Sociology 315 Exam 2

Conflicting expectations for the student role?

1. Conflict arises between teachers and students because teachers represent the culture of the wider group and students are impregnated with the culture of the local community 2. A second and more universal conflict between students and teachers arises from the fact that teachers are adults and students are not, teachers try to impose the culture of adults upon students, whereas students represent the indigenous culture of the group of children.

Student coping mechanisms?

A clever teacher recognizes student roles, manipulates them, and uses them effectively. Teachers speak differently to students for whom they have high expectations and low expectations. Another student coping mechanism is apathy-protecting themselves against total failure in a competition they feel they cannot win. If their sense of self-worth is threatened , it may reduce their desire to try to achieve.

Adolescent employment and dropping out of school?

Adolescents supply labor as workers in fast-food restaurants, as newspaper carriers, and in many other positions in evenings and on weekends. Some traditional student occupations can be baby-sitting, lawn work, chores. Dropping out of high school is related to the number of hours a student works during high school and to the motivation of work.

The value climate?

Although this is a field in the process of development and change, the studies cited here show the relationship of value climate to home environment, self-concept, achievement, and teacher expectations, and illustrate some of the major interests and findings in the field.

Parenting styles?

Authoritarian, overprotective, and permissive parenting styles (very rigid or very lax) in american society are negatively associated with student achievement, and higher percentage of students from these backgrounds drop out of school. In some societies, rigidly structured and cohesive families are associated with high achievement.

Single-Parent Homes?

Children from one-parent households have lower grades, lower test scores, and higher dropout rates on average than those from two-parent households; these results also are influenced by the race or ethnicity of the family, the educational level of the parents, and low level of involvement by the absence of a parent.

Family background and parental involvement?

Children succeed in large part because of their family background and what parents do to support their children in education. Parenting styles and parental expectations play crucial roles in setting the child's educational agenda.

Effects of home environment on educational achievement?

Children's positions in school and society are determined in large part by their family background. Studies by Coleman and Jencks discussed below, found that one-half to two-thirds of student achievement variance is directly related to home variables such as socioeconomic level.

Classroom learning climate?

Classrooms, because of their structure and organization, assume certain behaviors and attitudes on part of the students - delayed gratification, for example, and support of group cohesion and purpose over individual desires. These attitudes are not taught easily in school but are necessary components of the teaching situation. Children must begin to acquire the behaviors and attitudes necessary for classroom learning before coming to school. the school experience can be meaningless for "unprepared" children.

Who drops out?

Dropouts are disproportionately male, older than average (two or more years behind grade level), burdened with low grades and behavior problems, minorities, from low-income families with low educational attainment, and given little educational encouragement.

Family aspirations?

Family and student aspirations for the future are another aspect of the influence of class, racial, ethnic background. Parents who set high standards and have high aspirations for their children are more likely to have high-achieving children. James Coleman and colleagues found that African American and white seniors had comparable aspirations; the difference was in taking the necessary steps to carry out their goals.

Expectations of the student role?

In most public school systems, formal role expectations for students are standardized by grade. Formal student roles-club officer, athletic team member; or (at the lower grades) trash emptier, board eraser, or traffic guard are found in most schools.

School Boards?

Liaison Between school and community

Superintendent?

Manager of the school system

The number of siblings?

Parents with smaller families offer children greater intellectual and educational advantages. The more siblings in a family, the more diluted the parents' attention and material resources, and the lower the achievement.

Social class background?

Parents' involvement in the educational process differs by social class. Higher-class parents are active in managing their children's education at home and at school, whereas lower-class parents do what the school ask but little more. Parents of working class children are less comfortable dealing with schools and teachers than those of higher-class students.

Peer groups and student culture?

Playground activities and games help set the students world apart from the adult culture. The student subculture has strong influence in determining what happens in school. Because students are grouped together by age and subjected to a series of age-related requirements, they develop a separate subculture with norms, expectations, and methods or "strategies" for coping with these demands. High school subcultures often place high value on athletics for males and on leadership activities for females, but little value for either sex on being very bright or academically oriented.

The role of mothers?

Poor mothers are less likely to be involved in their children's schooling because of discomfort with teachers and lack of social support. Children who are left to make their own educational plans and decisions, where parents have little involvement, are more likely to be dropouts. Children with college graduated mothers do better in school due to the mother being able to help on the correct classes to take.

Why students drop out?

Problems faced by students range from school conditions to family breakups to neighborhood dangers from gangs and drugs.

The institution of religion: Separation of church and state?

Religious pressures on schools have led to court cases, initiated by both religious groups and those favoring secular education. Two types of cases have dominated the courts. First are those that claim that the school is infringing on individual beliefs; saying prayers in class or at ceremonies or teaching the theory of evolution are examples. Other cases occur when school officials or policies prevent individuals from participating in religious activities during school and in school, such as religious use of school facilities.

The principal?

School boss in the middle

Communities and their schools?

Schools respond to the many and varied demands of their environments in order to survive. Because they depend on the environment for resources, demands from the environment cannot be ignored.

Students self concept?

Self-concept of academic ability is significantly correlated with academic performance. If many students in a school have low achievement expectations, this influences the school's achievement level.

School crime and violence?

Shootings in schools make the headlines, but many students face daily bullying, sexual harrassment, and beatings. In fact, some children are afraid to go to school or carry weapons to school for protection.

Student coping mechanisms?

Student "coping" strategies, or ways of adapting to the power structure of school culture, are major aspects of informal system. Students develop strategies related to their own needs, based on their own experiences with schooling, self-concept, peer-group relations, ability grouping, and other factors.

Learning the student role?

Students preparing to enter a new classroom or school are concerned about making mistakes in front of their peers or getting in trouble because they have not yet learned their role expectations. Most students want to be accepted.

Teachers?

The front line

Reproduction theory and the informal system?

The hidden curriculum contains a social and economic agenda that is responsible for separating social classes, giving elites more freedom and opportunity, and training non-elites to accept their lot as obedient, punctual workers. Most students learn to accept their political-economic system as best, whatever their position is.

Home and family influences on school?

The key finding is that the higher the parents' involvement in their children's schooling, the higher the overall academic performance. Parents are more willing to pay for higher education for their children if their parents paid for their education, and they believe this to be a responsibility; they are also more willing to pay if the number of children in the family does not drain their resources.

The hidden curriculum?

Under the organized, structured curriculum lies another, the three Rs: rules, routines, and regulations of the "hidden curriculum"

Student friendship and interaction patterns in the classroom?

Who students "hang out" with is an important part of the informal experience in schools. These friendship patterns affect each student's peer-group affiliation and in turn aspirations for educational attainment. Friendship patterns begin in preschool; children develop friendships in the course of their play, and these patterns continue through childhood.