Nancy Martinez

December 23, 2013

SEDF203 sec: 01
FINAL ESSAY
The United States of America is a diverse country full of different cultures,
traditions and perspectives however the one experience most Americans share is going
to school. For thousands of years millions of children from the age of six to eighteen
have attend school to obtain an education. The question then arises, what is the
purpose of school? There is more than one answer to this seemingly simple question.
There are many perspectives on the purpose of education among them are a functional
and critical perspective. These two perspectives offer different views on the role of
school and teachers. While there is more than one perspective on the role of the school
one fact that cannot be argues is its dependency on society and culture
The purpose of education according to functionalism is to ensure students grow
up to be citizens, good employees and continue the survival of society. Education helps
students make the transition from school to work and society. Schools attempts to
develop the social and psychological orientations in students to be functional in their
public and work lives.
In particular school tries to enforce four norms, independence, achievement,
universalism and specificity. These four norms are outcomes of school participation and
extracurricular activities, school procedures and patterns, and not from the material
learned in schools. This hidden curriculum conditions students to have the appropriate
skills to work well in society. These behavior, characteristics and skills help students
become functioning members of society.

Education acts as a bridge connect millions of student from different backgrounds and
their families by instilling universal values and attitudes to benefit the country and
themselves. Functionalist view education as a positive device giving student equal
opportunity to the same education To the functionalist schools play the pivotal role of
ensuring that society remains stable
Schools mirror society and have a pivotal role in ensuring that students have the
necessary skills needed to function well in society. I found this especially interesting
because I have not considered that the public school system was intentionally raising
good employees or ideal citizens. As a product of the public school system it was
astounding to find out about the purpose of schools and about the hidden curriculum.
Although I understood the need for both society and the individual to learn employable
skills and traits I had not thought that public school had this as one of its goals. At first I
found this idea . That individual dreams were being sacrificed for the common good of
society .After much thought, I have come to terms that students have the right to be
exposed to and taught skills useful to them in the real world.
However, the functionalist perspective fails to recognize that schools do not serve
all students well or equally. There are groups of citizens that ensure and maintain their
higher social and economic status through public education. This point of view belongs
to the conflict theorist they address, the existence of unequal education and its realities
School procedures are not only undoubtedly linked to the continuation of the social
class division but critical theorist believe that the public school system is maintaining
and reproducing the unequal social class division. Schools and teachers play a
significant role and influence on students, therefore resulting in the continuation of the

current social class division. Schools serve students of different social classes
differently. School processes and school/ classroom structures are attempting to
maintain the existing social class structure. The current one size fits all system is
failing minority students as well as other student groups. Although the curriculums in
schools of different social classes are relatively the same; the differences lie in the way
the students are taught, learn, and their perception on school knowledge giving some
student a huge advantage. Students of different classes are taught with different goals
and perceive themselves and their capabilities differently. For instance teachers that
work in low income districts view their students with low expectations with intentions to
only teach basic knowledge and negatively label them. Teacher in elite school promote
real world problem solving they have high expectations of their students and to overall
teach thinking and reasoning skils through their classroom material . This segregated
school system is necessary to maintain the current social divisions that only benefit the
upper class.
The critical \theorists have a much more realistic view, upper social classes use
education to maintain their social status. For this reason equal education continues to
be nonexistent. The functionalist and critical theorist both agree on a teachers
influential role in society. Teachers have the power to influence how students perceive
themselves and eventually the type of occupation they will have. . As a future educator
my goal will be to create a social justice classroom. I believe It all starts with teachers
they must choose between continue reproducing education inequality. Thus, teachers
should become aware of the inequality in school education and be given the choice of
whether or not they want to enforce such procedures and patters that will ultimately

continue reproducing the current unequal social structure . Although it is impossible to

unbiased or to be completely judgment free a teacher should do their best to tend to
their student individual needs I believe teachers and schools must do their best to have
the best influence on their students despite their social status.
With an increasing multicultural society is important more than ever to establish
true equal education and opportunites that does not depend on a childs social or
economic status. No child should be deprived of the opportunity to learn not only skills
that will guarantee thema job but given the opportunity to be pushec and motivated by
teachers that want them to succeed. If the functionalist view prevails the current school
system will never grow and the vicious cycle will continue sacrificing many potential
futures.
Although the functionalist and critical perspective have different views they agree
on the pivotal role school has , it is a reproducing machine and has a lot of power to
either alter or maintain societys injustices. I believe it is the duty of a good teacher to
give all their students the best chance to be successful. Teachers should take the fair
aspects of society and reproduce the customs that benefit the whole as well as the
individual. It is important not to turn a blind eye when witnessing social injustice. It is
therefore the duty of a teacher to mend injustices they see happening in their
classroom. Teacher cannot only influence the students that are in their classrooms but
they can also help shape the mindset of the community. Moreover One thing is for
certain what one views the purpose of education to be is heavily dependent on how one
views the world.

Strouse also believes that students receive different messages from their
schools and teachers based not only on social factors but, on their gender; schools
reinforce gender-specific cultural patterns.

On the other hand schools are not providing all students with same opportunities
to attain skills that will help them excel. Strouse further discusses the conflict theorist
perspective on education.
In Exploring Socio-Cultural Themes in Education: Readings in Social
Foundations, Joan H. Strouse presents her perspective on the development of public
school education in the United States. The purpose of the book is to help teachers
become critically aware of the process of teaching and the school system in the United
States. Strouse attempts to engage teachers and teacher candidates to form a
perspective on the role schools have in society and the special roles teachers play.
Strouses key elements that have either changed or reinforced my perspective on
education are; the relationship between culture, society, and education, the influence
teachers have on their students therefore social structure, the unequal education in an
increasingly diverse and multicultural student body, and lastly how to create more
transformative educators.
Strouse seeks to help teachers identify and understand the relationship between
culture, society and education. She does this throughout the book. She selects articles
that discuss the ways schools address societys needs.
Strouse also highlights that way gender, language, culture, and race factor into
ones education. One of the major points Strouse points out is the increasing diversity of
the student body. She describes the challenges that educators are now facing in a
multicultural society. Teachers are facing increasing difficulties teaching students of
different races, social classes and linguistics. Strouse tries to explain to teachers that in
for order for them to have a better understanding of their students they must become
knowledgeable about their culture and should look to the community and parents for
guidanceTherefore, if modifying how students are taught gives them a better chance at
being successful then it is something I would like to do in my classroom. In addition,
although teachers must acknowledge they should know something about their students
home life to be the most effective they must consider that some parents especially,
those in urban areas may not have the time or desire to participate in their childs
education. For this reason teachers should not count on parents cooperation. These

collective articles have instilled in me a desire to become more knowledgeable about

my students and their respective cultures and beliefs.
Strouse also addresses the need for more transformative teachers. Strouse
guides teachers and explain the three attitudes needed for reflective action; openmindedness, responsibility, and wholeheartedness. Open-mindedness is needed to
hear more than one side and be willing to change ones education practice accordingly.
Responsibility is also a prerequisite to becoming a reflective teacher, to accept
consequences of ones teaching and acknowledge the important impact our actions
have on students. Wholeheartedness refers to the commitment a reflective teacher
must make to all their students. Being a reflective teacher is not an easy task, it takes a
lot of work, time and commitment. However, being a reflective teacher is both possible
and desirable. One of the messages Strouse tries to convey is that it is ultimately up to
the individual teachers and teacher candidates to become a reflective educator. It is
important for teacher candidates to realize that they have many choices when it comes
to their teaching methods and the effect their teaching will have on the students and
community. This article makes me think about the type of teacher I want to be and how I
will achieve it.
Strouse believes that for teachers to be good they must understand the roots
and foundation of the public school system and understand the broader function of
schooling in society. I believe this was Joan H. Strouses purpose in creating Exploring
Socio-Cultural Themes in Education: Readings in Social Foundations Strouse
reinforces my personal beliefs on the importance of a teacher role and the role
education plays in society and culture.

This semester we have looked at education writ large, We have seen that schools are
integral to the full functioning of the society. They are created primarily to enculturate
the young into the culture as well as to develop minds and skills to produce fully
functioning, productive workers and citizens for the nation.
Further, we have seen that the way we view the schools role is to a great degree
dependant upon our world view and /or our theoretical perspective.
Discuss in a well written fully developed essay what the role of the school should be
from a) a structural/functionalist perspective and from b) a critical perspective. Make
sure to identify how each perspective views the school currently and how each
perspective believes the school should function. Use the role of the teacher and the
purposes of schooling as the examples to illustrate your discussion