Exploring the Conditions & Purposes of Public Schools: Are Schools Simply Used to Create a Well-Trained or Well-Educated Workforce?

There seems to be no perfect answer to the question, “What is the purpose of education?” Every expert and activist probably has a different answer. Martin Luther King said the purpose of education is to, “…enable a man to become more efficient, to achieve with increasing facility the legitimate goals of his life (King, 1947).” Eleanor Roosevelt argued that the purpose of education is good citizenship (Roosevelt, 1930). Others, like Newman (2006), posit that education is a much broader idea. It is the “entire process by which a culture transmits itself across a generation” (Newman, 2006). In trying to form my own idea of the purpose of education, I tried to look at all of these ideas

The inequality of education in the United States is a pressing societal issue that has been the main catalyst for the division between the social classes. Education is a public good, and thus if it used by one consumer then it will not reduce the availability to another consumer. Education can also be considered the largest single factor in determining a person’s success and quality of life in society today.

Almost all the family incomes are over $100,000...The incomes in this school represent less than 1 percent of the families in the United States,” (256) compared to working-class families who earn incomes “at or below $12,000” (256). Anyon presents these examples to compare the backgrounds of each school and uses this as logos to persuasively reason her claim that quality of education is offered to people who can afford it. Public schools that working-class and middle-class families can afford do not offer the same education private schools that upper-class and capitalist families can afford. Wealthy children who are privileged get an advantage early on in their education career because they are able to afford better quality teachers and lessons. This varied quality of education found in curriculums is what creates the unequal divide between educated individuals in different social classes. An audience of scholars and teachers would be persuaded by this claim because Anyon’s data transparently shows the uneven distribution of resources and opportunity found in the social class schools.

The majority of educated people of the continental United States have gone through the public school system at some point or another. Many have gotten their entire education through this medium. So, if so many of our populace is educated by public schools we would expect that everyone within this institution would get a first rate schooling, right? That we would be giving our children the best education that money can buy? Of course, knowing our government, that dream will stay just that: a dream. The American education system is broken and outdated and we need a complete overhaul if we want our future generations to get the education that they deserve.

With the many diverse characteristics of the Unites States, perhaps the most troubling is the rising gap in the distribution of wealth. As the wealth gap in the United States rises exponentially, the gap in the quality of public schooling rises with it. For a country that prides itself in prestigious outlets of education, the system of public schooling seems to be miserably failing. Public education, a system that some fight to destroy while others fight to preserve, is perhaps the only source of academic opportunity for many individuals living in this country. The fact that someone can live in a certain area and receive a higher quality of public education than someone else living in a different area in the same country—even in the same state—is a problem that should not trouble a ‘progressive’ democratic society. Unfortunately, areas of lower socioeconomic status receive much less funding than areas of higher socioeconomic status, where property taxes account for 45% of funding in public school districts. Naturally, the impoverished residents of poor neighborhoods pay a harsh price in this situation, sending their children to an underfunded school with little to no resources, where sometimes teachers must supply the classroom from their own pocket. As Rogerson and Fernandez note, “a system that allows the accidents of geography and birth to determine the quality of education received by an individual is inimical to the idea of equal opportunity in the marketplace”

School systems have a major impact on society and almost every individual has been in school at least once. The purpose of having schools back then and today are for individuals to learn and pass on their knowledge to maintain bigger and greater occupations, along with establishing a language

There are many controversies that American public education system does more harm than good. In “Against School” by John Taylor Gatto and “Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work” by Jean Anyon, explains how school education destructively impacts us. Gatto states his experience as a public school teacher and why he “just can't-do it anymore”. He was tired how the schooling was programmed. He argues how school system are affecting students to be more like “childlike” citizens. Also, Anyon demonstrates her research on how there are many different kinds of education depending what “class” you were. She informs us that there is an inequality in “Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work”. She tells us that this difference in

The purpose of education is to provide all children with the tools to reach their fullest potential. Realistically educational systems have failed (and have been set up this way) to exclude various groups based upon race, gender, orientation and social class. This is the history that education is trying to deal with, and overcome (Roland, 2009).

Public schools might also be a better option for your child if they are hoping to be able to attend a course in technology or art because the school has a specialized class designed to teach them that. On an extracurricular activity standpoint, public schools tend to have better sports teams that are more likely to get recognized by higher ranked colleges because of the previous year's and previous players. They also tend to have more after school clubs so more kids can get

There are many inequities of public education. Public schools who are wealthier tend to have more classes available, giving the students a wide range of education. Wealthier schools also have higher educational classes than other public schools, for example a wealthier school could have College Algebra but other schools may not have the money to offer that course. Also wealthier schools are able to have more teachers for all the subjects they offer. Most public school students average the same SAT score, as to a student who is attending a private school.

Now the students are missing out on the curriculum the rest of the country is trying to reach because they need to have the skills to have a demanding job. Schools in a high-income society usually get even more than the curriculum. Private schools have just about everything. They have good materials, good educators, good students, etc. Students in private schools are taught to love learning. “In 90 minutes of observing the private-school class, there were zero interruptions, zero yawns, and zero cell phones”, (Godsey, 2015). Although when Godsey observed that there were zero interruptions in 90 minutes, he later went to a public-school and it ended up being a nearly the opposite observation. “It 's not completely clear how fluent he [the teacher] is in the subject matter, however, because he has been interrupted or distracted by 20 things in 20 minutes: a pencil being sharpened, a paper bag being crumpled and tossed…” (Godsey, 2015). Comparing the private-school to the public-school, the private-school had more opportunities and focus than the public-school, thus creating a better environment for students to learn and be successful. Schools are evidently unequal when comparing them based on the focus, curriculum, and money.

Allison Benedikt wrote this article to persuade parents of her opinion that sending children to public school will improve the public school system. It does not matter if the parents can afford private school; paying taxes to the local public school is not good enough. Every child should be sent to public school even if the local public school is not very good. Public schools will not give your child the best, but it will give them the tools to manage to get through life. The author encourages parents to send their children to public school because if every parent sent their children to public school, the public school system will improve over time and become an excellent school for generations to come.

The United States prides itself on its public education system making it a core value of many families. The level of education a person has will influence their career achievements. Americans expect their public system of education to provide a solid curriculum. Most of the people in the United States place their trust in the public school system in which they support through taxes. This trust although is contradicted by the public system of education’s current shape. Much of the schools in the United States are either deteriorating, or failing all together. The drawbacks of public education create an unhealthy environment for student learning.

However, from a different perspective Social Conflict Approach, Karl Max defined the Social Conflict Approach as a framework for building theory that sees society as an arena of inequality that generates conflict and changes. Conflict theory usually emphasizes on negative, conflicted and ever-changing nature of society. Unlike functionalists who defended the status quo, avoid social change and believe people works together to effect social order, conflict theories challenge the status quo, encourage social change and believe rich and powerful people force social order on the weak and poor. Now the problem is how far do social conflict theories relate to the educational system? As illustrated by Marxist theorists Althusser, education socially

Conflict theory on education is that education offers status on people. Likewise, those educational systems typically deny disadvantaged students from getting the same instructive like other.