Ch. 20 Education

1. Ch. 20 Education

2. Education vs. Schooling • Education • The social institution through which society provides its members with important knowledge, including basic facts, job skills, and cultural norms and values • Schooling • Formal instruction under the direction of specially trained teachers

3. History of Schooling in Canada • Mass education was created to fulfill Industrial Revolution requirements for a literate and skilled workforce • 1867: education made a provincial responsibility • By 1920: Canada had compulsory education until end of elementary school or age 16 in most provinces • Now: policy of universal, publicly supported primary and secondary schooling. • Today, Canada has nearly 300 publicly supported post secondary institutions, including 98 universities

4. Tertiary education in Canada • Canada has highest % of adults 25-64 with a tertiary education globally at almost 53%. • OECD average is 32% (2014) • ~ 24% college educated, ~ 28% university • Canada 2nd in terms of spending on tertiary education (USD $23,200) but tuition fees among the highest. • However, Canada has a smaller percentage of people with university degrees than the U.S. • (Source: University Affairs, 2014)

5. Value of a Degree • Having a university degree generates 60% higher income, on average, than high school diploma • College diploma 13% more • 73% of students who obtain a degree have a parent or parents with a degree • (Source: University Affairs, 2014)

6. Educational Mobility

7. Millennials and Education: • Who are the Millennials? Term coined by Strauss and Howe to describe the echo boom (those born between 1981 and 1997) • Facing an increasingly difficult job market and economic situation • Even with a diploma or degree, for Millennials, full-time work or affordable housing difficult • 11-12% of Canadians between 15 and 24 are unemployed (twice the national average) and >25% are underemployed (50% of university grads are in jobs that do not require a degree) • Watch: Is a University Degree a Waste of Money? (CBC News, 2017)

8. Most believe post secondary education is a necessity and a right allows someone to do better in life and achieve successand social mobility But…Credentialism is a problem “Education and Jobs: the Great Training Robbery” Ivar Berg (1970) Said in North America, we overestimate value of education at all levels Harvard Business School did a 2016 study on Berg’s Great Training Robbery theory “The Great Training Robbery”

9. No relation found between formal education and work productivity turnover rates work satisfaction promotion success in business Findings No significant difference in work performance But employees enter labour force at higher levels and change jobs more often “Great Training Robbery” Findings

10. Consequences: less education = fewer opportunities more education demanded than job requires Employers: believe formal education makes better workers and use it as a criterion for hiring But $ billions spent on training and education is not paying off (see 2016 Harvard study http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/the-great-training-robbery) “Great Training Robbery” (cont.)

11. Problems in the Schools • School Discipline • Not like U.S. but assaults and killings have occurred, e.g., Montreal’s L’École Polytechnique. • Bullying • Dropping out • Boys more than girls, more from single or poorer households, Aboriginals • Canada 12% dropout rate before Gr. 12, U.S. 21%, compared to Finland only 6% (Saunders, 2017) • Academic standards declining • Cheating, plagiarism and “personation” • 2012 study: more than 7,000 students at Canadian universities were punished for academic misconduct. • University of Guelph study 2007 53% of students cheat • US study 2006: 70% of undergrads cheat

12. Doc Zone (2012): Faking the Grade An examination of what has been described as an epidemic of cheating in North American colleges, universities and high schools Watch: Faking the Grade (the Trailer)

13. Guarantee physical safety & freedom from fear most Canadian schools relatively trouble-free those who aren’t can be changed expel all students who threaten welfare of others zero tolerance for threats, violence, drugs, weapons address bullying & harassment Ensure Secure Learning Environment

14. students perform better when expected to do so (i.e. Blooming study next slide) basic principles seem to be lost Teachers – teach at a low level Administrators – accept low performance School has become a bureaucracy where ritual replaces performance (Weber’s “iron cage”) Set Higher Standards

15. Thomas theorem - “situations we define as real become real in their consequences” “Blooming” study (Rosenthal and Jacobsen, 1963) Young students identified as “bloomers” had increased IQ after 1 year Self fulfilling prophecy

16. Problem is not student ability but within the educational system itself Advocate school voucher programs so parents choose child’s school Create public schools free from bureaucratic rules More compensatory and enriched programs for students with exceptionalities Fund home-schooling Integrate new information technologies Future Changes?

17. ReadFinland’s social climbers: How they’re fighting inequality with education, and winning(Saunders, 2017) Finland has completely reformed schooling Eliminated standardized testing, streaming As a result, social mobility increased Lower dropout rates and higher achievement Finnish teacher Tiina Kohara: “We think that school is for your life, not that your life is for school.” A New Model? The Finnish System

18. Structural Functionalist View: The Functions of Schooling • Socialization: basic skills, values and norms • Cultural innovation through research • Social integration of diverse groups, although retention of ethnic identities is assisted • Social placement: the enhancement of meritocracy by making personal merit a foundation of future social position

19. Functions of Schooling (cont.) • Latent functions: • Provides child care; • Reduces competition for jobs; and • Helps establishes networks and identifies partners. Critique: • The quality of schooling is far better for some than others • Reproduces the class system

20. Schooling and Social Interactionism Self-fulfilling prophesy • Teachers’ expectations can affect self-image and academic performance • If students and teachers come to view one group is superior to another, ensuing behaviour could fulfill prophesy Critique: • People don’t make up beliefs; they are built into society’s system of social inequality

21. Schooling and Social Inequality Social Conflict theorists say schooling perpetuates social inequality by: • Social control: teaches discipline and punctuality • Hidden curriculum: subtle presentations of political or cultural ideas in class, e.g., capitalist ideas • Standardized testing: transforms privilege into individual merit • Streaming: assigning students to different types of programs, frequently according to background

22. Schooling and Social Inequality (cont.) • Unequal access to higher education which decreases likelihood of unemployment • Schooling transforms privilege into personal merit Critique: • Schooling provides upward mobility for talented people especially those from modest backgrounds • Curriculum can challenge social inequalities (like in “A Class Divided”)