Functionalist View Of The School As Secondary Socialisation And Acts As A Bridge Between The Family And Wider Society Essay

Outline and evaluate Functionalist views of the role of the family in society. [33 marks]

Structural functionalism is a macro analysis view defined as “The way each part of society functions together to contribute to the whole.” In education, it focuses on how it serves the needs of society. Functionalists view education as a way to pass on knowledge and skills. While functionalists believe that schools sort students based upon their academic knowledge, Conflict theorists believe that students are sorted based on their social/financial class. Conflict theory is “The way inequalities contribute to social differences and perpetual differences in power.” Conflict theorists believe that students of lower status won’t have the same opportunities in school as students of a higher class. A student of a family with a

to of have ignored that in a number of families (this tends to be a

This combined with the achievement related goals and social values become the basis of the schools mission statement.

Functionalism is based on the view that society is a system of interdependent parts held together by a shared culture or value consensus (agreement) amongst individuals as to what values or norms are important in society. Therefore they take a positive view of the education system. As item A suggests they see it as a form of secondary socialism essential to maintaining society i.e. the values and norms transmitted by social institutions and groups which build upon those learnt in the family (primary socialism).

A persistent educational goal of school was to give everyone the same chance to pursue wealth, which is known as equality of opportunity. Equality of opportunity is the idea that individuals compete with one another with all participants starting at the same point, which Horace Mann referred to as the, “great balance wheel of society” (Spring, 2016, p. 66). Schools provide everyone with an equal opportunity to pursue an education and wealth; however, I believe there are factors that alter that equilibrium. Mann believed that equality of opportunity would reduce tensions between the rich and the poor. It allowed the poor to believe that regardless of their circumstance their children had an equal chance to compete with children of rich families (Spring, 2016 p. 67). However, there are factors that will contribute to your opportunity to succeed, but schools give students the opportunity to all start on the same path that end in different destinations.

The educational system has been around for thousands of years, and throughout time, there have always existed equality issues. From girls not being able to attend school as far as the boys, to children being separated into different schools because of the color of their skin, equality in education is an issue that has plagued humanity for far too long. Throughout the years, there have been some important decisions made in an effort to afford equality in education. Perhaps, as we move forward in our thinking and beliefs, we may find a way to make education a right that everyone who has the desire to grow through knowledge should be afforded, regardless of circumstance.

Throughout America, the educational infrastructure continues to under-prepare students for future positions that require highly trained individuals to complete necessary tasks. In Daniel Bruno's “Entitlement Education”, he states, “It is not that his boss puts her foot down; instead, the job does. Our student finds himself not well prepared for it. He gets cheated because he is disadvantaged at his job---a job that he paid money to learn how to do” (252). Bruno also discusses in the essay on how motivated students are not fully prepared because the educational institute is attempting to cater to the un-driven ones. What Bruno covers in “Entitlement Education” is the staggering truth behind America's educational system. There are astonishing amounts of people at jobs who simply cannot perform their jobs to the necessary specifications. Its not necessarily that the

Equality of Opportunity is the idea that all persons in a society are given equal opportunities to achieve educational and financial equality by having the chance to enter any occupation or social class. Schools play a paramount role in providing equality of opportunity as they are responsible for its implementation. Many issues exist for schools to provide equality of education due mostly to a family’s economic condition. Contributory factors such as a student’s cultural background, which test model is implemented at a given school, discrimination in the labor market that disrupts the achievement of equality of opportunity, all affect the school’s ability to implement equality of opportunity. Another important factor is the inequality between schools that contribute to the inequality of opportunity.

Bowles and Gintis also argue that in order to prevent rebellion from those disadvantaged by the inequalities of capitalism, it is necessary to produce ideologies that explain and justify inequality as fair, natural and inevitable. If people think inequality is justified then they are less likely to challenge the capitalist system. According to Bowles and Gintis, the education system plays a key role in producing such ideologies. They describe the education system as a giant ‘myth making machine’ and focus on how education promotes the ‘myth of meritocracy’. Meritocracy refers to a system where everyone has an equal opportunity to achieve, where rewards are based on ability and effort. This means that those who gain the highest rewards and status deserve it because they are the most able and hardworking. Bowles and Gintis argue that meritocracy does not actually exist. Evidence showed that the main factor determining whether or not someone has a high income is their family and class background, not their ability or educational achievement. By

Hess. Merit pay systems create unhealthy competition between educators which should be working together to ensure that the best possible educational is being given to every student. If one observes an effective educational institution in operation, one will notice those institutions that are highly rated are essentially partnerships between various educators with various teaching styles and personalities teaming together to impart wisdom on young minds primed for educational molding. The general concept behind merit pay systems makes this type of partnership unattainable. In an article published in Education Week Kim Marshall stated that “When individuals are rewarded, collaboration suffers”. Educators become more concerned with outperforming their counter parts to gain pay raises then working together to educate young minds.

A functionalist named Emile Durkheim believes that the education system introduces the importance of social solidarity in people. He says 'Society can survive only if there exists among its members a sufficient degree of homogeneity; education perpetuates and reinforces this homogeneity by fixing in the child from the beginning the essential similarities which collective life demands.' So he believes that social life would be impossible without social solidarity amongst people. Social solidarity is when a mass of individuals in a society is united as a whole, and when people learn to respect their community and look after one another and their surroundings. Education teaches people this at an early age, by giving history lessons because this provides a link between the individual and the society in which they live in.

However Parsons (1961) argues that schools are equal, they are meritocratic, status is achieved on the basis of merit, and performance is measured with exams. All pupils are treated the same regardless of

Durkheim argued, ‘to become attached to society, they will come to see that they are part of something larger themselves; they will develop a sense of commitment to the social group’. Durkheim also claimed that the school serves a function which cannot be provided by the family the peer group. Individuals must learn to cooperate with those who are neither their family nor their friends. In this way, children learn to respect authority figures, such as teachers, and get along with other members of society they would be forced to interact with in later life such as bosses and colleagues. These social interactions are essential for keeping society harmoniously balanced and functioning. Durkheim claimed that along with teaching us to interact with different social groups, education serves to strictly reinforce school rules and ensure that children realise that these should be followed. Punishments should reflect the seriousness of the damage done to the social group by the offence and teach individuals that it is wrong to act against the interests of the social group as a whole. In Durkheim’s words: ‘it is by respecting the school rules that the child learns to respect rules in general, that he develops the habit of self-control and restraint simply because he should control and restrain

Talcott Parsons’ views education as a port of meritocracy. Meritocracy is a word used to describe that everyone is entitled to equal opportunity. He believes that education forms a sort of bridge between family life and society. Parsons believes that education works to instill the values of competition, equality, and individualism in the young minds of students. The meritocracy of the education system just means that everyone is entitled to the right to learn and has the same opportunity to learn. Parsons believes that achievement and rewards are determined by an individual’s effort and ability. Two