Education vs. Schooling: Global Systems & Social Roles
Education vs. Schooling Defined
Education is the social institution through which society provides its members with important knowledge, including basic facts, job skills, and cultural norms and values.
Schooling refers to formal instruction under the direction of specially trained teachers.
Schooling and Economic Development
The extent of schooling in any society is tied to its level of economic development.
- In low- and middle-income countries, people often learn informally at home, and limited schooling reflects the national culture.
- In low-income countries, there is often little opportunity for schooling.
Comparative Schooling Systems
Schooling in India
- Many poor families depend on the earnings of children, limiting school attendance.
- Approximately 34% of the population is unable to read and write.
- While 60% of students attend secondary school, few enter college.
- Gender disparity exists: 64% of boys versus 56% of girls attend secondary school.
Schooling in Japan
- Schools emphasize and foster traditional values.
- About half of the students attend “cram schools” to prepare for competitive university entrance exams.
- Japanese students generally outperform Canadian students in mathematics and science.
Schooling in Britain
- The law requires children to attend school until the age of 16.
- Features “public schools,” which are typically elite, fee-charging boarding schools for the wealthy, alongside state-funded schools.
- University admission is largely based on a merit system involving examinations.
Schooling in Canada
- Since the Constitution Act of 1867, education has been a provincial responsibility.
- Compulsory education laws, generally requiring attendance to the end of elementary school or age 16, were established around 1920.
- The principle of mass education aimed to fulfill the requirements of the industrial revolution for a literate and skilled workforce.
- Classical education was gradually replaced by curricula focused on business, trades, technology, engineering, and science.
- Functional illiteracy (reading and writing skills insufficient for everyday living) exists but is relatively low in Canada.
Major Social Functions of Schooling
Socialization
Technologically simple societies often rely on families to transmit their way of life. In contrast, industrialized societies turn to teachers and the formal schooling system to teach basic skills, values, and important cultural lessons.
Cultural Innovation
Educational institutions, particularly colleges and universities, create culture as well as pass it on. Faculty engage in research that leads to discovery and shapes our way of life.
Social Integration
Schooling helps mold a diverse population into one society sharing common norms and values. Canadian educational policies, for example, have aimed to support equality and unity within diversity.
Social Placement
Schools support meritocracy by identifying talent and rewarding academic achievement, thereby influencing future social positions.
Latent Functions
Beyond the formal curriculum, schooling serves several unintended functions:
- Provides childcare for parents.
- Reduces competition for jobs by keeping young people in school.
- Helps individuals establish social networks and potentially find partners.
Schooling and Social Inequality
While ideally promoting meritocracy, schooling also contributes to social stratification and can reproduce the class structure across generations.
Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
Teachers’ expectations about students can significantly affect students’ self-image and academic performance, potentially reinforcing existing inequalities.
Social Control and Hidden Curriculum
Schooling acts as a form of social control, reinforcing the acceptance of the existing social order (status quo). The hidden curriculum refers to the subtle presentation of political or cultural ideas in the classroom that support this.
Standardized Testing Issues
Standardized tests may reflect the dominant culture, potentially placing members of minority groups or those from different cultural backgrounds at a disadvantage.
Streaming and Tracking
Streaming (or tracking) involves assigning students to different types of educational programs (e.g., academic, vocational). This practice can perpetuate social inequality by limiting opportunities for some students based on perceived ability, which may correlate with social background.
Access to Higher Education
Financial constraints remain a significant barrier to higher education for many. Some individuals may turn to apprenticeships or vocational training as alternatives.
Credentialism
According to the social-conflict approach, credentialism involves evaluating a person based on educational degrees rather than skills. It can function as a symbol of family affluence and reinforce class barriers.
Functional Illiteracy
A functionally illiterate person possesses reading and writing skills insufficient for managing most daily living and employment tasks effectively.