Education as a Social Institution

Education as a Social Institution

Education is very important as a social institution. Sociologist find it a very interesting thing to look at and study. Education includes teaching formerly earned knowledge to others, such as reading and writing. But it also teaches many important things like morals, ethics, and values. This all prepare students for the real world. Showing them where they belong, socialization. 

There are two different ways we can begin to look at education in a social institution, micro-level and macro-level. At the micro-level, sociologists are looking at how being in school impacts the student on an individual level. At the macro-level, sociologists look how politics, economics, and culture impacts the variations of the students. 

Each of the three theories we have been discussing all have their different views on education in a social institution. 

The Functionalist view of it says that education is way that children first socialize and prepare for the outside world. This isn't only done by teaching the "basic knowledge" for school but also for teaching about morals, ethics, culture, and more. They also believe that education teaches an occupational training. The functionalist theory believes that education provides social order. By requiring that children must attend school by law, it keeps them off the streets and keep them out of stuff they aren't supposed to be doing.

The symbolic theory focuses on the schooling and how the outcomes of those interactions turn out to be. Teachers and students can have interactions and expectations of each other. The teacher expects the student to show up for class, do homework, be respectful. The teacher thinks a black student is less likely to do well on a test and white student to do better. This can cause the teacher to actually "encourage" the black student to not do well on a test. This is called the teacher expectancy effect. 

Conflict theory thinks that education is not equally fair. They don't think everyone is getting the same education because of race, gender, or class. They believe that education produces the inequalities between people in our society. It is also believed that education can lead to discrimination. An employer requires certain educational status credentials that apply to the job. It discriminates certain people within our society. 

How Education Has Impacted Me

I see people in their "groups." The people they normally hang out with. I've seen those people succeed and I've seen some people not take the right path and do some things that they shouldn't. I've seen this happening by them picking who they want to sit by in the lunch room on the first day of school.
I used to be with the "wrong people" but eventually i separated myself from that and hung around a better crowd. I heard others in school talk about my friends in a bad way, And I didn't want that to happen to me so I changed. I conformed to fit in with every one else

"What Is the Sociology of Education?" About.com Education. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Oct. 2015. http://sociology.about.com/od/Disciplines/a/Sociology-Of-Education.htm