Foundations of Education: Unit 3


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Unit 3 open on Sunday, January 25th and closes on Sunday, February 8th!

Unit Title: Functionalism vs. Conflict Theory

Unit overview:

In this unit we'll build a bit of vocabulary for talking about two competing perspectives on the purposes or results of education. The first is called the functionalist perspective and it suggests that education is the great "leveler" of the playing field - that all people can achieve the American Dream if they just work hard in school. The second perspective, called conflict theory, says that this is bunk. Conflict theorists suggest that school simply perpetuates existing social inequalities. Both are compelling. Both will demand your attention to determine which makes better sense for you.

Reading assignment:

As before, your assignment is to do some reading and then some writing. First, take the time to examine these two readings: The first is a hundred year old essay by Emile Durkheim, a representative of the functionalist perspective. It is dry and lacks the ups and downs of a good novel but it is an important essay and communicates the essence of functionalism nicely. The second is a little more engaging - is written by a guy named Hurn who represents the conflict perspective, which is grounded in Marxism, with roots in liberation pedagogy, and takes issues of social justice very seriously. In my opinion, a much better essay. Your task is to read Hurn and skim Durkheim so you get the gist of each.

The discussion questions for unit 3 are included below. Complete your reading with them in mind and proceed to our WebCT site for some good conversation.

Discussion questions:

  1. Functionalists believe that formal education has the ability to equalize, or level out, other life conditions (poverty, ethnicity, gender, social class, etc.) and that by educating all citizens, and giving everyone an equal opportunity to go to school, everyone will get a fair chance to achieve that of which they are capable. Do you believe that this is a reasonable premise and that it is working for the majority of children? Why or why not? Be as specific as you can in your response. What do the conflict theorists say about this - in brief. So... are you a conflict theorist or a functionalist? Give reason or experience to support your position.
  2. There’s a plethora of research that shows clearly that all children are not educated equally. Although children often are eager for more information, knowledge, and ideas, teachers sometimes don't encourage this sort of inquisitiveness among children - in particular, poor, inner-city, minority children. What do you think about this? What might be our reasons as teachers? What would a functionalist say about this finding? A conflict theorist? So what can we do as educators in diverse classrooms? How can we help all children be as successful as possible - independent of variables like ethnicity, SES, ability...

Additional resources:

Check out these sites for some potential answers to this issue of educating all children:

http://www.edchange.org/multicultural/resources/self_critique.html

http://www.edchange.org/multicultural/

http://www.lab.brown.edu/tdl/index.shtml

Be sure to share anything interesting with the rest of the group!

Mark