Education

what is ironic about elite schools according to Shamus Khan?

Access to top colleges has not changed much: Elite educational institutions like Harvard has become more accessible , not less. but they are playing an intimate role in how inequality. Elite are rare part of society. Most students in saint pauls were set up to advantageous futures in ivy leagues. the elite to saint paul is meaning to train the next generation of leaders in moral and responsible way. Not all students at elite schools are from priveleged and hence not elites. Main finding; students cease to see themsevles as a class; think as indivudals are like eveyone else; just more hardwork and talent. (legimating function) private schools buy advantages and perpetuate inequalities main misconceptions of private instituions schools; they dont use public investment. in reality, they do live off it. elite insittuions are engines of inequality; they have tax incenstives. think about the kind of investments made for public schools

What is Garcia's key argument about Latinas' experiences of sex education? How do intersectional inequalities shape young people's experiences of sexuality education?

According to Lorena Garcia, sex education must be situated within structural contexts and linked to other human rights struggles- including LGBTQ, reproductive rights, and education reform Case Study of Garcia: § Heteronormative, racist, and sexist stereotypes about Latina youth present in sex ed construct girls as "at risk" § The good girl/bad girl dichotomy is racialized § Sex ed MUST be situated within structural contexts and linked to other human rights struggles- including LGBTQ, reproductive rights, and education reform In her article, she explored how heteronormativity, racism, and sexism operate together to structure the content and delivery of school-based sex education for Latina girls. In their narratives of middle school sex education, latina girls described interactions with teachers and sex educators in which they were provided with heterosexualizing lessons that were not only gendered, but also racialized. (INTERSECTIONALITY) In other words, the Latina youth encountered racialized heterogendered constructions and experiences that limited their access to sex-education-related information and also reinforced inequalities Teachers and sex educators invoked a good girl/bad girl discourse to teach girls how to be students of sex education, specifically inscribing racial stereotypes onto the good girl/bad girl dichotomy to indicate what information was most important for Latina youth and to provide girls with a specific example about the kind of Latina girl they needed to avoid becoming (not just a generic bad girl) Yet the students' narratives also reveal that teachers and sex educators still perceived them to be always on the verge of slipping onto the wrong side of the good girl/bad girl divide— the Latina teen who is perpetually at risk for pregnancy because of a "Latino culture. " The data indicate that teachers and sex educators infused sex education with their own biases about Latinas/os, reflected in the information that was and was not made available to them, that is, the emphasis placed on the abortion shot and the failure and/or refusal to include information particularly relevant to LGBTQ students (which is already inadequate in its lack of attention to LGBTQ students of color). This research shows how heteronormative, racist, and sexist stereotypes and discourses about Latina youth interact within sex education to construct girls as "at risk." The heterosexualizing processes that they encountered through their interactions with teachers and sex educators entailed an emphasis on their racial-gender identities.The interplay of heteronormativity, sexism, and racism in Latinas girls' sex education simultaneously reproduced, normalized, and concealed inequalities Thus, in this context, Latina youth can be understood to be more broadly "at risk" of these oppressions, which arguably pose greater danger to girls than sex or pregnancy. For instance, one especially troubling lesson that they are taught is to regard the masculinity of young men in their communities as a threat rather than being invited to critically examine the larger societal culture (and not just "Latino culture") that privileges male sexuality. Latina youth are thus taught that they have control of certain things, such as whether they will or will not get pregnant, but they are also taught that they have no control over disrupting gender inequalities. Another risky lesson is that survival inside and outside of their schools necessitates an adherence to heteronormative imperatives and that queer subjectivity is not possible within a Latina/o subjectivity. Together, such lessons contribute to their already vulnerable status as young women of color in this society. In considering how to address the risks created by the powerful interplay of heteronormativity, sexism, and racism within sex education, I draw on Fields and Tolman's (2006) assertion we work toward teaching young people to critically engage sexual risk in such a way as to confront social inequalities rather than operate on the idea that sexual risk can be completely eliminated via sex education. As Fields (2008) rightly points out, the development of a liberatory sex education necessitates that we move beyond a dichotomous approach to sex education (abstinence only or comprehensive sex education). Similarly, Fine and McClelland (2006) assert that sex education must be situated within structural contexts and linked to other human rights struggles, such as LGBTQ rights, reproductive rights, and education reform. In this way, sex education can participate in the process of teaching students to claim an entitlement to learning the skills necessary to confront and disrupt the intersecting inequalities shaping their lives

• What are the various myths associated with Affirmative Action? How does Conley explain them?

Affirmative Action: A set of policies that grant preferential treatment to a number of particular subgroups within the population- typically, women and historically disadvantaged racial minorities Myths of affirmative action: §AA is the only form of preferential treatment given by admissions officers (what is true) Legacies and Athletes receive significantly more preferential treatment than folks under AA In reality, schools give preferential treatment based on many characteristics, not just race or ethnicity. There are preferences not only for being a legacy or an athlete but also for exhibiting leadership experience, living in a certain place such as a rural community, or even having unusual life circumstances" §Disadvantages whites (What is true) An issue in only 1/5 of US Colleges (What is true)Abolishing AA will increase white students' chances of acceptance by only 0.5%, but benefit Asian American students significantly "affirmative action is an issue only at selective institutions that represent only one-fifth of American colleges. Why? Because the majority of schools in the United States admit just about everyone. Economist Thomas J. Kane (1998) determined that at the least-selective colleges in his sample, being black or Hispanic gave little to no advantage in college admissions §Underrepresented folks admitted under AA will not succeed (What is true)They've been quite successful "Abolishing affirmative action would increase a white student's chances of acceptance by only 0.5 percent. The real gain would occur among Asian students, who are not considered part of a historically underrepresented minority group in colleges and whose grades and test scores tend to exceed those of whites. "

What is taught in sex ed?

All about abstinence and resisting temptation My son, temptation is one thing that I have defeated

Explain how educational gaps are related to opportunity gaps

Although, these policies need to be implemented over a period of time and not abandoned. What was interesting to note in the discussions was the effects of classroom size. Education is shaped by inequality in the sense that there are fewer teachers and fewer qualified teachers, but also it shapes inequality because as a result of the shortcomings that schools housing students of color mainly receive, the students go on to have lower graduation rates and are less likely to attend college. This seems to be a problem that feeds off itself and will continue to persist unless there is active change. Educational achievement is heavily influenced by opportunity gaps in a bidirectional relationship. People from the lower classes of society have blocked opportunities and are unable to equally access the same privileges as those from the higher classes of society. Even in segregated schools for racial minorities such as African-Americans, it is fraught with a paucity of resources, under-qualified instructors, large classroom with unequal student-to-teacher ratio, poor facilities, and disordered school organization. As a result, those who are educationally disadvantaged are more than likely experience a plight in climbing the socioeconomic ladder. This is further encapsulated by Conley, who analogizes how American schools function as sorting machines, where people are grouped in terms of similar future plans. Yet, a significant shortcoming of this form of distribution is that it fails to consider the influence of race and class in determining the future of some students. It has become apparent that Whites, regardless of their academic calibre, end up pursuing higher education in colleges, whereas racial and ethnic minorities such as African-Americans fail to pursue such track. Social inequalities are further highlighted through the case study of the SAT proposed by Conley. Typically, students from more privileged families have more access to tutoring and prep classes which helps them achieve high scores and be more attractive to colleges, compared to people from poor backgrounds that are bereft from such opportunities. However, there are potentially solutions to potentially mitigate the chasm of opporutnitty gap in accessing high-quality education. The podcast The Problem We Live In demonstrates the social policies regarding the integration of students from minor ethnic and racial background to predominately white schools did result in long-term positive impact in terms of excelling academcially and extra-circurally. However, to materialize such impacts, the process of integration must be maintained and supported. Nevertheless, social policies have the capability in perpertuating or ameliorating existing socioeconomic inequalities, particularly in the educational sector.

What is credentialism?

An increase in the lowest level of education needed to enter a field. Employers contend that it is a logical response to the increasing complexity of many jobs. The degree requirements are raised for a position simply because all applicants have achieved the existing minimum credential. Conflict theorists observe that Credentialism may reinforce social inequality; applicants of poor or minority backgrounds are especially likely to suffer from the escalation of qualifications. Evaluation of a person on the basis of educational degrees; diplomas and degrees are evidence of ability; over-education §Credentialism: Overemphasis on credentials, such as college degrees, for signaling social status or job qualifications

• How does segregation shape educational opportunities?

Educational achievement is heavily influenced by opportunity gaps in a bidirectional relationship. People from the lower classes of society have blocked opportunities and are unable to equally access the same privileges as those from the higher classes of society. Even in segregated schools for racial minorities such as African-Americans, it is fraught with a paucity of resources, under-qualified instructors, large classroom with unequal student-to-teacher ratio, poor facilities, and disordered school organization. As a result, those who are educationally disadvantaged are more than likely experience a plight in climbing the socioeconomic ladder. This is further encapsulated by Conley, who analogizes how American schools function as sorting machines, where people are grouped in terms of similar future plans. Yet, a significant shortcoming of this form of distribution is that it fails to consider the influence of race and class in determining the future of some students. It has become apparent that Whites, regardless of their academic calibre, end up pursuing higher education in colleges, whereas racial and ethnic minorities such as African-Americans fail to pursue such track. Social inequalities are further highlighted through the case study of the SAT proposed by Conley. Typically, students from more privileged families have more access to tutoring and prep classes which helps them achieve high scores and be more attractive to colleges, compared to people from poor backgrounds that are bereft from such opportunities. However, there are potentially solutions to potentially mitigate the chasm of opporutnitty gap in accessing high-quality education. The podcast The Problem We Live In demonstrates the social policies regarding the integration of students from minor ethnic and racial background to predominately white schools did result in long-term positive impact in terms of excelling academcially and extra-circurally. However, to materialize such impacts, the process of integration must be maintained and supported. Nevertheless, social policies have the capability in perpertuating or ameliorating existing socioeconomic inequalities, particularly in the educational sector.

What is NOT BEING taught in Sex Ed:

Most U.S. teens have had formal sex education, but only about two-thirds have been taught birth control methods § Pleasure is largely absent from the conversation- especially girls' pleasure § Discussions about non-heterosexual sexuality & the gender spectrum are frequently absent § Critical discussions about how sexuality relates to gender, race & class are absent

How is SAT biased?

Much of the predictive power of the SAT stems from the corre lation between the test and family background. When studies control for family background (meaning that they calculate how much the SAT would predict if all students came from the same background), the SAT's predictive power diminishes. That is, the SAT might appear to predict college grades, but part of that effect derives from the fact that students from families with higher incomes generally get better grades and higher SAT scores. In fact, researchers have found that background characteristics map onto SAT scores so well that using them to predict outcomes instead of the SAT would work equally well. For example, economist Jesse Rothstein (2004) determined that high-school GPA and school and individual demographic information predict freshman year GPA just as well as using only the high-school GPA and SAT score. Thus, Rothstein (2004) points out that college admissions officers would choose the best-prepared class by explicitly admitting higher-class students from wealthier schools, rather than just using SATs as a proxy for these background characteristics. This solution would save everybody a lot of time, money, and anxiety, but, of course, it would cast a dark[...]"

• What does sex education communicate about gender, as well as boys' and girls' sexualities? How does sex education reinforce gender norms and in what ways?

SEX EDUCATION: Limitng narratives about education Traditional gender norms in sex ed classrooms can impede young people's capacity to make healthy sexual decisions. Focuses on cis-gender and binary Based These norms often: § Emphasize biology. § Portray masculinity & femininity as mutually exclusive, rigid categories, with separate sets of attributes and desires. § Do not address the gender spectrum These narratives are limiting for all teens

• What are the two different kinds of sex education in the US and what are the distinctions between them?

Sex ed is currently a highly diverse patchwork of laws and practices: Types of sex eds: Abstinence-Only Education: teaches abstinence as the only morally correct option of sexual expression for teenagers. It usually censors information about contraception and condoms for the prevention of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and unintended pregnancy. Comprehensive Sex Education teaches about abstinence as the best method for avoiding STDs and unintended pregnancy, but also teaches about condoms and contraception to reduce the risk of unintended pregnancy and of infection with STDs, including HIV. It also teaches interpersonal and communication skills and helps young people explore their own values, goals, and options.

Which of the following is a finding of the research examining the effects of class size on educational achievement?

Short-term and long-term benefits of smaller classrooms are stronger for minority and low-income students.

Differentiate between social capita, cultural capital, and human captial

Social capital, conceptualized by sociologist Pierre Bourdieu, includes economic resources that one gains from being part of a network of social relationships, including group membership. Cultural capital, also from Bourdieu, includes non-economic resources that enable social mobility. Examples of cultural capital would include knowledge, skills, and education. Both concepts remind us that social networks and culture have value. Human Capital: the skills, knowledge, and experience possessed by an individual or population, viewed in terms of their value or cost to an organization or country.

• In what ways is merit contextual? How does merit relate to the process of becoming "elite"? What did Shamus Khan see

St. Paul's produces meritorious traits of students: A legitimating function "Columbia University sociologist Shamus Khan studied one of the most elite boarding schools in the nation, St. Paul's (his own alma mater), by accepting a teaching position there in order to conduct ethnographic research. W" "[One] way to think about a place like St. Paul's is that it converts birthright into credentials. It provides [advantaged students] with a degree of legitimacy. So people who didn't go to St. Paul's can look at that kid and say, "Well, I know he came from a well-off background, but he worked really hard. He went to this amazing high school, and he went to this amazing college, and that's why he is where he is." " "The sociologist knows this dose of upward mobility and meritocracy is exactly what gives elite schools their "legitimating function"—"

The Coleman Report (1966) came 12 years after Brown v. Board of Education. What did the study find:

The 1966 Coleman Report showed that two primary factors - family background and peers - explained differences in achievement among schools, rather than differences in school resources as had been expected. Key findings of Coleman Report (1966); § Student background and socioeconomic status are much more important in determining educational outcomes than are measured differences in school resources. ØBlack students perform better in racially-integrated classrooms. ØLow-income students do better in more privileged schools ØThe influence of peers was asymmetrical: white students did not perform worse in racially-integrated classrooms. ØThe quality of teachers have a profound impact on student achievement.

What is the gender achievement gap?

The Gender Achievement Gap: -Less about boys falling behind, but about girls catching up.. Except for low-income white boys who are falling behind. white boys are falling behind at every level of education The achievement gap between girls and boys has been closing in many academic measures, however the outcomes have not equalized...

What does the podcast the problem we all live in showcase or emphasize?

The Problem We All Live With" showcases the relationship between educational achievement gaps and opportunity gaps. Once the Normandy School District had a desegregation program, the disparity between education and opportunity decreased. This social policy shaped the opportunity gap. This podcast was fascinating to me because it demonstrated how much education influences inequality. Specifically, the SAT is a great example of this dynamic. The SAT is a better indication of parents' income rather than how well they will perform in a college classroom. This American Life demonstrated how students who were apart of the state-sponsored integration programs in the 80's were less likely to be poor, were less likely to have health problems, and they lived longer. Having access to better schools and teachers and being around high-performing kids allowed black students to fulfill their own educational potentials. This was again shown when the Normandy students transferred to Francis Howell; and highlighted even further when Elisa Crouch revealed the sad reality of being an honor student in AP classes at Normandy High School - 4 periods of music classes and 1 period of actual educational instruction. School policies shape everything about a student's life - whether they have access to decent schooling, and subsequently to higher education and a career.

What is the classroom pressure cooker? Pygmalion effect

The Pygmalion Effect, or selffulfilling prophecy, is the process that occurs when behavior is modified to meet preexisting expectations. §Expectations effect performance §Peers impact peers The Pygmalion effect, or Rosenthal effect, is the phenomenon whereby others' expectations of a target person affect the target person's performance. ... A corollary of the Pygmalion effect is the golem effect, in which low expectations lead to a decrease in performance; both effects are forms of self-fulfilling prophecy.

Discuss at least three criticisms of the SAT as a criterion for college admission. Why is this test a limited indicator of the potential for student success?

The Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) has been shown to accurately predict a student's potential for college success. § However: § It does not predict this potential any better than does GPA § It is far more accurate at predicting White students college success than for Black and Hispanic students § SAT scores are strongly correlated with race, ethnicity and class. § The legitimizing nature of the SAT reinforces the myth of meritocracy

• What are hidden curricula? What are some examples?

The hidden curriculum describes the non-academic and less overt socializing functions of schooling §Lessons that students encounter in the structure and practice of learning that are not on the formal curricula § Implicit messages that students learn in the classroom about: § Race, gender, class, sexuality § The social value of different students § Disparities in educators expectations of students Serves to form a more cohesive society but has also been used to discipline and impose the values of a dominant culture on outsiders or minorities. "In 1968, sociologist Phillip Jackson coined the term hidden curriculum to describe these nonacademic and less overt socialization functions of schooling. According to Roland Meighan (1981), "The hidden curriculum is taught by the school, not by any teacher. . . . [S] omething is coming across to the pupils which may never be spoken in the English lesson or prayed about in assembly. They are picking up an approach to living and an attitude to learning." "Because of their ability to instill similar values in students, schools have been viewed as excellent places to integrate immigrants and other outsiders and instill dominant cultural values. Take, for example, the extreme case of the original inhabitants of the United States: American Indians. As the country expanded westward in the 1800s, Americans racked their brains over how to best assimilate the people who populated those lands (after forced relocation, smallpox inoculation, and all-out warfare failed to eradicate tribal groups altogether). Their solution? Send them to school! Under the banner of "Kill the Indian, save the child," Americans set up boarding schools, such as the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania, that took children as young as six away from their families to teach them more "civilized" ways of life. The prescribed regimen for assimilation included forbidding the children to speak their own language, placing the schools far from children's homes to prevent the continued influence of American Indian culture, disparaging native practices, encouraging Christianity, and generally praising the superiority of white ways"

How is the gap for enrichment expenditures increasing (how much is spent)?

This refers to how much is spent by various classess of scoiety in Amerinca. there is a great disparity in how much is spent on : Tutoring • Private schooling • Extra-curricular activities • Summer camps • High-quality childcare • Computers people with high incomes are spending more on these while people with low income seem to have plateued and stagnated since the 1970s (no net change)

• What are the pros and cons of the tracking function (also called the sorting function) used schools?

Tracking: Divides students into different classes according to ability or future plans. § In practice, tracking has a number of negative effects and may be more beneficial for those who are already privileged. Thus, school tracking often reinforces inequalities "it is likely that much of this sorting was achieved through tracking, a way of dividing students into different classes by ability or future plans. School subjects might be divided by the level of ability required (high or low) or the type of preparation (academic, vocational, or general)."

What is the function of schools?

Two main functions: Educate and Socialize Students • Educate: Schools teach general skills (reading, writing, and arithmetic) and specific skills needed for the workplace • Socialize: Schools also transmit values, beliefs, and attitudes that areimportant to society

What is the value of integration for youth, according to the documentary The Problem We All Live With? What were some of the barriers to integration discussed in your course materials?

What integration does is it gets black kids in the same facilities as white kids, and therefore it gets them access to the same things that those kids get-- quality teachers and quality instruction There's a lot of data that shows that black students going through court-ordered integration, it changed their whole lives. They were less likely to be poor. They were less likely to have health problems. They lived longer. And the opposite is true for black kids who remained in segregated schools. Integration was forced, and while it did not result in an increase in violence or lower test scores at Frances Howell High School, it did result in more opportunities for transfer students education is that a the resources that is given to a student from his or her school is almost always never an accurate determinant of how well a student will perform. Instead, academic achievement is most influenced by a student's family life and the influence of their peers that they go to school with. This is why minority students will perform better at up to par at predominantly white schools and lower-class students will perform better in schools where the majority of students are of a higher socioeconomic status. This is proven to be true at Francis Howell where the Normandy student transfers adjusts more than well to their new school environment and excelled academically.

Espenshade, Chung, and Walling (2004) studied admission to elite colleges and found that XXXX were 4 times more likely than other students to gain admission, and XXXX were 3 times more likely to be admitted.

athletes; legacy students

One of the problems with credentialism is that more and more students (with their parents' help) are attempting to attend private schools or to be placed in the best tracks in their public school. This may be one of the reasons that:

parents are attempting to have their children accepted at the "right" day care, sometimes even before they are born.

The SAT was developed in order to provide children from public schools with a chance to demonstrate their fitness for college and to show they are as able as students from private high schools. It is therefore ironic that:

researchers now question how meritocratic the SAT is, because the SAT may test knowledge that is biased against certain groups.

Compare the school of Normandy to that of their neighboring opulent lavish school?

students in Normandy, their teachers and staff share little investment in the school and are not able to connect their students with these resources. The other school in the neighboring district allows students to participate in sports, learn consistently from teachers and feel connected to the school they are in. Through this school, the students are exposed to many opportunities that will help them in the future. This audio piece was particularly striking to me because it shows how school has such a large impact in young people's lives. The Normandy students were forced to study in a school without accreditation. These students wanted to learn, but weren't given the appropriate opportunity to do so. Just because they live in this community means that they are stuck in an educational rut thus furthering inequality and doing them a great injustice. The school was in a probation phase for 15 years meaning some students never received education that was up to par with the state's standards. If students aren't even receiving education that is "adequate," how can they be expected to succeed and get to opportunities to move on to any levels of higher education. Compared to the surrounding school districts, the students at Normandy had limited, if any, opportunity to ever get ahead. The teachers weren't as qualified or motivated and the school itself had limited opportunities for extracircular activies or additional learning resources. The school district scored 0 in 10 out of the 13 categories that the state evaluates. When education is so poor the students' chance and ability to attend college and succeed in a level of higher education is very limited. Also, once the school was finally deemed inadequate and students were allowed to attend another district, the fact that the school district chosen was 30 miles away highlights the idea that social policies, too, shape opportunity gaps. The students from Normandy high school would then have to wake up at 5am to travel 30 miles by bus to school. However, the social policies in place, once the school was finally deemed inadequate, would ultimately give students more opportunity than they would have ever had previously. Getting the opportunity to attend a better school district was probably the best opportunity these students would ever get. Finally, they had the opportunity to attend a school that met the state standards and likely had way more opportunities than Normandy. The law that was in place unintentionally led to integration and desegregation. The meeting at the town hall further illuminated huge issues within our country and the opportunity gaps in place. White students ultimately have way more opportunity as compared to black students. The integration of the two districts gave black students much more opportunity than ever before.

when did coleman report occur?

the Coleman Report (Coleman et al., 1966). The study was conducted in 1964, nearly ten years after Brown v. Board of Education (the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that mandated the desegregation of schools), and at a time when public schools throughout the nation were still highly segregated. Furthermore, achievement gaps between black and white schools remained high. Suspecting that these gaps could be explained by measurable differences between the schools blacks and whites attended (e.g., textbook availability and classroom size), the government commissioned a study. The results of the research were surprising even to James Coleman himself. To put it succinctly, the researchers found that differences in resources between schools didn't matter" " Instead, the researchers determined that most of the differences in achievement among schools could be attributed to two factors: Family background (which we'll come back to later in the chapter) and the other peers with whom students attended school (which is highly correlated with family background). Black students fared better in majority-white schools, and lower-income children did better in middle-class schools."

What is the evaded curriculum?

§Matters central to the lives of students and teachers but touched on only briefly, if at all, in most schools. §***What is absent in the classroom is often as significant as what is present Gender diversity is the least taught diversity topic in both teacher and administrator education and training

notion of birthrights into credentials

• Hierarchies are Natural: o Ladders not Ceilings §Privilege means being at ease- in all contexts Merit: Is NOT innate, ahistorical, or an accurate reflection of personal attributes • IS contextual- and can NOT be evaluated separately from social conditions that shapes one's opportunities.

Provide definitions of social capital and cultural capital. Describe a scenario in which social capital and cultural capital work together to help a student succeed

"Cultural capital: the symbolic and interactional resources that people use to their advantage in various situations." so·cial cap·i·tal: the networks of relationships among people who live and work in a particular society, enabling that society to function effectively. § Students who come from families with more cultural capital, which can include greater parental involvement, more informal educational opportunities outside of school, and more confidence in dealing with school bureaucracies, also tend to have educational advantages "Numerous studies have pinpointed other ways that cultural capital from the home confers academic advantages. For example, Lareau determined that middle-class parents ask their children many questions, reason with them in the hope of persuading them to do certain things, elicit opinions, and, in general, speak more often using a wider vocabulary with their children. Conversely, lower-class families use more directives and fewer words. However, because schools value verbal ability and use middle-class speech patterns (eliciting opinions from stu" "Similarly, schools tend to reward middle-class knowledge obtained outside school. Consider a game that took place in an elementary school class. The teacher gave clues about states, and students raised their hands to answer. White students dominated the game; few minority students ever raised their hands. Lewis (2004) attributed this not to differences in learning that occurred in the classroom but to the advantages that the white and middle-class students had carried over from their home life. In answering the questions, these students talked about the states as places they had visited, where relatives lived, or where parents had gone to college. The cultural capital that derives from higher social class is also important to the interactions that parents and students have with schools. Lareau (2003) and Lewis (2004) have found that upper- and middle-class parents have more informal interactions with teachers and are much more comfortable during interactions than lower-class parents. Because middle- and upper-class parents' class positions are similar to teachers', both parties may feel more comfortable interacting with each other. It is also more likely that parents from these classes see teachers as their equals or even as inferiors, and this[...]"

Elite private schools vs public

"Several studies (e.g., Bryk et al., 1993; Coleman & Hoffer, 1987; Coleman et al., 1982) have found that school sector (private versus public) is associated with educational outcomes even after students' different backgrounds are taken into account. However, the exact details of these effects are somewhat unexpected. After dividing the private institutions into Catholic and non-Catholic schools, researchers determined that Catholic schools (which are generally among the least expensive private schools) were the most successful in preparing students academically, particularly students from disadvantaged backgrounds (e.g., minority students and those from lower socioeconomic strata)." "Thus, private schools may have an impact, but not necessarily according to how expensive they are." "How do we explain these sector differences? Are the plaid designs on some private school uniforms cognitively stimulating? According to researchers, a more plausible explanation is that certain academic and behavioral differences between private and public schools predict educational outcomes. For example, researchers determined that private school students did more homework, had a greater chance of being enrolled in academic programs, and took more college preparatory classes than public school students. Behaviorally, private school students had better attendance, became involved in fewer fights, and threatened teachers less than public school students. James S. Coleman and Thomas Hoffer (1987) also suggest that the strong effects of the Catholic schools stem from the large amounts of social capital in the community—that is, any relationship between people that can facilitate the actions of others " If elite schooling is central to becoming elite, how are elite schools training those who are driving inequality?

What are the disadvantages of tracking?

"none of the positive benefits we've reviewed above involve the general track. This in-between track, preparing students for neither work nor college, seems to provide no benefits to students. Second, researchers have discovered that students from privileged backgrounds are significantly more likely to be in college tracks even after taking into account variables that should predict track placement, including achievement " "Because race, ethnicity, and class are so intertwined, higher-class whites are usually overrepresented in academic tracks, and black, Hispanic, and lower-class students are overrepresented in non-college track" "But if privileged students aren't placed in the highest tracks based on merit, why are they so overrepresented in these classes? Qualitative research (e.g., Lareau, 2003) suggests that middle-class parents actively intervene in school matters to obtain the best advantages for their children. For example, they might request that their child be placed in the highest track despite mediocre achievement because they are more likely to be college graduates and know how important the college track is for their child's future." "The evidence from non-Catholic students consistently outdoing their Catholic peers suggests that parents' goals for their children may play a large role in the kids' educational success, casting some doubt on just how much tracking actually benefits high-performing students. Maybe those in the higher track would have been equally successful had their school forgone tracking and kept all the students together." "Although tracking gives some students educational advantages, it disproportionately awards these advantages to those who are already privileged. Minority and lower-class students are often left behind as a result, receiving inferior instruction and learning less in their classes." for example: Second-grade teacher in Phoenix gives remedial help in English to students whose first language is not English. Creating separate remedial classes is an example of tracking. "

How is school segregation is invariably linked to poverty?

"the Coleman Report (Coleman et al., 1966). The study was conducted in 1964, nearly ten years after Brown v. Board of Education (the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that mandated the desegregation of schools), and at a time when public schools throughout the nation were still highly segregated. Furthermore, achievement gaps between black and white schools remained high. Suspecting that these gaps could be explained by measurable differences between the schools blacks and whites attended (e.g., textbook availability and classroom size), the government commissioned a study. The results of the research were surprising even to James Coleman himself. To put it succinctly, the researchers found that differences in resources between schools didn't matter" " Instead, the researchers determined that most of the differences in achievement among schools could be attributed to two factors: Family background (which we'll come back to later in the chapter) and the other peers with whom students attended school (which is highly correlated with family background). Black students fared better in majority-white schools, and lower-income children did better in middle-class schools.

How does the podcast The Problem We All Live With" shows that educational achievement gaps are caused by opportunity gaps.

. In an environment with opportunities, educational achievement increases and vice versa. b. Many private schools are expensive which keeps out low class students, causing an opportunity gap right there, and then knowing that class and race are intertwined a race opportunity gap is created. Another policy, mentioned in "The Problem We All Live With" was how the Francis-Howell district (a mostly white district) was chosen to get free transportation while the Normandy was not. Another thing that leaves out kids from getting to a good school district is access to nearby facilities at all. "The House I Live in" was most illuminating in how education both shapes and is shaped by inequality. Every step of the way the Francis-Howell kids faced discrimination in getting to that school, all of it under the guise of educational terms-- like mothers at the meeting worrying about the schools "accreditation." In order to keep their accreditation up they did not want to accept students from the other school who's score may have been lower but by not letting these kids into schools with good accreditation, their scores won't improve. t is not that the community members are less intelligent, their lowered educational achievements are a product of the lack-there-of opportunity. How could you expect a student to perform when the entire district, the entire community, including those who are supposed to support and encourage growth, fail to provide the students with the bare necessities? These opportunity gaps are why programs such as affirmative action are implemented. They aim to level the playing field to account for educational achievement gaps resulting from opportunity gaps.

What are the advantages of tracking?

Advantages: "Tracking is intended to create a better learning environment, because students' goals are matched to their curricula. Sounds reasonable. And research has determined that tracking has significant impacts even after controlling for background characteristics" "that students in their school's college track had significantly higher math achievement and were more likely to graduate from high school. Furthermore, James Rosenbaum (1980) determined that tracking significantly predicted whether students attended college. Finally, Richard Arum and Yossi Shavit (1995) ascertained that students who graduated from vocational tracks were less likely to be unemployed and more likely to enter the workforce as skilled laborers."

Gender in sex ed: cis-gender and binary based and focused

Boys: Make sex happen Sexually driven, individually focused, and active pursuance of sex Boys sexuality is autonomous and more about desire than reproduction Girls: Sex happens to them Passive recipients of boy's sex drive, relationally focused, and sexual gatekeepers Girl's sexuality is about reproduction, reputations and risk Morality and victimization outweights desire

What is the trend of higher education recently?

Higher Education: In 1910, 3 percent of men and women over age 25 had a BA degree . § In 2004, 28 percent of men and women over age 25 had a BA degree As more and more people meet the qualifications for certain types of jobs, employers upgrade the requirements in order to weed out more people. §Credentialism: Overemphasis on credentials, such as college degrees, for signaling social status or job qualifications about four in 10 students from the top 0.1 percent attend an ivy league or elite university. This is roughly equivalent to the share of students from poor families who attend any two or four year college

What is merit?

Is NOT innate, ahistorical, or an accurate reflection of personal attributes • IS contextual- and can NOT be evaluated separately from social conditions that shapes one's opportunities.

The Coleman Report was a systematic large-scale evaluation of data from students and school facilities. It concluded that differences in school characteristics explained:

Only a small portion of educational differences between schools.

Did the COLEMAN REPORT study uphold the idea that schools were "separate and unequal"?Explain.

Separate but equal "These findings were a bombshell in the education world. After all, American ideology tells us that schools are the place where students from all walks of life get a fair shot at obtaining a good education. And if they don't, we'd expect studies to pick up on the differences among schools that explain educational inequalities."

How are schools shaped by inequality? How do schools contribute to inequality? How are achievement gaps related to opportunity gaps? What are some examples from your readings?

Socioeconomic class, race, and ethnicity are often intertwined and clearly affect educational outcomes. Schools are Shaped By & Can Contribute to Inequality numerous inequalities in schooling exist. Minority and lower-class students are disproportionately placed in low tracks, are the subject of less-favorable teacher expectations, and consistently score lower on the SAT." "Social class has long been thought to socialize students into different achievement profiles and distinct schooling trajectories. Social class or socioeconomic status (SES), an individual's position in a stratified social order, is composed of any combination of parental educational attainment, parental occupational status (e.g., janitor versus doctor), family income, and family wealth. Students whose parents have higher levels of any of these four measures of class generally enjoy better educational opportunities. Higher-class students obtain more years of schooling (Conley, 2001), get better grades (Arum, 2003), are more likely to complete high school before age 19 (Conley, 1999), score higher on cognitive tests (Chase-Lansdale et al., 1997), and, as mentioned earlier, are more likely to be placed in higher tracks (Gamoran & Mare, 1989; Lucas, 1999)." "Children from wealthier families benefit from being able to devote additional resources to help position their children to succeed at school." "A more subtle way that social class is related to educational outcomes is through the importance of cultural capital, the symbolic and interactional resources that people use to their advantage in various situations " "ome important aspects of embodied cultural capital include the ability to deal with bureaucracies (such as the school system itself ), confidence in public social settings, and even a sense of entitlement. In a school setting, many of these advantages work in concert with the rewards that schools give to students with values and expectations aligned with those of the institution. For example, teachers tend to place a high emphasis on parental involvement (e.g., volunteering in classrooms or reading to children) because it improves students' educational outcomes (Lareau, 1987). However, research has found that middle- and upper-class parents have much higher levels of involvement than lower-class parents. This is not because higher-class parents have more desire for their children to succeed but because they agree with the idea that schooling responsibilities should be shared and they may have more time to be involved. In contrast, according to Annette Lareau (2003), working-class parents more often believe that educational responsibility falls solely on teachers, and thus they may not be as involved. This disparity may be compounded by the greater intimidation that lower-SES parents might experience in the face of bureaucracies (such as the educational system) Do Schools Matter : Coleman Report (1966) The 1966 Coleman Report showed that two primary factors - family background and peers - explained differences in achievement among schools, rather than differences in school resources as had been expected. ØThe quality of teachers have a profound impact on student achievement. Class Inequalities and Schooling: Money buys advantages for class privileged students, including tutoring, test preparation courses, and access to private schools or better public school districts. § Students who come from families with more cultural capital, which can include greater parental involvement, more informal educational opportunities outside of school, and more confidence in dealing with school bureaucracies, also tend to have educational advantages

What is the sorting function analogy of tracking?

This is further encapsulated by Conley, who analogizes how American schools function as sorting machines, where people are grouped in terms of similar future plans. Yet, a significant shortcoming of this form of distribution is that it fails to consider the influence of race and class in determining the future of some students. It has become apparent that Whites, regardless of their academic calibre, end up pursuing higher education in colleges, whereas racial and ethnic minorities such as African-Americans fail to pursue such track Schools are Sorting Devices... Schools place students into programs and groups according to their skills, interests, and talents. §Critics argue that this sorting process is not based solely on merit and that ultimately reproduces social inequalities.

What do it mean when we say CHILDREARING REPRODUCES CLASS-BASED DISADVANTAGES

Unequal Childhoods: Concerted Cultivation vs Natural Growth Middle class parents are more likely to engage in concerted cultivation: How to interact with authority negotiation skills Manage time Language Weak social ties Activities dominate family life low-income minority parents are likely to engage in a natural growth approach: How to entertain self Close ties with extended kin Creativity Autonomy Less prepared for college and workforce In this interview, Annette Lareau discusses her book Unequal Childhoods. She explains that parenting strategies vary by social class and points out that it is unclear whether these differences affect the long-term outcomes of children (REMEMBER COMPARING CONSUMERISM BETWEEN LOW INCOME AND MIDDLE INCOME PARENTS)

How are Educational opportunity gaps are strongly related to opportunity gaps

because education opens you up to useful connections (social capital)

Broadly defined, education is:

processes through which academic, social, and cultural ideas and tools are developed.

What is human capital?

the skills and knowledge gained by a worker through education and experience Knowledge and skills that make someone more productive and bankable are known as: human capital.