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Functions of Education

This document discusses the conflicting functions and processes of education. It outlines five major functions of education: 1) socialization to become productive members of society, 2) transmission of culture, 3) social control and personal development, 4) selection, training and placement of individuals in society, and 5) change and innovation. Each of these functions can have conflicting aspects and unintended consequences. It emphasizes that processes, like learning, teaching and decision making, are the actions that make up the education system and allow it to change over time.

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Chet Ack
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3K views

Functions of Education

This document discusses the conflicting functions and processes of education. It outlines five major functions of education: 1) socialization to become productive members of society, 2) transmission of culture, 3) social control and personal development, 4) selection, training and placement of individuals in society, and 5) change and innovation. Each of these functions can have conflicting aspects and unintended consequences. It emphasizes that processes, like learning, teaching and decision making, are the actions that make up the education system and allow it to change over time.

Uploaded by

Chet Ack
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Chapter 2 .

Conflicting Functions and processes in Education 29

Surrounding each function, or purpose, of education are debates about power, access,
whose knowledge, and knowledge for whom. Schools exist within a larger framework of society.
The economic, political, and cultural spheres influence everyday activities in schools (Apple and
Weis, 1986). Therefore, controversies in society at large become controversies within schools.
After a general introduction to the conflicting nature of educational functions and the impor-
tance of processes in educational systems, we examine selected issues and controversies related to
each major function of education.

CONFLICTING FUNCTIONS OF EDUCATION


Each society educates its children in the ways ofthe group and skills necessaryto prosper in that
society. The basic functions, or purposes, of education are the same in most societies, but the
importance of these functions and the means of achieving them vary greatly across societies and
even among groups or social classes within each society. For instance, the level of development of
a society will affect the content and the form of the educational process. The type of the political
system will affect the content and control of the educational process. The expectations of the
family in socializing the child to be a productive member of the society will affect the type of
educational content. Politics, family, and education provide an example of the interdependence
of parts in society. The following are five major functions of education:

Function I Socialization: Learning to Be Proiluctiye Members of Society through the Passing


On of Culture. New generations of children learn the rights and wrongs, values, and
role expectations of the society into which they are born. In learning their role, chil-
dren are socialized, or taught, how to meet the expectations placed on them.
Educational systems socialize students to become members of society, to play mean-
ingful roles in the complex network of interdependent positions. Research evidence,
however, indicates that students have different experiences in the school system
depending on their gender, social class, racial or ethnic background, neighborhood
in which they live, and other variables that influence their education.
Function 2 Transmission of Culture. Similarly, the transmission of culture is often controver-
sial, with each interest group wanting its programs, curricula, or values to take
precedence. Different groups of students-rich, poor, religious-are taught differ-
ent norms, skills, values, and knowledge. Thus, a student destined for a leadership or
elite position may acquire a different set of skills and knowledge base than one who
will enter the blue-collar workforce.
Function 3 Social Control and Personal Development.Inpreparing young people to enter society
as responsible adults, schools teach not only subject areas such as English and math
but also how to be a responsible, law-abiding adult. Yet even how to enforce discipline
and social control in schools is controversial. Discipline methods differ by social class,
racial-ethnic group, and sex, even though the offense may be the same. Controversies,
for instance, surround search and seizure, free speech, and constitutional rights of
students (Zirkel,2009). Do school officials have the right to "protect all students" by
testing for drugs or searching for weapons or drugs, especially when these searches
may af[ect some groups of students disproportionately? Supreme Court cases such as
Tinker v. Des Moines (1969), Goss v. Lopez (1975), Hazelwood School District
v. K'thlmeier (1988), Vernonia School District 47 v. Acton ( 1995), and Morse v. Frederick
(2007)have answered some questions and left others up in the air.
30 Chapter 2 ' Conflicting Functions and Processes in Education

Function 4 Selection, Training anil Placement of Individuals in Society. Probably the most
controversial functi,on of schools is the selection, training, and placement of individ-
uals in society. Conflict theorists argue that schools are "reproducing" the social
classes from which students come rather than providing opportunities for their
advancement. This includes maintaining the social hierarchy with educational poli-
cies and practices that select some students for higher tracks. Yet some policies' such
as testing, give the "appearance" of equality and success based on merit.
Consider the e"ample of technology. The access that students have to technology
influences their chances to compete for jobs in the information society of the future.
Experience with computers and other high-tech machines gives some students an edge
on leadership positions because these students will gain the skills needed for high-tech
jobs. This issue raises questions of balance befiveen ascribed characteristics (what
(skills and
students are born with-gender and ethnicity) and achieved characteristics
knowledge students learn) in the determination of one's future educational and occu-
pationaliuccess (Apple and Weis, 1986, p. 14; Darling-Hammond, 2010). Chapters 3

and 4 focus on this function.


Function 5 Change anil Innovation. New knowledge and technologies challenge students and
teachers of all ages as they advance knowledge and change the way work is done'
Yet,

workers in organizations, including the institution of education, often resist changes


that affect comfortable routine work tasks. Through education and research
thlir
institutions we develop new innovations, but some innovations take time to become
part of the fabric of societY.

Conflicting aspects of each of these five functions, discussed in the following sections, show that
carrying out the puiposes of schools is a constant negotiation between various segments of society.

Unanticipated Consequences of Functions


Each of the functions noted may have both positive and negative outcomes; the intended
purPose
is not always the only result or even the main result of the process of education. For instance,
schools bring age peers together in the classroom and for other school-related activities'
This
bringing toglther enables iriendship groups or cliques to develop and the youth subculture to
flourish; these groups in turn may profoundly influence the school, as we shall see in Chapter 7'
Delaying young people's entry into the job market may serve the purpose of keeping more adults
.-pioyJ *hle tne ituae"ts receive more education, but it may also cause strain when overedu-
cated, unemployed young people are ready to join the job market'

THE IMPORTANCE OF PROCESSES IN EDUCATIONAL SYSTEMS


Have you ever tried to describe your day using action verbs? Today I got up' dressed, ate mybteak-
fast,ptut onmy coat, walked to school, entered lhe classroom, scf at my desk, opened mybook, read
it, tiok notes as the teacher lectured, and learned about educational systems. The italicized verbs
describe processes, the action part ofyour day. Learning, teaching, socializing, disciplining, select-
ing, innovating, decision making, and changing are only a few of the processes that make up the
aciion part of education . Processes are the action part: what is happening in schools. Nothing is
ever fixed or final. People, things, and organizations are always becoming something new through
the process of change. Always we grow older, learn new behaviors, and adjust to changes in the

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