2639 SOCI 1311 Chapter 15 Reading

SOCI 1311 Introduction to Sociology
Chapter 15: Education and Communications Media Education in a Changing World

Think About It Critically
Many things occur in the contemporary U.S. school besides just learning and enlightenment. What other things can you think of that occur as a result of attending school? Can you think of any elements of the primary school that might be related to the learning of discipline? In this regard, Paul Goodman (a famous critic of U.S. education) once state that once a student has accepted the need for schooling, he is easy prey for the institutions that will come later in life. What Goodman was responding to is the strict regime of the grade school and high school. Such authoritarian structure developed initially because it would make students into good factory workers. It was probably a good idea during the time when the smoke stack industries dominated the U. S. economy during the rise of industrialization. Such a rigid regime would create workers who would obey orders and perhaps even follow the strict demands of the assembly line. Such activities, after all, only mirror the way people had learned in school to stand in straight lines, to ask to use the bathroom, not to scratch the desk or mark on their books, and so forth.
Children Performing a Nativity Play at School; Jennie Woodcock, Reflections Photolibrary/Corbis
2009 University of Texas at Arlington
Page 1 of 32
SOCI 1311 Introduction to Sociology The school is also the place where children are expected to internalize the core values of their society through a process called primary socialization. Enduring a complex, largely subconscious, and unrelenting set of rituals, the young people of modern industrialized societies are taught that their own societys way of doing things is the only natural and right way. Students in the United States, for example, learn that the business ethic is the highest good that one can aspire to. They are also taught to always be patriotic, always to support their own group unquestioningly, and to internalize many other core values of U.S. society. They are taught that democracy is good and that other ways of doing things are either misguided, not very perceptive, or outright evil (as in the case of socialist or communist countries). It is expected that they will come to believe that people either succeed or fail because they are either hard-working or lazy. They are taught to pay attention almost entirely to the individual factors associated with ones place in life and to ignore the structural factors that are central to the study of sociology (such as racism, sexism, imperialism, stratification, and a host of other structural variables that influence the individuals existence).
Japanese American Girls Pledge Allegiance to the U.S. Flag, Library of Congress/Corbis
The rise of industrialization helped to create a generation who followed the orders and demands of a rigid routine. Smokestack Industry, Ted Streshinsky/Corbis
Page 2 of 32
SOCI 1311 Introduction to Sociology As the traditional family has disappeared in the United States, increasingly the schools have acquired the task of trying to teach morals to the kids. They learn about sex in school, they learn to just say no to drugs, and they are sensitized to the possibility of sexual molestation (Dont talk to strangers!). They are even taught how to be multiculturally sensitive and are taught a host of other value issues formerly left to the family or the church.
Children at Just Say No Rally, Patrick Bennett/Corbis
Even mate selection is strongly influenced by the school. A former president of the American Sociological Association, Kingsley Davis, as early as the 1940s noted that fraternities and sororities serve as a type of select breeding program. What Davis meant was that Greek organizations make sure that the members of such groups marry others very much like themselves. Why? Primarily to keep the social class structure intact and to avoid excessive redistribution of money across social class lines. (To some degree, ones choice of college serves this same function, especially the elite private ones.)
College Fraternity Party in San Francisco, Phil Schermeister/Corbis
It is easy to see that lots of things occur in school besides just learning and enlightenment. However, in recent years many have begun to worry about whether the way the United States educational system performs these functions is beneficial today. The school system was created primarily for a society undergoing early industrialization. As the United States moves into a postindustrial configuration it seems possible that its educational system is lagging culturally. We will return to this point in later sections of this chapter.
Page 3 of 32
The Structure of Education

It is actually quite unusual in the long sweep of human history for a society to try to use schools as we know them today for the education and socialization of new citizens (whether new because of age or because of recent immigration). In the past, schooling was often much more informal, carried out in smaller groups, and more closely tied to family, kin, and community. Even in the United States, it was only a hundred years ago that most schools would have fit the stereotype of the little red schoolhouse. These one-room schoolhouses are long gone as the mode in the United States. In their place, we find schools that have become large bureaucracies with large and highly functionally differentiated staffs. (Functional differentiation means that there are a host of roles to fill in a modern school, such as teachers, administrators, custodians, guidance counselors, special education teachers, nurses, etc.). In very large cities, there may be as many as seven levels in the school between the principal and the bottom of the hierarchy. This means that many such schools have become so bureaucratized that they suffer some of the same maladies as a modern military bureaucracy for example, in both such organizations, information flows down from the top easily, but often important information has much difficulty finding its way back to the top. In an effort to alleviate some of the worst impersonality of school bureaucracies, some of the nations school systems (such as those in Chicago and New York) have begun to encourage parents to become more involved in school issues. There are also attempts to reduce the size of schools to create the sense of a learning community (Lee & Smith, 1993: Meier, 1994). However, such reforms have been slow in coming and have often been hampered by a fierce debate about how to fund reforms in a climate that is opposed to increased public spending. The Classroom The normal arrangement of the primary school class is one teacher for all subjects in front of the same group of students throughout the day. This contrasts with later grades, in which the student moves from classroom to classroom during the day, encountering in each new room a teacher who is a specialist in a particular subject. This latter system is largely an adaptation of the system used in nineteen-century English boarding schools. There have been, however, in recent years a number of modifications to these two models of schooling. For example, today one finds open classrooms at the primary level. In an open classroom, students are grouped according to similar levels of achievement in basic skills. Each group is encouraged to work at its own pace.
First Graders in Japanese Classroom, Kevin R. Morris/Corbis
It turns out that open classrooms have been shown to produce little improvement in objective achievement scores, but they may still be worthwhile. Can you guess why open classrooms may be worthwhile? The trouble with big, bureaucratic schools such as those that most kids face in modernized societies is that they typically have a hard time motivating kids to learn. Open classrooms have been shown to improve attendance rates (especially for kids from working-class and minority backgrounds) and may help some students enjoy going to school more.
Page 4 of 32
SOCI 1311 Introduction to Sociology The Role of the Teacher There is some debate over how much difference teachers actually make with regard to academic performance by their students. Widely known studies, such as the famous one conducted by Christopher Jencks (1973), have shown surprisingly little effect of teachers on students performance on standardized tests. Teacher qualifications (measured by terminal degree granted and teacher salary) had far less impact on students performance levels than did the social class level of the students parents, their own belief in the importance of education, and the attitudes of their friends toward education. However, you will probably object (and rightly so) that terminal degree and teacher salary may be very poor measures of the personal qualities that make for an outstanding teacher. Perhaps for this reason, it is somewhat reassuring to examine a study by Pedersen and Faucher (1978) in which the authors followed the students of one outstanding teacher and came to the conclusion that this first-grade teacher made a huge difference in the lives of her students that often extended into their adulthood. Most research on the effectiveness of teachers focuses on the credentialing process. Perhaps, instead, we need to focus on the personal characteristics of teachers and upon the specific type of relationships that outstanding teachers form with their charges.
Teacher Reading with Student, Richard Nowitz/Corbis
School Structure Many sociologists have noted the authoritarian structure of most schools in the United States. One of the best known critics of contemporary education was Paul Goodman. In fact. Goodman can be considered the father of many of the contemporary critics of U. S. education. In books such as Compulsory Miseducation and Growing Up Absurd, Goodman made a cogent argument that bureaucracy and regulation had grown exponentially in this century until it had finally swamped nearly all spontaneity and caring in the classroom. Another famous critic of contemporary education, Ivan Illich, seconded the theme put forth by Goodman. Illich had been trained in the best German universities, but later in life he became the head of a program to train priests and other Catholic workers to be educators in Latin America. Illich quickly realized that education of the type so common in the developed nations had little relevance to the needs of the poor in the less-developed nations. In a well-known book entitled Deschooling Society, Illich puts for his ideas for how to make education more relevant for the poor in the Third World. Interestingly, it was quickly noticed that many of his ideas might also be useful in the developed nations for improving the motivation and learning of many students. Among the ideas suggested by Illich was to get students out of stultifying classrooms where they sit in straight lines while memorizing long lists and into naturalistic settings. Let them, said Illich, use schools, factories, theaters, symphonies, and so forth as settings in which to learn. He went on to suggest (as had Goodman before him) that most of the cost of education is associated with building, maintaining, and providing security for the large physical plant required by most schools and universities. Eliminate them, was his prescription. If this could be done, the cost of education would drop dramatically, and both student involvement and effective learning would increase. Illich also suggested skills exchanges, such as those one now sees on the Internet or in continuing education programs for adults. In skills exchanges, people would list their special skills and express their willingness to serve as models. Illich did not care for the terms teacher and student, feeling they carry a residue of bad feelings from traditional educational methods.
Page 5 of 32
SOCI 1311 Introduction to Sociology Then others who share the same interest would indicate their willingness to join in a shared study group and pay a small fee. The group would meet in one of the facilities just described, or in a group members home. Illich also suggested a process he called peer matching. This would involve the creation of widely available lists of people and their particular interests so they could be readily identified and invited to join in cooperative educational experiences such as t hose just described.
The Condition of Education In the United States

Unfortunately, in the midst of the worlds wealthiest and most high-tech society, there is mounting evidence that something may be wrong with the educational process.
The results of one national study of adult skills in the United States.
As we discussed in an earlier chapter, most of the high-paying jobs in the U.S. economy in future years will be in the science, engineering, and technology sectors. However, in 1986, in a comparison of 17 modernized nations using standardized tests for science achievement, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) found that a nationally representative sample of U.S. fifth graders ranked in the middle of the nations tested in terms of science achievement. Even more worrisome, it was also discovered that by ninth grade, U.S. students ranked next to last overall. In fact, they were last in biology and far behind many other nations in the areas of chemistry and physics. Some indication as to why the biology scores were so low may be found in the study by Eve and Dunn (1990). In their study, 19 percent of a national sample of high school biology teachers surveyed claimed that dinosaurs and people were once contemporaries, and 26 percent agreed that some races of people are more intelligent than others. The National Assessment of Educational Progress report concluded that: More than half of the nations 17-year-olds appear to be inadequately prepared to perform competently jobs that require technical skills. The thinking skills and scientific school students also seem to be inadequate for informed participation in the nations civic affairs. Only 7 percent of the nations 17-year-olds have the prerequisite knowledge and skills thought to be needed to perform well in college-level science courses.
Page 6 of 32
SOCI 1311 Introduction to Sociology Although there has been some improvement in the science literacy scores of U.S. students in recent years, in general they still score far behind the students of many other developed nations. (It is objected by some, however, that the United States educates a far greater proportion of its young than do some other nations, where only the children of the elite are likely to go very far through the schools. There is probably some truth to this objection, but it also appears that substantial differences would still remain in many cases even after adjusting for this social class difference in sampling.) The Problem of Scientific Illiteracy Sociologist John Miller has conducted national surveys intended to assess American adults level of scientific literacy. Miller employed a fairly modest definition of scientific literacy. To be considered scientifically literate, an adult needed to demonstrate a basic understanding of scientific methods (e.g., the role of formulating and testing hypotheses in scientific study of a subject) and a few scientific constructs (e.g., the rudiments of concepts such as DNA). Miller found that even by these minimal standards only about 5 percent of the U.S. public could be considered scientifically literate. By these standards, the vast majority of U.S. citizens would be unable to read a newspaper story about DNA research and genetic engineering and to understand its consent and implications for public policy. Only 16 percent of Millers subjects reported having a clear understanding of what DNA, the basic building block of genetics, is (compared to 57 percent who admitted they had little understanding of DNA). On another question, about 7 percent believed astrology to be very scientific, and another 29 percent believed it to be sort of scientific. No less than 41 percent agreed that Rocket launchings and other space activities have caused changes in our weather. Miller has also found that only about 45 percent of his U.S. respondents knew that the earth revolves around eh sun in a period of one year (instead of a day or a month). While it is true that scientific literacy scores increased with education, still only 12 percent even of college graduates were judged to be scientifically literate. Even among Americans holding postgraduate degrees, the proportion was an unimpressive 18 percent (Miller, 1983, 1987, 1987). What is to be done about the state of U.S. public education? Obviously, people with little understanding of what science is are ill-equipped to evaluate pseudoscientific claims. The Role of Parental Expectations In one revealing study that compared the mathematics performance and associated attitudes of schoolchildren in Chicago and China, Stevenson colleagues (1990) found that Chinese kids outperformed U.S. kids by a very substantial margin.
Page 7 of 32
Stevenson et al., 1990
Then Stevenson and his colleagues asked both groups of children how satisfied their teachers and parents would be with their performance. Which set of kids (Chicago or China) do you think said their parents would be satisfied with their performance?
If you guessed the kids in Chicago, you were right!
Interpretation of Stevensons and His Colleagues Findings Stevenson and his colleagues interpret these results to show that U.S. parents may well expect too little of their own childrens school performance. Perhaps this is because other studies have shown that parents view the sources of competence in math and science very differently in the two countries. When Chinese parents are asked what makes a good mathematician or scientist they usually say hard work. When U.S. parents are asked the same question, they tend to say that genetic factors are the determinant.
Page 8 of 32
SOCI 1311 Introduction to Sociology In other words, U.S. parents seem to believe that scientists are just born that way. The evidence seems, however, to support the Chinese interpretation. Eve (1996) has gone on to investigate the cultural difference further. He found that Asian kids do lots more homework than U.S. kids. For example, in one study of 7,000 students in the San Francisco area, it was found that Asian American students did an average of 7.03 hours of homework per week, compared to 6.12 hours for whites, 4.23 hours for blacks, and 3.98 hours for Hispanics. In fact, the average amount of homework done by U.S. high school students is down to less than 30 minutes per day. U.S. students, however, say that on the average they watch over two hours of television a day. One reason Asian American students do more homework and do better in school is that they are much more likely to live in an intact family that supervises them much more closely. Although the divorce rate for Americans in general rose sharply during the past decade, the corresponding rate remained very low among Asian marital partners. One can add to this the fact that in Asia families, the mother often sees her role primarily as preparing her children for academic success. Asian children are also much less likely to work after school, especially in the countries after-school educational programs that are designed to supplement high school in preparing them for very tough competitive exams required before entering higher education. American high schools have traditionally focused much of their activities and efforts around sporting contests and social activities (such as dating and dancing.) In stark contrast, in Asian schools and families, these activities are greatly deemphasized in comparison to intellectual competition and achievement. Asian parents, as we saw, expect a lot more from their offspring when it comes to grades. In a study comparing Asian and white students in San Francisco, the researchers found that 82 percent of the Asian parents said they would accept only an A orB on their childs report cards. The corresponding percentage of white parents was 59 percent. Only 17 percent of Asian parents said they would accept a grade of C compared to 40 percent of the white parents. Sociologists would say that the differences in school performance when U.S. students are compared with former generations, or with Asian students, have at least partially resulted from changing levels of social control within U.S. families. Social control is the term used to describe the pressure an individual feels from others around him to conform to the group or the societys norms. There can be little doubt that rapidly rising rates of divorce and out-of-wedlock births in the United States are taking their toll on our young through mechanisms such as conflicted emotional relationships, lack of supervision of children by single mothers (who often must work during the day to make ends meet), and lack of close ties between the world of adults and that of children and teenagers. Is it really important that U.S. kids do better in school? Probably so, because sociologists have noticed that in the world of the future, a very high percentage of U.S. workers will find themselves competing with workers from many other nations for jobs and wages within the ever more common entity called multinational corporations. This means that our poor showing will have direct consequences for todays youth in terms of employment and dollars. It is clear that we need to fix the schools, but we are unlikely to be able to do so without confronting the changing nature of the family and community in U.S. society. An Increasing Emphasis on Materialism Other observers of the decline in educational standards in the United States have argued that the rise of a postindustrial economy puts much emphasis on immediate gratification. After all, advertising agencies in the United States spend billions of dollars per year (the largest part of it directed at young people) trying to convince us that self-fulfillment and immediate gratification are the most important goals in society.
Page 9 of 32
SOCI 1311 Introduction to Sociology The nature of advertising itself has changed. For most of this century most advertisements were about the qualities and functions of the product. Today, more and more ads assert that without the right product (the right hair shampoo, the right makeup, the right car) that the consumer is inadequate. (Apparently you will grow old, unloved, childless, and alone if you dont own the right stuff.) Do you think these trends may have increased the degree to which students emphasize material comfort and money over other factors?
Students at Oxford University, UK, Liba Taylor/Corbis
Equality in Education
Sometimes the school in the United States is referred to as a giant sorting machine. In this section, we will examine some of the ways in which this metaphor seems appropriate. How Is Educational Achievement Different from Attainment? Sociologists use the term educational attainment to refer to the number of years of school a person has completed. In contrast, they use the term educational achievement to refer to the true amount of learning that has taken place. In reality, this latter is very difficult to determine with great precision for a number of reasons. Performance vs. Competency One may know something, but due to reasons such as physical fatigue or test anxiety by unable to express that knowledge during a test at a specific moment. Some would say that the person being tested is competent (that is to say that ordinarily he or she knows the relevant information) but that something has interfered with the performance (or ability to demonstrate at a given moment what one has learned). Is IQ a Myth? IQ (for ones intelligence quotient) is often assumed by the public to be an indication of how smart one is. There are a couple of serious limitations, however, to this assumption. For one thing, many have argued convincingly that to so degree IQ tests are cultural bound. This means that they contain content that is familiar to middle-class people, but that may be very foreign to those from other social classes or even nations. Obviously, this may unfairly disadvantage some individuals. IQ tests also do not measure all forms of intelligence. To some degree, for example, creativity (such as artists prize) is not well measured. In addition, different areas of the same IQ tests sometimes are not highly correlated (showing that intelligence is not a unitary phenomenon). In addition, it should be pointed out that like many standardized pencil-and-paper tests, IQ tests are supposed to be ability tests instead of achievement tests. (Achievement tests are said to measure what one knows instead of how much one knows, the latter task being the aim of achievement tests.)
Page 10 of 32
SOCI 1311 Introduction to Sociology It is, of course, not possible to construct a test that measures only ones ability to learn without any regard for what one actually knows. A more important point here, however, is that many studies have shown that scores on such pencil-and-paper tests in general are highly correlated with being of higher social class. What IQ scores then seem to predict with deadly accuracy are scores on other pencil-and-paper tests. What is wrong with that? Well, other studies have shown that adult occupational prestige and adult income are not very strongly correlated with IQ or even grade point average. (At least this is true within levels of education such as grade school, high school, college, etc. You have to score well enough to move on to the next level to make a big gain in your lifes fortunes. However, within each level, IQ and GPA dont correlate very strongly with life outcomes.) So some conflict theorists have argued that the primary purpose of standardized pencil-and-paper tests like IQ tests, SATs, GREs, etcetera is to reproduce the social class structure from one generation to the next more so than to actually measure how smart someone is. Do Years of Education Accurately Reflect the Actual Amount of Learning? Some studies in sociology of education have found a great difference in what an A means, depending on the social class level of the school examined. In other words, some ghetto or barrio schools appear to award an A for work that would receive a much lower mark in a suburban upper-class school.
Who Goes to School?

Throughout this century, more and more people have been attending school longer. However, access to more schooling is not equally distributed among U.S. citizens. Both psychological and social structural factors enter into what goes to school longer. Access Educational aspirations and expectations, perhaps formed fairly early in life, are certainly key factors influencing access to education. They are, in turn, undoubtedly influenced by academic benchmarks such as achievement levels in elementary and secondary school, the type of secondary education program followed, and persistence through high school until the awarding of the diploma.
Data from U.S. Census Bureau
Page 11 of 32
SOCI 1311 Introduction to Sociology Other important determinants of access arise from circumstances over which the student has had little or no control. Among these are ones background, which includes family structure as well as the expectations parents have for their children, available role models, educational opportunities, and perhaps even health. In addition, lifestyle choices such as whether and when to get married and start a family (as well as some forms of prosocial or antisocial behavior), affect postsecondary educational opportunities and decisions. Finally, because postsecondary education must start with the application and enrollment process, the failure to take these steps, for whatever reasons, can be viewed as obstacles to postsecondary access.
Data from U.S. Census Bureau, 1988; Statistical Abstract, 1995.
Educational Expectations Early goals and images of ability level and opportunities may affect achievement throughout life. In one study conducted by the Department of Education in 1988 on a representative national sample of school kids, data was collected concerning the highest level of education students expected to attain (collected while cohort members were in the eighth grade and then four years later). As early as eighth grade, almost two-thirds of the eighth-grade cohort expected to attain a bachelors degree or higher, and an additional 22 percent expected to obtain some postsecondary education. There was an overall decline between 1988 and 1992 in the percentage who expected to earn a bachelors or higher degree. This may reflect more realism and knowledge acquired during this four-year interim as students assessed their own interests and abilities, learned more about the availability and costs of postsecondary alternatives, considered other lifestyle choices such as marriage, gained some employment experience, and became more aware of the potential gains from a college or advanced degree. Considering 1992 expectations, a greater percentage of women than men, and a greater percentage of Asians than other racial/ethnic groups, reported that they expected to obtain at least a baccalaureate degree. (Contrary to public stereotypes, a number of studies have shown that black youth say they desire more years of education than do comparable samples of whites. However, they also expect to obtain less education than whites.) Why do you think this seeming contradiction occurs?
Page 12 of 32
SOCI 1311 Introduction to Sociology A lower percentage of Hispanic 1988 eighth graders than whites expected to earn a bachelors degree or higher. As one moves up the socioeconomic ladder there is a pronounced increase in the percentage of 1988 eighth graders who expected in 1992 to earn at least a bachelors degree (the rise was from 36 percent in the lowest socioeconomic quartile to 86 percent in the highest quartile). In addition, as tested achievement increases so does the percentage of cohort members with expectations for a bachelors or higher degree. Approximately 92 percent of those in the highest test quartile in 1992 expected to complete college and/or additional postgraduate work. Students in this latter group have likely done well in high school and thus have probably received more positive feedback and encouragement with respect to continuing their formal learning. Academic Preparation Access to various postsecondary education options in general, and to four-year colleges in particular, is affected first and foremost by academic preparation. Nearly 62 percent of all 1988 eighth graders reported being enrolled in a high school academic/college preparatory track in 1992, while 38 percent were rolled in a general or vocational program. A significantly higher percentage females than males were in academic/college preparatory programs. Asians had significantly higher percent representation in high school academic programs than any other racial/ethnic group except whites. Blacks and Hispanics showed lower representations than the other two racial/ethnic groups (but with no significant differences between black and Hispanics). Those in the middle and highest socioeconomic and test quartiles participated in academic programs in greater percentages.
Asian Teenagers Studying, Dean Conger/Corbis
There is some controversy about whether the pattern just described is strictly the result of ability. Some critics have suggested that schools tend to deliberately track black and Hispanic kids into other than college preparation tracks. Others reply that the disadvantages of average lower income actually do impair the ability of kids in some racial or ethnic groups to compete, and that therefore tracking differences are less discriminatory than realistic. Among the 1988 eighth grader in the highest 1992 test quartile, only 13 percent were enrolled in vocational or general study programs in high school. In contrast to observations about the entire cohort just mentioned, there were no differences in academic program participation by sex, race/ethnicity or socioeconomic status. For the vast majority of students, attaining a high school diploma is a necessary, but not sufficient, condition for the successful attainment of a bachelors or advanced degree. Also important are the particular high school courses taken and the level of achievement attained in them. By 1994, 81 percent of those who were eight graders in 1988 had received a regular high school diploma, 6 percent had received a GED certificate, 0.4 percent reported that they were still working toward a high school diploma, and 5 percent were working toward a GED certificate. The remainder, 7.2 percent, reported not having earned a diploma or certificate and were not continuing to pursue one. Asians were graduated at a rate higher than the other racial/ethnic subgroups, and whites had statistically higher rates than blacks or Hispanics. High school graduation rates vary directly by socioeconomic and test quartile. In the highest test quartile, almost all students had earned diplomas.
Page 13 of 32
Who Goes on to College and Why?

Background and Individual Decision Making Academic considerations, such as high school preparation, performance, and persistence, can certainly affect ones readiness for and access to (and, of course, success in) postsecondary education. However, family background and personal choices can also be important influences and/or determinants. We now turn to three of these issues: at-risk factors, marriage, and parenting. At Risk of School Failure Using the same Department of Education study cited in the previous section, it was found that in the 1988/94 data contain information on 1988 eighth graders who were identified as at risk of dropping out of high school based on background and family circumstances present while in eighth grade. The factors constituting risk were whether the student lived in a single-parent family, was from a family with an annual income of less than $15,000, had an older sibling who had not finished high school, had limited proficiency in English, and/or was at home without adult supervision more than three hours a day. Overall, 55 percent of participants showed no at-risk factors, 25 percent had one, and almost one-fifth, 19 percent, had two or more. Eighth graders with two or more of these factors present may experience a substantial barrier to postsecondary education participation and success.
Data from Stevensen, et al., 1990.
Although the presence of two or more risk factors appears to be independent of gender, it is not independent of race/ethnicity or tested achievement. (Differences in the number of risk factors are not examined by socioeconomic status because family income and parents education, two components of socioeconomic status, are also components of the at-risk variable. Thus, the number of risk factors is related to socioeconomic status, which would result in artificially inflated differences in risk factors for the different socioeconomic status groups.) A smaller percentage of Asians and whites, in comparison to blacks and Hispanics, had two or more risk factors. Eighth-grade risk factors are strongly associated with 1992 tested achievement, indicating a justification for concern that these factors affect students learning opportunities. More than three-fourths of those in the highest test quartile had no risk factors, while only about half that percentage (37 percent) in the lowest test quartile had no risk factors. By contrast, only 5 percent of high tested achievement students had two or more risk factors, as did 16 percent of those in the middle two test quartiles and nearly one-third of those in the lowest test quartile.
Page 14 of 32
SOCI 1311 Introduction to Sociology Marriage and Family Formation For purposes of postsecondary education decisions, which include attendance, intensity of enrollment, and financing of studies, it is unclear whether people in marriage-like relationships, who constituted 7 percent of 1988 eighth graders overall in 1994, behave more like single or married respondents. The number of divorced, separated, or widowed respondents is too small to draw conclusions about these members of the cohort. Consequently, married and single, never married cohort members constitute the focus of this discussion. With regard to access and choice in postsecondary education, the impact of marriage by itself, without taking children in the household or other factors into consideration, is ambiguous. For example, marriage may provide financial support if one spouse is enrolled in a postsecondary institution and the other is employed, as well as providing stability, maturity, purpose, and other generally accepted positive by-products. On the other hand, marriage can bring financial pressures. These, in turn, could affect the timing of participation in postsecondary education (i.e., delayed entry), a preference for part-time enrollment coupled with employment rather than full-time student status, and perhaps even a tendency to attend an institution or program closer to home. Most 1988 eighth grader (83 percent), most of whom were about 20 years old, had never been married by 1994. Higher reported marriage rates for 1988 eighth-grade women is consistent with known tendencies for men to marry at a later age and for husbands to be several years older than their wives. Thus some women in the NELS:88 survey are married to men who are older than 20 and are therefore not in the 1988 eighth-grade cohort. In every category less than 15 percent of the population reported being married. The percent married decreases as one moves up socioeconomic and test quartiles. A greater percentage of those in the highest test quartile group reported never having been married by 1994 (94 percent). Within the 1992 high tested achievement quartile there are no significant differences in reported marriage rates by race/ethnicity or socioeconomic quartiles have significantly lower rates of remaining single than those in the highest quartile. Unlike marriage, where there can be counterbalancing or offsetting forces as noted earlier, the presence of young children most likely constitutes a financial burden for NELS:88 cohort member. This would in turn be expected to reduce immediate postsecondary education participation, or certainly limit it to part-time enrollments. Overall, approximately 16 percent of 1988 eighth graders reported having at least one child. The percentages of Asian and white 1988 eighth graders with children by 1994 were lower than Hispanics or blacks. When grouped by test quartiles, the percentage of 1988 eighth graders reporting no children varied inversely with tested achievement, and within the highest test quartile there were no reported differences by race/ethnicity. However, a greater proportion of those who were also in the highest socioeconomic quartile reported having no children than did those in the other two socioeconomic groupings.
Page 15 of 32
Education, Equality, and Inequality Some Conclusions

As you will see from the following, it appears that unequal outcomes in educational achievement are more directly traceable to social class differences in life experiences and circumstances than to racial, ethnic, or gender considerations. General Conclusions Any discussion of postsecondary education must include an assessment of how well it is serving its current participants and the nation as a whole. That assessment, in keeping with the postsecondary education world itself, should be multidimensional in nature. This particular essay has restricted its coverage to some aspects of access and choice that can be gleaned from NELS:88 data. Within this scope, then, one should attempt to measure postsecondary education in terms of how well it serves racial and ethnic minorities and those on the lower socioeconomic rungs in comparison with those whose backgrounds and circumstances are more privileged. Gender: With regard to gender, it is important to investigate whether young females hold educational expectations different from their male counterparts and whether in high school females are represented in programs similar to males, these as well as males, and receive diplomas at the same rate as males. Compared to males, it is important to test whether females follow similar postsecondary education paths with regard to the type, timing, and intensity of enrollment. These and other differences that can be detected for women versus men can, and should, be examined for the other categories of potential barriers and inequalities as well. This section provides each of these comparisons. Data from NELS:88/94 (the Third Follow-up) suggest that females in the 1988 eighth-grade cohort held similar or even higher educational expectations compared to males. In comparison with their male counterparts, a higher percentage of women also chose or were tracked into academic over vocational or general programs. A smaller percentage of women than men scored in the lowest 1992 test quartile, and a higher percentage of women scored in the middle two test quartiles, while there was no observed difference between men and women in the highest test quartile. A smaller percentage of women than men failed to file a postsecondary application by 1992, and a greater percentage of women filed multiple postsecondary applications. Thus, on these various access comparisons, which hold for the overall 1988 eighth-grade cohort and for the high tested achievement quartile, women appear to be at least on a par with men in terms of being positioned to take advantage of postsecondary educational opportunities. With regard to choice, women and men in NELS:88 enrolled in public and private not-for-profit four-year institutions by 1994 in approximately equal percentages. Women attending four-year institutions also enrolled out of state, attended full-time, and attended an institution of their choice at the same rates as men. Again, these conclusions hold both for the aggregate NELS:88 cohort with postsecondary enrollment by 1994 and for those in the highest 1992 test quartile. Thus, on the criterion of choice, postsecondary education again appears to be meeting the needs of women at least as well as it does those of men. There are few observed sex differences across NELS:88 categories, and where there are differences, they tend to favor women. On the criteria of access and choice, then, there do not appear to be postsecondary education barriers that affect women disproportionately.
Page 16 of 32
Data from U.S. Census Bureau, 1988, 1992; Statistical Abstract, 1995.
Race/Ethnicity: While in high school, a higher percentage of Asian students reported the expectation of earning at least a bachelors degree than for any racial/ethnic group, and a significantly lower percentage of Hispanics than whites held this level of expectation (there were no significant differences across other racial/ethnic categories). Asians also had higher percent enrollment in academic tracks and had higher high school graduation rates. (With regard to academic program enrollment and graduation, whites showed higher rates than blacks and Hispanics; there were no significant differences between these last two groups.) Within the highest achievement test quartile, racial/ethnic differences by enrollment or graduation disappeared, though higher percentages of Asians and whites than blacks and Hispanics raked in the highest quartile on the cognitive test composite. A higher percentage of Asians than other racial/ethnic groups filed postsecondary applications and enrolled in postsecondary institutions right after high school. Again, these differences disappear in the highest test quartile. A higher proportion of blacks and Hispanics, even within the highest tested achievement quartile, exhibited two or more at-risk factors than whites and Asians. The tendency for Hispanics to enroll in public two-year colleges and for blacks to enroll out of state were the only pronounced postsecondary attendance patterns, and even these do not hold for the highest test quartile. There were no racial or ethnic differences with regard to attendance at a preferred four-year institution or the tendency to enroll full-time in a four-year institution. More observed differences across the potential access and choice barriers (i.e., sex, race/ethnicity, socioeconomic conditions, or tested achievement) occur by socioeconomic status, and they occur from the outset. Educational expectations, in terms of the percentages of those who indicated achievement of at lease a bachelors degree, vary directly by socioeconomic raking. The same is true for representation in academic tracks in high school, the rate of earning a regular high school diploma, and performance on the cognitive test battery. This pattern continues with respect to the postsecondary application process, where a smaller percentage of 1988 eighth-graders in the lowest socioeconomic quartile completed applications. In turn, a smaller percentage from this group matriculated, and when they did enroll there was more delay and a higher incidence of enrollment at public two-year institutions (and in-state). Personal Decisions: On the personal side, the percentage of 1988 eight graders who had never married by 1994 and the percentage who reported not having children varied directly by socioeconomic status. Within the high tested achievement quartile, however, many of these socioeconomic differences disappear or are lessened. Tested Achievement: Those in the highest tested achievement quartile have the fewest postsecondary access and choice barriers. Their initial expression of educational expectations in the eighth grade and their higher rate of postsecondary enrollment characterize them as well motivated. Their higher rate of out-of-state enrollment suggests that they are more mobile than their counterparts; and, for lack of a better word, their discipline as regards the timing of marriage and children position them to take better advantage of the opportunities that the heterogeneous postsecondary would has to offer.
Page 17 of 32
SOCI 1311 Introduction to Sociology Specifically, over 90 percent of this group wants at least a baccalaureate degree from the outset. They take academic subjects in high school, receive their diplomas on time, file multiple applications, and enroll soon after high school graduation (mostly in four-year institutions). On the personal side, they are saddled with fewer at-risk factors to begin with, and they do not marry or have children by their early twenties, which reduce even further the obstacles in their paths to achieving their educational goals. When one restricts comparisons to those in the highest tested achievement quartile, some differences observed for the overall eighth-grade cohort with regard to race/ethnicity or socioeconomic status disappears. This is true for type of high school program attended (i.e., academic versus general/vocational track) and high school graduation rate. However, Asians and white tend to exhibit significantly different levels for some of the other access and choice variables, such as at-risk factors and application patterns. Summary: The most glaring inequalities within the high tested achievement quartile occur across socioeconomic divisions, as opposed to sex or racial/ethnic differences. Although there were no observed differences in terms of high school programs pursued or graduation rates by socioeconomic quartile, personal considerations (i.e., at-risk factors, marriage rates, and the incidence of parenthood), postsecondary application patterns and attendance, institution type (four-year versus other and in-state versus out-of-state), and intensity of enrollment were associated with ones socioeconomic grouping. Some of these same access and choice barriers appear to be present by socioeconomic status, as opposed to sex or race/ethnicity, for the whole 1988 eighth-grade cohort as well as for those in the 1992 highest tested achievement quartile. The Promise of Preschool Programs Fortunately, there is considerable evidence that preschool programs that try to give kids a solid foundation and to stimulate cognitive development can be helpful in overcoming the negative effects of social class factors. For example, in one such program called the Perry Preschool Program (see Kornblum, 1997, for a detailed description), the results of the Perry program seemed very promising. The preschool group, when compared with a matched control group was less likely to have been arrested, more likely to have finished high school, and to be employed. Among the girls, they were far less likely to have become pregnant during their teenage years. It seems clear that a little effort in the first few years of life can pay lasting benefits to society throughout the life cycle of those affected.
Page 18 of 32
Berrueta-Clement, et al., 1984
Much the same results have been found for the national Head Start program of enrichment experiences for preschoolers. In particular, studies have shown that Head Start kids were much less likely to get into serious trouble with the law than were matched control groups. However, under the Reagan and G. H. Bush administrations, these presidents and other conservatives made every effort to cut the funding for Head Start. The program, however, has enjoyed renewed health since the Clinton presidency.
Head Start programs have been conclusively shown to reduce delinquency. Data from Berrueta-Clement, et al., 1984.
Resources on Education In the United States You can find more information concerning education in the United States at the U.S. Department of Educations WWW homepage located at: www.ed.gov U.S. Department of Education Publications The U.S. Department of Education publishes a wealth of information for teachers, administrators, policy makers, researchers, parents, students, and others with a stake in education. You will find many these publications on the Internet. Other Online Educational Resources
Page 19 of 32
SOCI 1311 Introduction to Sociology The Internet is a wonderful place for education. Students, teachers, state education agencies, and others concerned about teaching and learning are using the Internet to create and locate educational materials. While it's difficult to keep track of them all, the Department of Education is committed to providing links to its own servers and sites run by organizations funded by the Department, as well as other valuable educational locations.
The Communications Media

Another major institution of socialization in modern society is the communications media (sometimes called the mass media). Who among us has not had the goodly part of their awareness shaped by the print media (such as newspapers and magazines), by movies, by radio, and by television? Patterns of Media Consumption It would appear that one of the characteristics of modern and postmodern societies is that they bring everyone into contact with mass communication. It is easy to forget how recent this turn of events is in human history. For most of the time that humans have lived on earth, they seldom went more than a few miles from home, most did not know how to read or write, and communication beyond the boundaries of the family and the village was unnecessary for the vast majority. Today, nearly everyone in a modernized society is more likely to spend more time in communication with the mass media each day than in communication with other actual persons in his or her immediate environment. In 1988, for example, the average U.S. household had its TV set turned on for an average of more than 50 hours per week. (Of course, this doesnt mean that the household was intensely watching all that time, but nonetheless, the potential was there to pay attention on an instants notice to anything interesting that appeared on the screen.) The Media as Attention Director It is common to hear members of the public argue that the media dominates the individuals worldview. It is harder, however, to prove that it does so universally. The effects of the mass media are complex and not easily understood. It appears, however, that they do play a powerful role in directing our attention to some issues and not to others. For example, there must be an infinite number of potential problems and disasters that could befall the world, but the media seems to determine which ones we actually think about the most. It seems more likely, for example, that the human race might be wiped out by a doomsday germ that escaped by accident from a secret lab than by a nuclear confrontation. However, somehow the media keeps us looking at the skies for missiles or aliens much more than washing our hands repeatedly. Changes in Media Utilization Data from sources such as the NORC pools show that although out overall exposure to mass media increases yearly, which media we pay attention to changes somewhat at the same time. Do you think people watch TV now more than ever? How about listening to the radio? How about reading? (Beware of using intuition to do science; you may be in for some surprises.) To see some of these changes, view the charts below.
Page 20 of 32
Source: National Opinion Research Center (NORC)
Page 21 of 32
It is clear that people read less than in the past, and thats probably not a surprise to you. But how about radio? It appears that it has not lost listeners, and may even have gained a few. But the real surprise was the chart about TV watching, wasnt it? It appears that there are small but statistically meaningful decreases in TV watching in recent years. Why do you think the patterns have changed as they have for each type of media?
Does TV Cause Violence?

It seems that nearly everyone believes that violence on TV is a direct cause of violence in society. That belief turns out to be very hard to substantiate using social science. The methodology to measure the direct effects of TV and to eliminate other factors has proven very hard. For example, there have been sharp rises in violence on TV and sharp rises in violence among the young. (However, dont forget, as the press seems to, that although violence among the young has been rising quickly in recent years, because there are so many people over 18 compared to those under 18, the average of a murderer is over 30. The way the media affects and filters out perception has led to most citizens believing that typical violent offenders are in their late tens or early twenties. This happens not to be the case!) Even though violence on TV and violence in society have gone up together, we cannot be sure at first glance that they are actually casually connected. Lots of other things have happened at the same time that leads to increased violence the breakdown of the family, the trend away from living in small towns and rural places that have more social control of the individual, etcetera. One has to try to hold constant the effects of all these other variables and then see if a relationship remains between increased violence on TV and in society.
Children Imitating Violence on TV, Michael Newman/PhotoEdit
Page 22 of 32
SOCI 1311 Introduction to Sociology Another methodological problem arises out of the fact that research has shown that kids who are already prone to violence are more likely to prefer to watch violence. Which is cause and which effect, or is there a self-reinforcing cycle at work? This observation, however, suggests another very important and often overlooked point. Can we really expect that a violent stimulus viewed on TV will have the same effect on all viewers? Probably not. In other words, we may need to study the interaction effects between mass media depictions of violence and individual personality factors. For example, criminologists have long known that some people lack an adequate level of internal social control (Hirschi, 1969). Most of us refrain from crime because we are emotionally attached to others, have internalized conventional beliefs, participate in conventional activities, and hold conventional goals. However, some people do not form such attachments and beliefs, nor are they as committed to conventional activities and goals. They are said to lack internal social control as a result. As such, they are left free to commit antisocial acts in ways that would cause most of us intense guild. Could it not be the case that most of us will be unaffected by viewing violence on TV or in the movies, but hose with low levels of social control might well imitate what they have seen? If so, studies of normal individuals who are exposed to violence in the media are missing the point. The sample would really need to compare those with high social control with a matched group with social control. Little of this type of research has been done. In addition, there has been relatively little concern of the nature of the stimulus itself. For example, contrary to what one might expect, nearly all studies of rapists show that they saw less pornography and saw it later in life than matched control groups of non-rapists. However, early studies of the relationship between pornography and violence almost always held the opposite. Only later was it notice that the typical film used as a stimulus to investigate this question contained both sex and violence. When the violence was removed from the film the imitation effect disappeared. Subsequent research, such as that by Scott (1993), has demonstrated that sexual content in and of itself does not appear to stimulate sex crimes. Similar research, however, has not been done in any great detail regarding TV content. There are a lot of different ways to depict sex and violence on television; it is not probably reasonable to assume that they all will have the same kind of effects on the same kind of viewers. However, an accumulating amount of research in recent years suggests that there is some link between media violence (but is it for all types of media, or just TV?) and aggressive acts. In 1982, for example, the National Institute of Mental Health concluded that there was finally overwhelming scientific evidence that the amount of violence in the media was linked to antisocial violence in society. Similar Meta-analysis is the process of taking a larger number of individual studies and looking for an overall pattern in outcomes of the multiple studies.)
Page 23 of 32
SOCI 1311 Introduction to Sociology Is the Media Right or Left? It is common to hear conservatives (whose politics art sometimes called right-wing) decrying the influence of the liberal media. It is nearly equally common to find the liberals (whose politics are sometimes called left-wing) claiming that the news media supports the powerful in society. (They are fond, for example, of citing incidents such as Time magazine choosing Hitler for its Man of the Year award shortly before the outbreak of World War II.) In a classic study of the media, Herbert Gans (1979) expected to find that the influence of the wealth and the powerful overtly and substantially would influence the news that is covered and the slant given to it in ways that would favor the powerful. Gans, however, after conducting interviews and observations at many of the United States large newspapers, felt that he did not find evidence for his own hypothesis. However, recent research by Gitlin (1994) and Parenti (1993) has revealed that, in fact, the interests of the powerful (especially of multinational corporations) do influence the media in both content and practice. Parenti, in particular, has presented an interesting argument that the media neither favors the right nor the left politically. Instead, he argues that they have a strong bias toward protecting the status quo. He also demonstrates convincingly how much of this protection of the status quo (which he does see as favoring the powerful) occurs subconsciously rather than as a contrived situation. Parentis analysis of the medias unconscious use of language is particularly revealing. For example, you may remember the case of Manuel Noriega, the former dictator of Panama who was de-posted by the United States. Parenti points out how the press never failed to refer to him as strongman Noriga. This apparently automatic response was intended to chastise Noiega for being an authoritarian leader. However, Parenti points to many other cases in the world where the United States has strong economic interests and consequently supports deeply authoritarian regimes but never gets around to referring to their heads of state as strongmen. Similarly, it can be seen that the heads of state of nations that the United States engages in military conflicts have, at least since the Vietnam War, been depicted as madmen. That was the spin given to the image of ayatollah Kohmeini in Iran, then to Ghadafi in Libya, then to Noriega in Panama, and now to Saddam Hussein in Iraq. Is it really possible that all these leaders are madmen? If not, what function would it serve for media to depict them as such? Click below for one answer. Madmen? By depicting these leaders as insane, the United States can create the image that there could be no other reason for hostilities. In reality, the continuing legacy of colonialism gives these nations very real reasons (both in the past and the present) to resent the existence and often the policies of the United States and its allies.
Page 24 of 32
SOCI 1311 Introduction to Sociology Virtual Media and the Future Today, there is an exploding new media. Specifically that of computer-mediated communication, especially obvious in the Internet and the World Wide Web. These forms of communication are sometimes referred to as virtual ones. The spaces created within computer gaming, work, and communications are referred to as virtual spaces because they are virtually real, hence the name virtual media. They are, as yet, very poorly researched in terms of their current and future impacts on society. In one way, they present a very real challenge to the national security policies of worlds nations. Until recently no one has bothered to try to police the content of virtual media. This meant that often information could flow across boundaries, even international ones, that would before have been closed to such a flow. As a result, certain social movements like the peace movement, amnesty movement, and environmental movements quickly became single worldwide movements where they had been merely national in scope previously. The Russian and U.S. space scientists began planning a joint mission to Mars at a time during the Cold War when their respective governments frowned on such collaboration. Indeed, many governments have become very fearful that sensitive information could spread too easily by such a method and have moved to try to limit the flow of information on the Internet. Their critics charge that what they are really afraid of is the loss of power that comes from their loss of singular control over the flow of information. The critics see the Internet as holding great hope for a true democratization of the worlds nations. For their part, some governments have responded with proposals to use technology to limit communication on the Internet. The Clinton administration, for example, made bitter enemies of many of the cyberspace dwellers by proposing a so-called clipper chip that would allow censorship of the Net. Others were angered by the same administrations efforts to force pornography off the Net in the name of protecting children from viewing it. The critics maintain, probably with some justification, that the pornography issue is merely a smokescreen to try to cover the real intent to extend censorship to the Net (there are other, and easy, ways to use software keys to prevent the viewing of pornography on the Net by children). Social movement organizations have arisen to try to combat the move to censor the Internet and the Web. One of the best known is the Electronic Frontier Foundation with has interested itself in all the legal aspects of communication and publishing on the Internet (considering issues such as censorship, encryption, free speech on the Net, privacy, and intellectual property rights). (You can find the EFF on the Web at hppt://www.eff.org. Its one of the top 10 most visited sites on the Web.) Censorship Backlash in Cyberspace Censorship of the media, not just the Internet, has spawned a considerable backlash in cyberspace. For example, you can now find a yearly list of Top Censored Stories located at the web address: www.projectcensored.org Wired Website The current issue of Wired magazine is located at the following web address: http://www.wired.com/wired For interesting articles and discussions, visit HOTWIRED located at this address: http://www.hotwired.com Even major magazines for computer users, such as Wired magazine, have begun to be more activists as a result of a desire to keep government and censorship off the Internet. Wired has a Web site where you can read many articles relating to the controversial issues raised in this section.
Page 25 of 32
SOCI 1311 Introduction to Sociology The rise of virtual communication opens a vast array of new topics for social scientists to study. One of the most important concerns the truism knowledge is power. If this is true, what are the implications for the different social classes in the Unites States? Will the wealthy, who can afford to give their children computers and software, have a new unfair advantage? What is the effect of introducing Western information and culture directly into Third World nations by means of satellites and the Internet? One scholar described the introduction of Western culture by means of the new communications technologies as like DNA. Wherever such information lands, it begins to try to reproduce the original culture. Is this so? If it is, what effects will it have on traditional families, communities, economies, and churches? The list of what we dont know about what we have wrought with the new communications technologies is nearly endless. Some said that the invention of the personal computer was a technological revolution. It is this authors contention that the real revolution (which will extend into the social, cultural, and religious spheres of all the worlds societies) takes place when the computers are all connected. We all will have our lives drastically changed by that process and its consequences. However, to date very little work by social scientists has tried to understand what those effects will be how they will happen. Media Power: Is It Unlimited? Before you decide that the media will merely brainwash everyone in whatever way it wishes, remember the social science research finds on what is called the two-step flow of communications. Instead of individuals simply accepting what the media tells them, recent research tends to indicate that the messages coming from the media re evaluated by certain respected individuals who interpret the meaning of the messages for others. Such individuals are called opinion leaders and are listened to for clarification of media messages at every level from the most sweeping to the most trivial.
Critical Response
Page 26 of 32
Visual Sociology: Students and Social Change

Activist students have often been at the core of movements for social change. Are students today complacent and uninvolved in important issues? Can student demonstrations affect social change?
Sources: End Apartheid, Sygma Save the Earth First, A. Tannenbaum/Sygma News Photographers, P. Habans/Sygma German Wall, R. Bossu/Sygma Student in Tianamen Square, J. Langevin/Sygma Violence in Tianamen Square, J. Langevin/Sygma
Sociological Methods: Tracing Teacher Influence

In an unusual student of teacher-student interaction, Eigil Pedersen and Therese Annette Faucher (1978) demonstrated the persisting value of an outstanding primary school teacher. The study is unusual because the social scientists were actually looking for a general pattern of low teacher expectations. Instead, they found an exception that demonstrated the powerful effects an exceptional teacher can have on students. In scientific research, an unexpected result that leads to a new insight is known as serendipity. Pedersen and Faucher began their study of IQ and achievement patterns among disadvantaged children at a school that was marked by high rates of failure. A high percentage of the schools graduates failed in their first year of high school and dropped out. The researchers attempted to explain these failure rates in terms of the concept of the selffulfilling prophecy, the idea that if the teachers expect students to do poorly, the students are likely to perform accordingly. But if the negative prophecy seems to work in may instances, can we find evidence that a positive self-fulfilling prophecy the belief that students can perform well will also work? This is what makes Pederson and Fauchers study so interesting.
Page 27 of 32
SOCI 1311 Introduction to Sociology As they examined the IQ scores of pupils in the schools first-grade classes, the researchers found a clear association between changes in a pupils IQ and the pupils family background, first-grade teacher, and self-concept. Further examination of the schools records revealed a startling fact: The IQs of pupils in one particular teachers first-grade class were significantly more likely to increase in subsequent years that the IQs of pupils in first-grade classes taught by other teachers. And pupils who had been members of that class were more than twice as likely to achieve high status as adults as pupils who had been members of other first grade classes (see table). What was so special about Miss A, as the outstanding teacher was labeled? First, she was still remembered by her students when they were interviewed 26 years after they had been in her class. More than three quarters of those students rated her as very good or excellent as a teacher. It did not matter what background or abilities the beginning pupil had; there was no way that the pupil was not going to read by the end of grade one. Miss A left her pupils with a profound impression of the importance of schooling, and how one should stick to it and gave extra hours to the children who were slow learners. In nonacademic matters, too, Miss A was unusual: When children forgot their lunches, she would give them some of her own, and she invariably stayed after hours to help children. Not only did her pupils remember her, but she apparently could remember each former pupil by name even after an interval of 20 years. She adjusted to new math and reading methods, but her success was summarized by a former colleague this way: How did she teach? With a lot of love! (pp. 19-20) In summing up their findings, Pedersen and Faucher stated that their data suggest that an effective first-grade teacher can influence social mobility (p. 29). Their findings differ from those of Coleman (1976 and Jencks (1972), who believe that there is little correlation between school experiences and adult status. Pedersen and Faucher agree that further research on the relationship between teacher effects and adult status is needed. However, In the meantime, teachers should not accept too readily the frequent assertion that their efforts make no longterm difference to the future success of their pupils (p.30). As debates continue over how much difference good teaching can make and as governments and school systems wonder whether they should do more to reward good teaching, the results of this study bear careful review.
Global Social Change: Literacy In a Changing World

There is a strong correlation between illiteracy and poverty throughout the world (see map). The poor nations of the Sahel, such as Mali, Chad, Niger, Ethiopia, and the Sudan, suffer from some of the highest rates of illiteracy in the world. High rates of illiteracy are also evident in much of South Asia, especially on the Indian subcontinent. On the other hand, illiteracy rates are quite low in poor nations like Mexico and Cuba, where the ideology of social development places strong emphasis on educating the mass of citizens to the fullest extent possible. Sociological theories of modernization stress the need for populations to become literate so that their members will be better-informed voters, more highly skilled workers, more careful parents, and generally better able to realize their human potential. Literacy, it is argued, significantly increases a societys human capital. Reductions in the level of ignorance yield improvements in every aspect of a nations social and civic life.
Page 28 of 32
Worldwide Illiteracy Rates Map 1, Peters, 1990
Worldwide Illiteracy Rates Map 2, Peters, 1990
This line of argument is clearly supported by the correlation between poverty and illiteracy in India (see chart). Overall, the chart shows that as illiteracy decreases, the amount of money a household is able to spend each month increases. The chart also shows that illiteracy and the poverty associated with it are much more prevalent among women than among men, with rural women showing the highest rates of illiteracy and poverty (about 90 percent illiterate in the highpoverty category). That men are far more likely than women to become literate in India is a reflection of the immense gap in prestige between the sexes in that society; men are considered far more worthy of education than women. Recent research on the effects of literacy on vital measures of social change such as reduced fertility clearly shows the importance of educating women. Data from research conducted in Thailand and other Southeast Asian nations suggest that until women gain access to at least minimal educational opportunities fertility rates in those nations will remain high. This research confirms the hypothesis that demographic change is unlikely if the movement towards mass schooling is confined largely to males (London, 1992, p. 306). These relationships among gender, illiteracy, and social indicators like poverty and fertility offer a warning that investments in literacy alone are necessary but not sufficient to accelerate social change in a population. Investments in literacy must be accompanied by strategies to reach the most impoverished and discriminated-against segments of the population (such as rural women in many societies). Such stratagems, in turn, are difficult to develop in a society in which the powerful may fear their effects. In nations were poor rural women are offered more education, for example, the women often begin to demand greater equality. It takes farsighted leadership to actively promote such strategies.
Page 29 of 32
SOCI 1311 Introduction to Sociology Another consequence of increasing literacy and education in poor societies is that some of the best and brightest are attracted by opportunities in richer societies. This phenomenon is known as the brain drain and is a significant problem for developing nations (Alam, 1988; Cortes, 1980). Relatively well-educated people, often with professional training, are an import source of migration from Third World nations to the wealthier nations of North American and Western Europe. Indeed, immigration policies in North America actively encourage immigration by well-trained individuals and establish quotas that discourage less educated persons from seeing entry. In order to address the problems created by the brain drain phenomenon, the poorer nations have developed policies requiring that people trained at public expense (e.g., through scholarships and training programs) must serve in their own nation until it has recouped its investment in their education. Such policies are not popular with educated people in those nations, especially if they are aware of more attractive opportunities outside their own society. But if the full benefits of literacy and education are to be applied to national development, such policies are necessary.
Poverty and Illiteracy in India. Data from third quinquennial survey on employment and unemployment, Ministry of Planning, India
Using the Sociological Imagination: The National Hookup

It happens every January. After a long season of grueling competition, the two surviving professional football teams face each other in the Super Bowl. The day is now called Super Bowl Sunday. More than 100 million people from coast to coast will watch the game on television. Each minute of advertising time will cost over $2 million, and Americas most successful corporations and their advertising agencies will bid against one another for the time. Truly we have in the Super Bowl an occasion when mass interest in a national sports event creates an audience that crosses all lines of class, race, ethnicity, and religion. But his level of national attention to one game and the profits it generates for the team owners, the players, and many others was not possible before the technology of television made it possible to broadcast events simultaneously across the continent. Television gave football the national hookup it needed to become a billion-dollar industry. At the same time, football and other professional sports created the medias largest audiences and influenced the scheduling of television time. In this example two social institutions are intimately connected. Sports is a social institution that is structured in different ways throughout the society. In communities, the most common sports organizations are Little Leagues and school teams. At some large colleges, sports are structured in ways that will generate revenues that can be used to support the colleges entire athletic program. The bigger and more competitive a colleges football program is, the more it depends on television revenues as well as ticket sales, and the more heavily recruited its players are. Finally, the biggest, fastest, and most talented players are drafted into the business of professional football, which is intimately linked with the nations most pervasive media institution, television.
Page 30 of 32
SOCI 1311 Introduction to Sociology Sociologists who conduct research on sports and the media point out that in many societies, sports are not conducted as a business that depends on television and advertising. For example, in her study of soccer (the most popular team sport in the world) Janet Lever (1983) found that players may have professional careers but that their teams are not organized as businesses. In Brazil, as in many other nations, sports are engaged in by social clubs in cities and towns. The clubs pay their players, and the clubs with the largest dues-paying membership get the best players. Volunteer directors are elected by councilmen, who in turn are elected by all the shareholders of a club. To qualify as a club director, a man must be a shareholder; making large donations to the club also helps. Soccer in Brazil thus may not be as profitable or as national as football in America, but Lever has shown that it also creates a national hookup. In fact, soccer starts like the famed Pele are national heroes, as can be seen in the following description: [Returning from the Mexican World Cup] the team flew to Rio de Janeiro, where they were greeted by close to 2 million ecstatic people waiting in the rain. The secretary of tourism coordinated a special Carnival parade of samba schools. The major clubs from the major cities had contributed players to the winning team. Animosities were suspended for a time of alliance. In a land where communication is problematic, the teams contribution to national unity was of great value. (Lever, 1983, pp. 68-69) The essential similarity between sports in nations like Brazil and those in which professional sports are a major business is that at the national level, where audiences for championship games are drawn from homes throughout the society, it is television that has enhanced the appeal of sports and given it such a central place in peoples identification with their city and their nation.
Resources
Alam, (1988). Studies on brain drain. Monticello, IL: Vance Bibliographies. Coleman, J.S. (1976). Liberty and equality in school desegregation. School Policy 6, 9-13. Cortes, C.E. (Ed.). (1980). The Latin American brain dead. New York: Arno Press. Eve, R. A. (1996). The great American sorting machine: The American school in international perspective. In Dana Dunn: William Stacey, & Frank Weed (Eds.) Explaining Social Relationships: A Workbook in Sociology. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall. Eve, R. A., & Dunn, D. (January 1990). Psychic powers, astrology and creationism in the classroom? Evidence or pseudoscientific beliefs among high school biology and life science teachers. The American Biology Teacher (Journal of American Biology Teachers Association) 52, 10-21. Gans, H. (1979). Deciding whats news. New York: Pantheon. Gitlin, T. (1994). Inside prime time. London: Routledge. Goodman, P. (1964). Compulsory miseducation. New York: Vantage Books. Goodman, P. (1961). Growing up absurd: Problems of youth in the organized system. New York: Vantage Books. Hirschi, T. (1969). Causes of delinquency. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
Page 31 of 32
SOCI 1311 Introduction to Sociology Illich, I. (1996/1971). Deschooling society. London: Marion Boyars. Jencks, C., Smith, M., Acland, H., Bane, M.J., Cohen, D., Gintis, H., Henys, B., & Michelson, S. (1972). Inequality: A reassessment of the effect of family and schooling in America. New York: Basic Books. Jencks, C. (1972/1973). Inequality: A reassessment of the effect of family and schooling in America. New York: Harper & Row. Lee, V.E. & Smith, J.B. (1993). Effects of school restructuring on the achievement and engagement of middle-grade students. Sociology of Education, 66, 148-166. Lever, J. (1983). Soccer madness. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. London, B. (1992). School-enrollment rates and trends, gender and fertility: A cross national analysis. Sociology of Education, 65, 305-318. Meier, D. (1995). The power of their ideas: Lessons from a small school in Harlem. Boston: Beacon. Miller, J.D. (1983). Scientific literacy: A conceptual and empirical review. Daedalus 112, 29-48. Miller, J.D. (1987). The scientific illiterate. American Demographics 9 (6 ), 26-31. Miller, J.D. (1987). Scientific literacy in the United States. In the D. Everend & M. OConnor (Eds.), Communicating science to the public. New York: Wiley. Parenti, M. (1993). Inventing reality: The politics of news media. (2nd ed.) New York: St. Martins Press. Pedersen, E., & Faucher, T.A., with Eaton, W.W. (1978). A new perspective on the effects of first-grade teachers on childrens subsequent adult status. Harvard Educational Review, 48, 131. Scott, J.E., & Cuvelier, S.J. (1993, August). Violence and sexual violence in pornography: Is it really increasing? Archives of sexual behavior, 22. 4, 357.
Page 32 of 32

2639 SOCI 1311 Chapter 15 Reading

Hochgeladen von

Dokumentinformationen

Originalbeschreibung:

Copyright

Verfügbare Formate

Dieses Dokument teilen

Dokument teilen oder einbetten

Freigabeoptionen

Stufen Sie dieses Dokument als nützlich ein?

Sind diese Inhalte unangemessen?

Copyright:

Verfügbare Formate

2639 SOCI 1311 Chapter 15 Reading

Hochgeladen von

Copyright:

Verfügbare Formate

SOCI 1311 Introduction to Sociology

Chapter 15: Education and Communications Media Education in a Changing World

2009 University of Texas at Arlington

2009 University of Texas at Arlington

Children at Just Say No Rally, Patrick Bennett/Corbis

2009 University of Texas at Arlington

SOCI 1311 Introduction to Sociology

The Structure of Education

2009 University of Texas at Arlington

2009 University of Texas at Arlington

The Condition of Education In the United States

2009 University of Texas at Arlington

2009 University of Texas at Arlington

SOCI 1311 Introduction to Sociology

Stevenson et al., 1990

If you guessed the kids in Chicago, you were right!

2009 University of Texas at Arlington

2009 University of Texas at Arlington

Students at Oxford University, UK, Liba Taylor/Corbis

2009 University of Texas at Arlington

Who Goes to School?

Data from U.S. Census Bureau

2009 University of Texas at Arlington

Data from U.S. Census Bureau, 1988; Statistical Abstract, 1995.

2009 University of Texas at Arlington

2009 University of Texas at Arlington

SOCI 1311 Introduction to Sociology

Who Goes on to College and Why?

Data from Stevensen, et al., 1990.

2009 University of Texas at Arlington

2009 University of Texas at Arlington

SOCI 1311 Introduction to Sociology

Education, Equality, and Inequality Some Conclusions

2009 University of Texas at Arlington

SOCI 1311 Introduction to Sociology

2009 University of Texas at Arlington

2009 University of Texas at Arlington

SOCI 1311 Introduction to Sociology

Berrueta-Clement, et al., 1984

2009 University of Texas at Arlington

The Communications Media

2009 University of Texas at Arlington

SOCI 1311 Introduction to Sociology

Source: National Opinion Research Center (NORC)

Source: National Opinion Research Center (NORC)

2009 University of Texas at Arlington

SOCI 1311 Introduction to Sociology

Source: National Opinion Research Center (NORC)

Does TV Cause Violence?

2009 University of Texas at Arlington

2009 University of Texas at Arlington

2009 University of Texas at Arlington

2009 University of Texas at Arlington

2009 University of Texas at Arlington

SOCI 1311 Introduction to Sociology

Visual Sociology: Students and Social Change

Sociological Methods: Tracing Teacher Influence

2009 University of Texas at Arlington

Global Social Change: Literacy In a Changing World

2009 University of Texas at Arlington

SOCI 1311 Introduction to Sociology

Worldwide Illiteracy Rates Map 1, Peters, 1990

Worldwide Illiteracy Rates Map 2, Peters, 1990