Informal Education
Formal education
academic setting - school - planned instructional process + teachers who convey specific knowledge, skills + thinking processes
less spontatneous + more meticulous learning objectives, there are different learning objects
Mass Education: An Overview
History of Mass Education
•300 yrs ago: Most were illiterate
•1950: 10% of world compulsory mass education
•Today: Half of citizens in developing countries illiterate
Canadian Education
Canadian Education
•In 2009, Canadian students ranked 4th out of 65 countries in reading, mathematics, and science.
Uniform Socialization
Uniform Socialization
Uniform Socialization
Rising Levels of Education
•Amount of education risen + expected to continue
Educational achievement
learning/skill individual acquires + what grades reflect
Educational attainment
number of years of schooling completed, certificates + degrees earned
Individual Advantages and Disadvantages
Rise of Mass Schooling: Factors
i. Development of the printing press: literacy spread
ii. Protestant Reformation: Protestants encouraged to read scriptures regularly
Rise of Mass Schooling: Factors
iii. Spread of democracy: free education for all
iv. Industrialization: Mass education necessity for creating industrial economy
Functions of Education: Manifest (intended functions)
i. Homogenize indoctrination into common culture
Gellner: mass education basis for modern nationalism humanity divided into pops defined by common culture, territory + continuity within kin group
•Common language
Functions of Education: Manifest (intended functions)
imagined communities—sentiments of solidarity + identification with those who share cultural capacities ii. Sort and steer students to different class positions as adults: Sorting ppl into diff jobs + opportunities
Functions of Education: Latent (or unintended) functions
i. Create youth culture: spend lots of time with ppl around same age
ii. Create marriage market: assortative mating—mate similar on various ranking criteria
Functions of Education: Latent (or unintended) functions
iii. Create custodial + surveillance system for children
iv. maintaining wage levels by keeping postsecondary students temporarily out of job market
•We have to raise the bar: we can’t have 10000 doctors
Functions of Education: Latent (or unintended) functions
v. “school of dissent” that opposes authorities
Sorting into Classes and Hierarchies: Conflict Perspectives
i. Economic barriers: ability to pay
ii. require academic credentials effective at excluding less advantaged from privileged professions
Sorting into Classes and Hierarchies: Conflict Perspectives
iii. Schooling reproduces differences in cultural capital + preserves class differences
Economic Barriers to Higher Education
Economic Barriers to Higher Education
•higher education in Canada requires students + their families to shoulder significant financial burdens, including rising tuition fees, residence fees, etc.