Inquisitive: Chapter 13: Education

Identify the reasons why children in larger families may receive fewer advantages than children in smaller families, according to the resource dilution model.

- Children from larger families may have less money available for educational investments like college. - Children in larger families may get less attention from parents.

The fact that girls' educational outcomes now surpass boys' has led some observers to speak of a "boy crisis." Identify what researchers have found after looking into this phenomenon more closely.

- Girls from lower-class families have gained ground. - Boys from lower-class families have lost ground. - Girls from upper-class families have gained ground.

Identify the ways in which social class explains some apparent differences between black and white children in academic achievement and attainment.

- Once social class background is accounted for; black youth are just as likely to graduate high school as white youth. - The poverty rate among black children is much higher than the poverty rate among white children. - Black families have lower levels of wealth compared to white families.

Identify the reasons why privileged white students end up in college tracks in high school more than minority and lower-class students.

- Parents of privileged white students are more likely to request college tracking for their children. - Privileged white students benefited from better preparation in elementary and middle school.

Identify which of the following are the best-documented explanations for the black/white achievement gap in U.S. schools.

- Race correlates with social class, and being middle- or upper-class has certain advantages. - Among underprivileged youth of all races, values are sometimes inverted, so that achievement is considered a bad thing.

Identify each area of high school academic achievement as one where either boys or girls perform better.

- SAT math scores - rate of taking AP science exams

Identify the examples of how the educational system in the United States tends to favor students from high-SES families—families that are middle- and upper-class.

- Schools reward middle- and upper-class knowledge, such as knowledge gained during travel abroad. - High-SES parents are more likely to invest time and energy in nurturing their children's education. - High-SES parents interact with their children in educationally more beneficial ways.

Identify which of the following are major criticisms of the socialization function performed by public schools in the United States.

- Socialization is used to instill acceptance of capitalist values. - Socialization has been used to nearly eradicate native culture.

Project STAR, a study in Tennessee begun in 1985, examined the effect of class sizes on later student achievement. Identify the findings of this study.

- Students in smaller classes performed better academically. - The benefits of smaller classes were particularly strong for minority students. - Students in smaller classes had fewer disciplinary problems.

Identify the reasons Jonathon Kozol criticizes the sorting function Pitirim Sorokin says schools perform.

- The sorting perpetuates social divisions based on race and class. - The sorting happens at an unreasonably early stage of schooling.

According to Khan, identify the benefits St. Paul's provides to students who go on to attend Harvard.

- a set of social connections that help them after they leave Harvard - an ability to navigate certain social and professional environments - a conversion of their social class into a legitimizing credential

Families sometimes employ creative financing to try to pay for college, including auctioning space on one's forehead for advertising, or staging magic shows. Identify the system-level changes that would make raising money for college more attainable for working class and poor young adults and their parents.

- greater access to scholarships and government subsidies - lower tuition costs

Identify the habits, according to Langlois and Zales (1992), that are "best practices" for teachers.

- having clear expectations - setting high standards - minimizing lost class time

Identify the primary tasks of schools.

- imparting knowledge - teaching basic skills

Voucher-based school choice gives parents greater freedom to choose their children's schools with less worry about ability to pay. Identify the arguments people publicly make in favor of this system.

- it gives parents more freedom to avoid bad schools. - It puts schools under pressure to improve, in order to be competitive.

According to the Coleman Report of 1966, identify which differences between students across schools are statistically most responsible for the varying results in student achievement.

- nature of peer group - family background

Identify the formal measures of social class or socioeconomic status (SES).

- parents' educational attainment - family income - family wealth - parents' occupational status

Identify the explanations that researchers have proposed for the superior academic achievement of students at private Catholic schools, compared to public schools.

- preexisting differences between the student populations - a more close-knit academic community - a more rigorous program of study

Several studies have found that a child's academic achievement is negatively impacted by the addition of younger siblings. Place the scenarios in order from most to least impact on older siblings.

1) a boy born one year after his older siblings 2) a boy born two years after his older siblings 3) a girl born two years after her older siblings 4) a girl born four years after her older siblings

What was Australia's goal in its treatment of Aboriginal children between 1910 and 1970?

Assimilating them fully into white society

What was the overall finding regarding achievement scores for students in the voucher program compared to those who were not?

Attending a parent-chosen school made no difference to children's achievement scores.

What does Morgan think is the main explanation for this difference?

Catholic school students have parents who care more about education.

True/False: At private Catholic schools, Catholic students outperform non-Catholic ones.

False

What role does social capital play in explaining Catholic school students' success, according to sociologists Coleman and Hoffer?

The closeness of the Catholic community enforces positive behaviors and norms.

How do studies of New Zealand's Maori and Japan's Burakumin undermine the thesis that some races have innately lower IQs than others?

With both groups, low IQ scores are demonstrably due entirely to sociological factors.

How does this paradox come to be in the United States?

Within a school, students are sorted into different academic tracks.

The term ____________ refers to the inability to read or write well enough to be a functional member of society, and is experienced by ________ percent of Americans. __________ refers to having insufficient mathematical skills to function in society, and is experienced by ____________ percent of Americans.

functional illiteracy, 14, functional innumeracy, 30

Which child did Conley and Glauber (2006) find to be at greatest risk of being held back a grade in the course of his or her schooling?

middle child, boy

According to Pitirim Sorokin, schools are ------ that assess students for ability, talent, and ____________.Based on the results, students are taught different skills and socialized in ways most suitable for their - future occupations. A student who is _______will be placed in a vocational program, while a student who is ___________ will be placed in the school's gifted and talented program.

sorting machines, character, likely, good with their hands, intellectually gifted

Individual teachers appear to matter more for student success in the United States than in European countries because European teaching is ______, while U.S. teachers have more _____ in running their classrooms. Coupled with the long hours teachers spend with students, classrooms become ________for students.

standardized, autonomy, pressure cookers

What, according to sociologist Phillip Jackson, is the "hidden curriculum" taught in schools?

the nonacademic and less overt forms of socialization

What is the definition of cultural capital?

the symbolic and interactional resources that people use to their advantage