7.8 Conclusion
Together, we explored how education can both support social change and resist it. Through the functionalist lens, we examined how education can serve to promote democracy. We then took a critical lens to explore how education can be used as a tool to support genocide. We looked at how our educational system supports inequalities in class, status, and race.
Then, we deconstructed the common myth that greater levels of education bring greater wealth. We examined the evidence in the United States and the world to understand how this myth is both true and not true, depending on where we look.
With that background, we explored historical and legal framework of education, examining how segregation, integration, inclusion, educational debt, and separate space. Beyond laws and policies, education done right has the potential for liberatory social change. We looked at how the work of Paulo Friere provided a foundation for this idea, expanded on by other educators, scholars and activists.
Finally, we examined how closing the digital divide is a case study in educational change. We looked at how the global pandemic has provided the impetus to address the digital divide, a social change that impacts many of us, our families, and our communities.
7.8.1 Review of Learning Objectives
This chapter offered you the opportunity to:
- Describe how sociology identifies the function of education in society, including Bourdieu’s views of the reproduction of economic inequality.
- Examine the role of race, gender, and class in determining access to education and educational outcomes and social change.
- Analyze how social structures and the digital age change education.
- Identify current and emerging movements for social change in education, including new applications of Pablo Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed.
7.8.2 Key Terms
achievement gap: any significant and persistent disparity in academic performance or educational attainment between different groups of students, such as White students and students of color, for example, or students from higher-income and lower-income households.
banking model of education: the concept of education in which “knowledge is a gift bestowed by those who consider themselves knowledgeable upon those whom they consider to know nothing”.
cultural capital: the cultural knowledge that serves (metaphorically) as currency to help one navigate a culture
cultural hegemony: the authority, dominance, and influence of one group, nation, or society over another group, nation, or society; typically through cultural, economic, or political means.
culturally responsive education: a pedagogy that empowers students intellectually, socially, emotionally, and politically by using cultural referents to impart knowledge, skills, and attitudes
causation: a change in one variable causes a change in another variable
correlation: when a change in one variable coincides with a change in another variable, but does not necessarily indicate causation
decolonizing approaches to teaching: Decolonization is the process of undoing colonizing practices. Within the educational context, this means confronting and challenging the colonizing practices that have influenced education in the past, and which are still present today
defacto segregation: segregation that occurs without laws but because of other factors
Digital Divide: uneven access to technology due to inequalities between different social, cultural, and economic groups; often caused by location.
education: a social institution through which a society’s children are taught basic academic knowledge, learning skills, and cultural norms
education debt: the cumulative impact of fewer resources and other harm directed at students of color
hidden curriculum: the type of nonacademic knowledge that students learn through informal learning and cultural transmission.
inclusion: the laws and practices that requires that disabled students be included in mainstream classes – not separate rooms or schools
pedagogy: the art, science, or profession of teaching
segregation: the physical separation of two groups, particularly in residence, but also in workplace and social functions.
social mobility: an individual’s or group’s (e.g., family) movement through the class hierarchy due to changes in income, occupation, or wealth.
structural mobility: a shift in hierarchical position of an entire class of individuals over time in society.
tracking: a formalized sorting system that places students on “tracks” (advanced versus low achievers) that perpetuate inequalities
universal access to education: people’s equal ability to participate in an education system
wealth: the total amount of money and assets an individual or group owns.
7.8.3 Licenses and Attributions for Conclusion
“Conclusion” by Kimberly Puttman is licensed under CC-BY-4.0.