Sociology of Education
50:920:345:01
Tuesdays and Thursdays, 1:30-2:50pm
Fine Arts building, Room 110
Professor Cati Coe
405-407 Cooper Street, Room 214
Office hours: Thursdays, 3-5pm or by appointment
phone: (856) 225-6455
email: ccoe@camden.rutgers.edu
Course Description
Although most people in the US think of schools when they hear the word "education," education is much broader, encompassing all the ways that young people are socialized into their communities, including through peers, family members, and the media. Education, in its broadest definition, is the way that one generation's social structure and way of being in the world---including all its knowledge and behaviors---are transmitted to the next generation, but not without change and conflict. Schooling is a particular institutional form for educating young people. In this course, we will examine the social aspects of education and schooling in America: the interaction between home, society, and educational institutions; the ways that social inequalities are reproduced through schools; and the ways that identities are formed through education. Schools both exist within a larger society and are their own social world, with the formation of peer groups, particular institutional arrangements, and ways of transmitting relationships and knowledge. We will pay particular attention to the way that small interactions within educational settings have much larger implications within society.
This course fulfils a requirement in the Teacher Preparation Program, and as a result, this class is geared towards giving future teachers a deeper understanding of important issues affecting contemporary schools in the US.
Expectations
By the end of this course, you will be expected to be able to:
- explain the relationship between schooling and social inequality, including some of the ways that schools contribute to social inequality;
- analyze and explain data collected through observation and an interview as a case example of the theories presented in this course;
- write an argument-driven paper;
- summarize and critique the arguments presented in the readings in this course;
- and evaluate current trends in education (privatization, vouchers, charters, and standardized testing) for their impact on the issues introduced in this course (authority relations in schools, social inequality, curriculum and pedagogy).
This course directly addresses the following New Jersey Professional Teaching Standards:
- Teachers know and understand how student learning is influenced by individual experiences, talents and prior learning, as well as language, culture, family, and community values (2-2).
- Teachers know and understand how a person's worldview is profoundly shaped by his or her life experiences, as mediated by factors such as social class, gender, race, ethnicity, language, sexual orientation, age, and special needs (3-1).
- Teachers know and understand the supports for and barriers to culturally responsive teaching in school environments (3-2).
- Teachers know and understand the negative impact of bias, prejudice, and discrimination on students and society (3-4).
- Teachers know and understand how the classroom environment influences learning and promotes positive behavior for all students (6-2).
- Teachers know and understand the power of communication in the teaching and learning process (8-1)
- Teachers know and understand the importance of meaningful parent/family involvement in education in addressing the unique student needs and the perspective to be gained from effective home/school interactions that contribute to high quality teaching and learning (9-1).
For more information, see the New Jersey Professional Standards for Teachers and School Leaders
Required Texts
Three books are at the campus bookstore and on reserve in the circulation desk at Robeson library:
Ways with Words |
Ain't No Makin' It |
Jocks and Burnouts |
The remainder of the readings can be found online via the library’s reserve readings or are links off this webpage (in a brown rather than black color).
Course Schedule
September 1: What is Education and Society?
Discussion of the relationship of "education" and "society." Course overview and requirements.
Class resources: Discuss!
To do by Tuesday, September 6th at the latest:
- Get a NetID if you don't already so that you can access library resources online and from home: http://oit.rutgers.edu/services/account/quick.html
- Update your email address if necessary at http://search.rutgers.edu/changes.html. This is important for receiving course emails. Be sure to keep your registered email address current in order to receive important course information.
- Get a Student Photo ID (available from the Impact Booth in the Campus Center) if you don't already have one.
- Get the books through the bookstore or other means. The books are available through the reserve desk at Robeson Library. You will need Ways with Words immediately.
- Print out all the readings on reserve so that you have them for the whole semester.
- Review Rutgers's policy on academic integrity.
Part I: How are Children Socialized in their Families and How is this Different from Socialization in Schools?
September 6
Heath, S. B. (1983). Ways with Words. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Prologue, Chapter 1 & 2, pp. 1-72
Lecture: Socialization
September 13
Heath, Ways with Words, Chapters 3, 4, 5 & 6, pp. 73-235
Lecture: Language Socialization in Trackton and Roadville
September 15
Heath, Ways with Words, Chapter 7, pp. 236-262
Lecture: The Historical Development of Mass Schooling
September 20
Heath, Ways with Words, Chapter 8 & 9, pp. 263-342
Lecture: Thinking through Heath's conclusions
September 22
Heath, Ways with Words, Epilogues, pp. 343-376
First paper assignment given
Video: "Performance of School" In Real Media | In Windows Media
Part II: Is There a Relationship between Social Inequality and Educational Opportunity in America?
September 27
1) Brint, S. (1998). Schools and Social Selection: Opportunity. Schools and Societies (p. 171-203). Thousand Oaks: Pine Forge Press. [on reserve]
2) Leonhardt, D. (2005). The College Dropout Boom. In Correspondents of The New York Times (Ed.), Class Matters (pp. 87-104). New York: Henry Holt & Company. [on reserve]
Lecture: Tables on Income, Wealth, and the Relationship to Education , Gilbert-Kahl Class Structure
September 29
MacLeod, J. (2009) Ain't No Makin' It: Aspirations and Attainment in a Low-Income Neighborhood. Third Edition. Boulder: Westview Press. Chapters 1, 2, and 3, pp. 3-49.
Class Resources: Three Explanations for Social Reproduction
October 4
Wilcox, K. (1982). Differential Socialization in the Classrooms: Implications for Equal Opportunity. In G. Spindler (Ed.), Doing the Ethnography of Schooling (pp. 269-305). New York: Holt, Reinhart, and Winston. [on reserve]
Lecture: Theories of Social Reproduction
October 6
1) Gamoran, A. (1992). Is Ability Grouping Equitable? Educational Leadership 50:2, 11-17. [on reserve]
2) O’Neil, J. (1992). On Tracking and Individual Differences: A Conversation with Jeannie Oakes. Educational Leadership 50:2, 18-22. [on reserve]
3) Lewis, C. C. (1996). Fostering Social and Intellectual Development: The Roots of Japan's Educational Success. In T. P. Rohlen and G. K. LeTendre (Ed.), Teaching and Learning in Japan (pp. 79-97). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. [on reserve]
Class resources: "Can You Lift 100 kg?" Japanese Research Lesson recorded by Catherine Lewis, High-Track Students' Experiences in School, Low-Track Students' Experiences of School, High-Track Teachers' Expectations, Low-Track Teachers' Expectations, Conclusions
October 11
Lareau, A. (2000). "Why Does Social Class Influence Parent Involvement in Schooling?"and "Educational Profits". Home Advantage: Social Class and Parental Intervention in Elementary Education (pp. 97-148). Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. [on reserve]
Lecture: Thinking about the Lareau reading
Due: First paper
October 13
MacLeod, Ain't No Makin' It, Chapters 4 and 5, pp. 50-83
Class resources: Thinking through the Theories
October 18
MacLeod, Ain't No Makin' It, Chapters 6, 7, and 8, pp. 84-153
Class Resources: Thinking through the Theories, part 2
October 20
MacLeod, Ain't No Makin' It, Chapter 10, pp. 198-240 is required, but if you are interested in what happened to the Brothers, read Chapter 9 also
Class resources: Thinking through Part 2
Second paper assignment given
October 25
MacLeod, Ain't No Makin' It, Chapter 11, pp. 241-271
October 27
MacLeod, Ain't No Makin' It, Chapter 14, pp. 407-463 is required, but feel free to read Chapters 12 and 13 also
Class resources: Thinking through Part 3
November 1: Segregation
Link to: Orfield, G. (2009). Reviving the Goal of an Integrated Society: A 21st Century Challenge." The Civil Rights Project, UCLA.
Lecture: Segregation
November 3: Funding
1) Link to: Report by the Education Trust. (2006). Funding Gaps.
2) Kozol, J. (2005). Hitting Them Hardest When They're Small. The Shame of the Nation: The Restoration of Apartheid Schooling in America (pp. 39-49). New York: Crown Publishers. [on reserve]
Lecture: School Funding
Part III: How Do Recent Developments in Education (Vouchers, Charter Schools, and Standardized Testing) Affect Educational Inequality?
November 8: Vouchers
1) Friedman, M. (1955). The Role of Government in Education. In R. A. Solo (Ed.), Economics and the Public Interest (pp. 123-144). Westport: Greenwood Press. [on reserve]
2) Henig, J. (1996). The Danger of Market Rhetoric. In R. Lowe and B. Miner (Ed.), Selling Out Our Schools: Vouchers, Markets, and Public Education (pp 8-11). Milwaukee: Rethinking Schools Publishers. [on reserve]
Lecture: Vouchers
November 10: Charter Schools
1) Link to: History of the Charter School Movement by the League of Women Voters, DC (2000) http://www.dcwatch.com/lwvdc/lwv0003c.htm
2) Link to: New Jersey Charter School Act (1995; amended 2000) http://www.state.nj.us/education/chartsch/cspa95.htm
and answer the question you are assigned here
3) Bastian, A. (1996). Charter Schools: Potentials and Pitfalls. In R. Lowe and B. Miner (Ed.), Selling Out Our Schools: Vouchers, Markets, and Public Education (pp. 45-49). Milwaukee: Rethinking Schools Publishers. [on reserve]
4) Hassel, B. C. (2006). Charter Schools: Mom and Pops or Corporate Design. In P. E. Peterson (Ed.), Choice and Competition in American Education, (pp. 148-160). New York: Rowman and Littlefield. [on reserve]
Lecture: Charter Schools
Due: Second paper
November 15: Dropping Out
1) Fine, M. (1991). Discharging the Student Bodies. Framing Dropouts: Notes on the Politics of an Urban Public High School (pp. 63-83). Albany: SUNY Press. [on reserve]
2) Link to: Hall, D. (2007). Graduation Matters: Improving Accountability for High School Graduation. Washington, DC: The Education Trust (pdf).
Streaming Video: "Disappearing Dropouts" (November 2004)
Class resources: New Jersey Dropout Rates, Schools as Organizations
November 17
No class, as Professor Coe will be at the American Anthropological Association meetings in Montreal. Time to read: the next class's reading is extensive.
November 22: Standards and No Child Left Behind
1) Link to: Elmore, R. F. (2002). Unwarranted Intrusion. Education Next 2:1.
2) Ryan, J. E. (2004). The Perverse Incentives of the No Child Left Behind Act. New York University Law Review 79:3, 932-989 [on reserve]
Class resources: New Jersey Core Curriculum Standards, The High Stakes for Schools, Is NCLB a solution for educational inequality?
November 24: Thanksgiving
Part IV: What Is the Role of Student Peer Culture and Institutional Rituals in Socializing Students?
November 29
Foley, D. E. (1990). The Great American Football Ritual. In Learning Capitalist Culture (pp. 28-62). Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. [on reserve]
Lecture: School Rituals
Third paper assignment given
December 1
Orenstein, P. (2002). Striking Back: Sexual Harassment at Weston. In Jossey-Bass Reader on Gender in Education (pp. 459-475). San-Francisco: Jossey-Bass. [on reserve]
Class resources: Harassment Laws, Sexual harassment in a middle school
December 6
Eckert, P. (1989) Jocks & Burnouts: Social Categories and Identity in the High School. New York: Teachers College Press. Chapters 1-3, pp. 1-48
Lecture: Peer Culture
December 8
Eckert, Jocks & Burnouts, Chapters 4-6, pp. 49-134
Film: "People Like Us: Social Class in America" (WETA, 2001)
Lecture: Peer Culture 2
December 13
Eckert, Jocks & Burnouts, Chapters 7-8, pp. 135-184
Friday, December 16, noon
Due: Third paper
Tuesday, December 20, 2-5pm
Final Exam
