Deconstructing The High School Institution

Symbolic Interactionalism: One of the three perspectives of sociology is Symbolic Interactionalism, this is a microlevel theory that concerns

High school is one of the most important stages in the development of an individual. It is the first step of social and professional advancement. In high school we learn the necessary skills to succeed academically .The US, like in the rest of the world, treat high schools as an essential part of a students formation. The question is whether American high schools are able to keep up with an unwritten international standard for secondary education. High schools in the united states have three major problems. First, they tend to be places for social gathering rather than learning habitats for students. Another problem regards the low emphasis that is placed on the learning of the sciences and finally standardized testing questions how much meaningful learning takes place in the classroom. In order to optimize the solution of these problems we need to look closer into each of them.

Social conflict also focuses on macro-sociology. Symbolic interaction paradigm says society functions well through interactions. Communication is spreaded through symbols created by society. Social interaction is important, because it causes social change. Many variables such as behavior events are explained through social contact with others. The people are the ones who determine what is reality, and what is not reality. Life works in a dramatization point of view. Symbolic interaction paradigm focuses on the small issues that affect communities in society, therefore making it a micro-level orientation. Functionalist paradigm sees society as a well integrated, self-regulating system that meets people’s needs. While Social conflict views society having many groups that are self reliant, with their own goals and needs. Symbolic interaction explains society is shaped, and constructed through interaction, and communication with others.

The educators in the documentary, “Rethinking High School: Best Practice in Action,” claimed that authenticity, collaboration, and challenge are the three core principles that are needed in our school system to achieve better teaching and learning. I agree with the statement, especially when we are talking about urban schools.

*Panting*Now I know why you guys are so late every morning, its because you guys talk too much in the morning...

As a high school student, there are many pressures to be what everyone else wants you to be, to be on the same mental level as everyone surrounding you, and

The symbolic interactionist and conflict sociological approaches provide a deeper understanding of the social problems that exist in my former high school. The symbolic interactionist theory emphasizes the meanings people associate with their social encounters and environment (Tepperman, 2015). This theory explains how labels come to exist in high school, how students interpret them, and the concept

There is a large discrepancy in the interpretation of how the current culture is in the High School. The administrative staff seems to have a grasp in reference to this evident in their comments that the some of the staff seems ready to move forward and some of the staff is not. After interviewing teachers, the culture at the high schools seems be on the low end. Questions pertaining to overall feeling towards administration and in specific teacher’s input being heard and valued scored on the low side with an average of about 2.7, with 1 being poor and 5 excellent. One of the lowest scoring questions references leaders not taking the time to praise teachers for doing well. In reference to this, a teacher noted the fact that Wilson high school was named the 44th best school by U.S. News and World Reports (“National Rankings,” 2015) In addition, teacher responses seemed to show a feeling of not planning across curriculum and grade levels. In addition, there is a feeling that the leadership does not value teachers co-planning and observing each other teach. As a whole, the staff felt that teachers are willing to help each other on a daily basis. These questions as well as questions about teachers being involved with and concerned with school improvement were the only questions which scored at a four or better.

The first type of bullying is physical bullying. This type of bullying is pretty common in well-known movies. The victim usually a nerdy, skinny kid getting pushed into lockers, shoved in the hallways, or tripped in a classroom by a physically bigger bully.

Symbolic interactionism is a sociological viewpoint that has shaped various matters of the practice as we know it today. Social interactionism particular focus is based on how individuals learn to interpret and also gives meaning to the world through interaction with others. The term “symbolic interactionism” is remotely used to distinguish the study of human life and conduct. It has been argued by sociologist that this has a micro approach and doesn’t stipulate any macro substance or in other words this philosophy concentrates more on the individual than society as a whole which raised controversy over time. This practice has been heavily influenced by George Herbert Mead George H. Mead, American philosopher and

Suppose you’re going on a hot date. You have a couple of hours before your big evening I’m quite sure your preparing yourself or getting ready to I hope. I bet you decide on a particular outfit or maybe try on a few. You want to make a wonderful impression so you use your good fragrance. You rehearse some catchy lines that you think will make he/she laugh. These are all concepts that go along with the sociological approach called the symbolic interactionist perspective. This approach is used to describe how our society can be viewed and its variants applied to daily interactions.

There are several sociological perspectives including functionalism, conflict, social exchange, and sociological imagination. The one that will be talked about within this paper is called symbolic interaction. Symbolic interaction does not focus on social structure like other sociological perspectives do, symbolic interaction is based on small, mostly person to person ideas and perspectives on what symbols mean between people in cultures, what interaction is like, and how interaction between people can impact or reflect upon society as a whole. (Gingrich) Symbolic interaction is defined as “How people act toward things based on the meaning those things have for them;

To begin with, symbolic interactionism is the study of interactions in everyday life, or what people do. Moreover, it rejects the claims that the moral dimensions of social life can be studied scientifically, while emphasizing that people are “free agents” not determined by our social system; rather we make our own decisions (Reynolds, 2016, Lecture on Symbolic Interactionism). Furthermore, it “views reality as socially constructed” and “as a symbolic order” in which language is vital (Reynolds, 2016, Lecture on Symbolic Interactionism); for instance, sharing the same meaning of words. Therefore, symbolic interactionism views that starting at birth we begin to develop a self through socialization (that also involves interaction), by learning the culture, values of our social environment, and developing an identity (Reynolds, 2016, Lecture on Symbolic Interactionism).

I am not you, you are not me; emotions are what make us unique, but what we do with those emotions is what affects us beyond our own being. Thinking about high school just over a year ago gave me shivers down my spine; I didn’t know what I was in for. It was a constant battle of two perspectives: Will these four years really be the best, or the worst? One of my really close friends kept telling me not to worry – but how could I do that when I felt like I would be that one person who made all the wrong decisions? I wanted to find the right social group, I wanted to fit in; I didn’t want to be the loner who roamed around the halls during lunch. I didn’t want to feel like a nobody. The only thing that ever made me content was having that person in my life who allowed me to blossom. Someone who was the reason behind my happiness and sadness; the reason behind why my emotions were no longer mine to control. Now that I’ve entered high school and I’ve experienced certain things, I’ve come to realize that I am not in need of approval from anyone, but only myself to be satisfied. High school may seem all about appearance, or how popular someone is, but I should never let my happiness depend on someone else. High school for me has been about answering the question “Who am I?”

Symbolic interactionism focuses on the small-scale aspects of human life by looking at individuals instead of society as a whole. Symbolic interactionism has many different characteristics. First, it focuses on how society derives meaning from interactions (21). Second, symbolic interactionism looks at how things get their meanings, and how we live in a constructed reality. Finally, symbolic interactionism looks at behavior and how it doesn’t conform to societies norms (22).