Chapter 12, Problems in Education

Question 1

tracking;

Answer 1

assigning students to specific courses and educational programs on the basis of their test scores/previous grades, can be positive, but negative to those who are kept out of the post-secondary stream

Question 2

education;

Answer 2

the social institution responsible for transmitting knowledge, skills and cultural values in a formally organized structure, highly valued by Canada and other industrialized nations

Question 3

Why do Structural Functionalists say that education is one of the most important social institutions today?

Answer 3

because contributes to the smooth functioning of society and provides individuals with opportunities for personal fulfilment and upward social mobility

Question 4

manifest functions;

Answer 4

open, stated, and intended goals or consequences of activities within an organization/institution

Question 5

What are the 5 major manifest functions of education in society? Functionalist Perspective

Answer 5

socialization, transmission of culture, social control, social placement, and change and innovation

Question 6

What is the link between cultural capital and education that Conflict theorists say makes schools perpetuate/reproduce existing class inequalities?

Answer 6

children’s cultural capital is what is measured on standardized tests, ex. SATs, thus those test results may unfairly limit some students’ academic choices and career opportunities

Question 7

hidden curriculum;

-elites use this to ,

Answer 7

how certain cultural values/attitudes are transmitted through implied demands in the everyday rules/routines of school, ex. conformity, obedience to authority

Question 8

What do the elites use to uphold the status quo in society?

Answer 8

the hidden curriculum, by teaching obedience and patriotism, working class and poor students are the most adversely affected

Question 9

credentialism;

Answer 9

a process of increasing demands of needing a higher level of education for a particular position, between 1990 and 2007, the number of jobs requiring postsecondary graduates almost doubled, and only half as many jobs were available for those without a high school diploma

Question 10

meritocracy;

Answer 10

a social system in which status is acquired through individual ability and effort and where people are assumed to have earned a job/degree etc. through what they knew rather than whom they knew

Question 11

anti-intellectualism;

Answer 11

hostility towards people who are thought to have great mental ability or towards subject matter that is thought to require significant intellectual ability/knowledge

Question 12

Which gender is doing better at mathematics and science at the secondary level?

Answer 12

Women

Question 13

Which gender has higher levels of educational attainment?

Answer 13

women have higher rates of educational attainment than men except at the doctoral and some professional degree levels, ex. engineering

Question 14

functionally illiterate;

Answer 14

unable to read/write at the level necessary to act out everyday tasks

Question 15

Do younger or older people score higher in the area of literacy?

Answer 15

younger people scored higher than older people in a 2003 study on literacy

Question 16

low-level literate;

Answer 16

those who can maintain their current occupation but have minimal skills for adapting to a more complex occupation

Question 17

What is the ratio of people in Canada with the lowest possible level of literacy?

Answer 17

1 in 7 people have literacy at level 1

Question 18

Those with lower levels of literacy have _____ (lower/higher) levels of employment and earn _____ (more/less) than their counterparts.

Answer 18

Those with lower levels of literacy have lower levels of employment and earn less than their counterparts.

Question 19

What percent of 26 years olds have participated in post-secondary education?

Answer 19

by the time youth are 26 years old, 75% of youth have participated in post-secondary education, 70% of males and over 80% of females

Question 20

Will children born to immigrants or Canadian-born parents tend to achieve a higher level of education?

Answer 20

children of immigrants tend to achieve higher levels of education than children of Canadian-born parents