational inequalities. 
6. School violence is an issue of continuing concern though bullying is more common. In the past several decades, school violence has taken the form of school shootings in which children, teachers, and staff have been injured or killed en masse. 
7. Reform strategies to address education problems include school reforms and social reforms, which must go hand-in-hand. Other laws, policies, and practices can help such as affirmative action in college admissions to ensure fair representation of Black and Brown students, programs within schools to support students' mental health and material needs, and applying an equity mindset to teaching practices and policies. Some people have used their individual agency and collective action to make education more liberatory and equitable for all. 

   

Questions

1. Do you think that the government should take steps to try to reduce racial disparities in education or do you think it should take a hands-off approach, and why so?
2. Which of the three theoretical approaches to education problems do you most prefer, and why?
3. What are the advantages and disadvantages of school choice or vouchers, and based on those do you think that we should use them?
4. How would you outline what a school’s superintendent might do to improve the learning of the school district’s elementary school students?
5. If you were the director of admissions at a university, what steps would you take to increase the number of applications and graduations from low-income students?
6. How would you describe what you see as the two most pressing specific problems of educational inequality, and what do you think are the best strategies to address them?
7. Why do you think that the US has not more vigorously pursued the school reform agenda outlined in the Strategies page?
8. How have you experienced teachers teaching from the 'banking model' of education (e.g., lecturing the whole class and giving only multiple-choice quizzes or exams as assessments) and/or from the liberation education model, and what was your experience with those models?

  

Action Steps

1. Use your sociological imagination: When you hear someone claiming that educational disparities are a product of individual lack of motivation, intelligence, or skill, explain the history of educational inequality and contemporary problems that fuel it. 
2. Support nonprofits and similar organizations: Volunteer to tutor low-income students at a local school or after-school program or donate to programs that help address educational inequalities such as Black Girls Code. 
3. Use your individual agency: Investigate your own local school board (by Googling) and answer: Who is on it? What kind of actions have they taken recently? Do you think that your school board is making decisions that meet the needs of your community? If not, take action to help ensure that they will such as attending meetings or contacting them via email. 
4. Engage in collective action: Research local or national groups that are engaged in organized action around education problems, select one, and figure out how to get involved in their efforts.