SOC 101 Chapter 20

Which of the following statements most closely reflects the social-conflict approach to schooling?

"Having a college degree is at least as much a reflection of social privilege than it is of personal worthiness."

Which of the following patterns is a result of operating large, bureaucratic schools?

"teaching to the test"

About __________ of adults living in the United States are functionally illiterate.

14 percent

A gender shift has occurred in college attendance; the most recent data indicate that men account for only ________ of all U.S. undergraduates.

43 percent

The share of women on campus has continued to increase until the point that the most recent data indicate that men account for _________ of all U.S. undergraduates. `

43 percent

What percentage of U.S. primary and secondary school students attends public schools?

90 percent

According to recent data provided by the United Nations, __________ is a high-income nation that has an illiteracy rate of less than 5 percent.

Canada

How does standard of living affect a country's educational system?

In lower-income societies, children have to work and therefore have less opportunity to attend school.

With regard to schooling, __________ is to gender-based opportunity as __________ is to more equal opportunity.

India; the United States

At a major university hospital, Leanne is doing geriatric research that may help the elderly stay independent longer. Which function does her schooling have for the larger society?

Leanne is engaged in cultural innovation.

According to data provided by the U.S. Census Bureau, how does the median income of male high school dropouts compare to the median income of male high school graduates?

Male high school dropouts have a median income more than $10,000 lower than that of male high school graduates.

Based on Theodore Sizer's findings, which of the following shows how today's bureaucratically run schools undermine education?

School officials expect Karen, who is a certain age, to be at a certain grade level.

Which of the following would most likely be a characteristic of schooling in rural India?

Schooling is considered much less important for girls than it is for boys.

Education provides information to a society's members. How is schooling different?

Schooling refers to formal instruction by specially trained teachers.

The report A Nation at Risk made a number of recommendations to reform U.S. schools. Which of the following recommendations made in that report most closely addresses Theodore Sizer's analysis of the ways in which bureaucratically run schools undermine education?

Schools should not rigidly link age and grade; schools should promote students only when they meet achievement standards.

If Marcus is labeled as "gifted," which of the following is most likely to happen?

Teachers will expect him to understand difficult concepts more quickly than most other children in the class.

Which of the following statements most closely reflects the main idea of the Thomas theorem as applied to schooling?

There is often a self-fulfilling prophecy in the way teachers think about students.

Some people characterize the absence of men on the campus as "Bill Gates syndrome." What does that mean?

Young men are lured away from college by the potential of a good-paying job.

Which of the following factors are greatly influential in shaping the overall U.S. educational system?

a high economic standard of living and democratic principles

The basic idea of the symbolic-interaction approach is that people

create the reality they experience in their day-to-day interaction.

As a result of _________, Daniel, who does not do well on standardized tests, will be placed in less challenging classes as he goes through school.

educational tracking

The rise of public education in the late nineteenth century came at exactly the same time in our country's history that

factory owners needed an obedient and disciplined workforce.

Technologically simple societies look to ________ to teach skills and values and thus to transmit a way of life from one generation to the next.

families

Which of the following is an example of the cultural capital James Coleman believes can help all U.S. children perform better in school?

families who regularly read to their children

In regard to awarding grades, today's teachers are

far more likely to award "A" grades for student work than they were in 1968.

Advocates of the ________ model make the claim that private companies rather than local governments can operate school systems more efficiently and effectively.

for-profit schooling

Most of the parents who pioneered home schooling wanted to

give their children a strongly religious upbringing.

Jared's teacher is concerned that giving him a D on a paper, which is the level at which the paper was written, will harm his self-esteem and discourage him from continuing to try to do better on papers, so she gives him a C+. The teacher is grading in a way that encourages

grade inflation

One criticism that has been leveled against home schooling by people who support public schooling is that, on average,

home schooling "takes some of the most affluent and articulate parents out of the public school system."

The bottom line of the teacher shortage is that

it is a really a shortage of good teachers.

The extent of schooling in any particular country is most closely tied to its

level of economic development.

Which of the following factors decreases the odds of a young person going to college?

living in a low-income family

Keisha is excited to start high school in the fall. She has loved math for as long as she can remember and plans to become a professor of mathematics when she finishes her education. Rather than attending her local high school, Keisha will go to another public school that has the facilities and programs designed to promote excellence in math and science. In sociological terms, Keisha will be attending a

magnet school

Simon, a 10th grade student, has been profoundly hearing impaired since birth. Rather than being schooled at a facility for students with special needs, Simon attends public school and takes classes that are part of the regular 10th grade curriculum. His local school district pays for an adult sign language interpreter to attend classes with Simon and translate the teachers' spoken language into sign language. In sociological terms, Simon is part of the educational program known as

mainstreaming

To the extent that schooling rewards talent and hard work regardless of social background and provides a path to upward social mobility, it contributes to our society's

meritocracy.

According to recent data provided by the U.S. Census Bureau,

non-Hispanic whites are more likely than Hispanics to complete four or more years of college.

According to data provided by the National Education Association, people who earn the nation's highest annual salaries for public school teachers are most likely to live in the

northeast

By 2012, according to criteria established by the No Child Left Behind Act, __________ of all U.S. public schools had been labeled as failing for missing student performance targets.

one-half

Raisa wants to go to a college that stresses the value of practical learning, which means she wants to take classes that

prepare her for a future job.

Which of the following is a manifest function of higher education?

providing opportunities for researchers to invent and publicize new patterns of culture

Nathan has just completed 10th grade. In the fall, he will take 11th-grade classes with the other students in his age group, even though he is functionally illiterate, has great difficulty with addition and subtraction, and cannot find his home state on a map of the United States. According to sociologist Theodore Sizer, Nathan's situation illustrates the __________ typically found in bureaucratically-run schools.

rigid expectations

Reggie is thinking about becoming a teacher. He knows he will need a college degree plus experience doing student teaching. Which of the following factors might encourage Reggie to pursue his plan?

rising enrollments in U.S. schools and also reductions in average class size

The ________ claims that schooling plays a part in social stratification, which challenges the ________ idea that schooling develops everybody's talents and abilities.

social-conflict approach; structural-functional

Compared to students in Japan, students in the United States

spend fewer days in school each year.

Which of the following factors has the greatest effect on student performance in school?

the home and local neighborhood environment

What is a stereotype?

the ideas, true or untrue, about some category of people that are applied to everyone in that category

What historical event precipitated the need for an educated workforce in Great Britain?

the industrial revolution

Yoko is a 9-year-old student in a Japanese school. What will be the emphasis of her early years of education?

the transmission of Japanese traditions

Jayne is going back to school as a 35-year-old. What is most likely the reason for her returning to school?

to advance her career

What is the main educational task for children during primary school?

to learn language and basic mathematical skills